President among many former Peace Corps

     There are many wide grins in a vintage black and white photograph resting near Dr. John Cox’s office desk.  It was a simple classroom, but what took place there is remembered as being incredibly profound.
     “It was such a defining experience, it’s too hard for me to imagine not having done it,” Cox said.  Cox, a GCSU English professor, uniquely began his teaching career in Botswana.  Through the Peace Corps, Botswana, just a small country above South Africa, is one of 139 different countries where American volunteers have an opportunity to become global citizens.
     “We have a responsibility to know about what’s happening in other parts of the world,” Cox said.  “Even if you feel you can’t do much about it.”
    As graduation draws near, senior GCSU students dreaming of diplomas are pondering their next move in the adventure that is life.   Meanwhile, the rest of us move one year closer towards our moment of walking across the podium. 
    Twenty-five GCSU alumni have served in the Peace Corps and five are currently serving in Romania, Guatemala, the Philippines, Senegal, and Botswana.  Additionally, several current GCSU faculty members are Peace Corps veterans. 
     John Thompson, a 2005 graduate of GCSU’s Mass Communications program.  One year has nearly passed since Thompson first stepped foot upon Romanian soil, where he now is a Peace Corps volunteer preparing an environmental education program and constructing a low ropes course that a predicted 13,000 Romanian children will use over the next three years.  Thompson is also in the beginning stages of developing an ecotourism plan, primarily around bird watching, and a marketing strategy for the park. 
    “Every day is an adventure—sometimes good and sometimes bad,” Thompson said, corresponding via email.  “In that respect, it’s like living anywhere.”
    Thompson’s decision, and many like him, was fueled by a desire to travel abroad and help other people. 
    “This experience makes you look hard at America too.  Its ideals, superstitions, pop culture, and everything else,” Thompson said.  “Worldly events take on a different perspective when you’re not in America.”
    The Peace Corps traces its roots and mission to 1960, when then Senator John F. Kennedy challenged students at the University of Michigan to serve their country in the cause of peace by living and working in developing countries. From that inspiration grew an agency of the federal government devoted to world peace and friendship.  Since then, multitudes of people, young and old, have had their lives altered through their experiences helping others overseas.
    Like Thompson, Alex Monroe knew his passion for exploration was leading him towards a two-year commitment with the Peace Corps.  A 2006 political science graduate, Monroe will embark for the Philippines this coming May.
    “Like everybody else who joins, I want to make an impact,” Monroe said.
    Each Peace Corps volunteer must develop a community program based on the needs of the community they are assigned to become a part of.  Monroe’s vision is establishing a program that will create awareness and prevention of human trafficking, a passionate cause for Monroe.  After three months are language training, Monroe will be sent to a Philippine town or village and live with a host family, another American, or on his own.     
    “My friends and family are excited about this, but they are still uneasy about me being so far away,” Monroe said.
    Mary Magoulick, another GCSU English professor, spent her time with the Peace Corps in Senegal, in West Africa upon completing her masters at the University of Virginia. 
    “There aren’t many other ways you can go to a far country, learn the language, experience the culture, and have it all funded,” Magoulick said.  “It was an excellent opportunity to learn about another culture and travel.”
    Magoulick had reservations prior to her arrival in Africa.  Fears that the Peace Corps was simply a new form of American colonialism did not sit well, but once there, she saw that the notion was far from the truth. 
    The opportunity Magoulick had to participate in exchanging American culture for a new one has left her forever changed.
    “I can’t fully explain how much working with the Peace Corps changed me,” Magoulick said.  “It was so eye opening—It changed my perspective on so many things.”
    At 19-years-old, Dorothy Leland, led by her young idealism, traveled with the Peace Corps to a remote village in India.   Like the others, she too didn’t return the same.  Now the President of GCSU, Leland owes much of her identity to those remarkable two years of life.
    “It was the most powerful learning experience of my life,” Leland said.
    The moment came when a young Indian child looked up to Leland, asking, “Is the sun that comes up in our village the same as the sun that comes up in the United States?”
    The question, with many others, has vividly remained with her since. 
    Leland, Magoulick, Cox, and Thompson agree that their time overseas was a great challenge.  Luxuries like electricity, running water, and a common language are hard to come by.  The difficulties are outweighed by the rewards.
    “After graduation is the perfect time to go,” Cox said.  “You don’t have the commitments that you may have in the future—and the experience can change the direction of a person’s life.”

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Apr 13 2007. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry