Middlebury Second on Peace Corps List

Author: Bob Wainwright

In a letter sent to President John McCardell last month, Peace Corps Chief of Staff Lloyd O. Pierson congratulated the College on being ranked second in the Peace Corps' annual list of small colleges producing Peace Corps volunteers. The Peace Corps defines small colleges and universities as institutions with less than 5,000 undergraduates. Currently, 22 Middlebury alumni are serving around the world in the Peace Corps, thereby increasing the number to 382 graduates, who have participated in the organization over its 41-year history.

Brendan O'Brien, who is a counselor in the Career Services Office, explained that in the history of the Peace Corps Middlebury has the highest per capita number of volunteers of any college in America. O'Brien also stated that the same holds true for Vermont. While states such as New York and California do yield more volunteers, Vermont has always produced the most per capita of any state in the nation.

O'Brien himself served in the Peace Corps from 1996 until 1998, when he was stationed in Paraguay. While there, he worked on ways to improve the country's water sanitation. Before coming to Middlebury this fall, O'Brien worked as both a translator for professional soccer teams in Chile, as well as the coordinator of the Boston Peace Corps office.

"The type of experience you get in the Peace Corps," explained O'Brien, "will prepare you extremely well for almost any field you choose afterwards."

O'Brien pointed out the many different fields volunteers can choose from, such as business, the environment, agriculture, health, community service and as of late, information technology. "The Peace Corps is no longer the 'go live in a mud hut' that it used to be," he stated. "Both the volunteers and the people they work with benefit greatly from the cultural exchange that takes place."

Currently, the Peace Corps, which was established by President John F. Kennedy in 1961, boasts 170,000 volunteers in 134 different countries. It should be noted that while they are termed "volunteers," people in the Peace Corps are actually paid for their work. In its current initiative, the Peace Corps has 7,000 volunteers in 70 developing countries to help fight hunger, fight AIDS, create businesses, bring clean water to communities and educate children.

Last year, 33 Middlebury alumni were stationed overseas. But this year, that number has dropped to 22, not due to a lack of interest, but because volunteers were pulled out of certain countries such as Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and Turkmenistan after war efforts began in Afghanistan. "As much as the Peace Corps wants to be able to keep people in those countries, personal safety issues must come first," O'Brien explained. He also stated that the Middlebury alumni who were forced to leave those countries would most likely be reassigned.

Regarding the type of person who might be interested in joining the Peace Corps, O'Brien pointed out that there is really no particular mold. There are currently two senators and six congressmen, who are former volunteers. Even the CEO of the Chicago Bears football team served in the Peace Corps after graduating from college. For those interested in entering the business world later in life, the Peace Corps is actually good preparation.

One Middlebury student who hopes to be in the Peace Corps next year is Nicolai Shuman '01, who has been nominated by Penny Weaver, the Peace Corps' New England recruiter to live in Jordan next year. Shuman would teach English and community development there if he is accepted, a decision that will arrive the end of May. "It seems like a great opportunity to go somewhere I've never been before and to be able to make a difference," stated Shuman. "It would be a real adventure and definitely more interesting than sitting in a cubicle all day."