Adventures with the Peace Corps

 A few months ago I had a phone interview with my recruiting agent. I had a major freak out moment and decided that I should wait to make my final decision on when I will be able to fully commit and begin the referral process for a host country.

I have commitment issues guys

Anyway, at this point my application is inactive. It can stay that way until July and I won’t have to complete a new application or reference letters. whoo!

I decided that, since I am graduating with a degree in elementary and special ed and will most likely be serving a country with those skill in some way, I should have more experience in schools before I try to help anyone else.

So, this means I will be graduating in May, will teach for the next school year, and then start my service in the Peace Corps. I plan to reactivate my application sometime in June or July and go through the process from there.

In the mean time I’m focusing on school and reading lots of interesting Peace Corps blogs!  I’ll try to keep things more up to date

it has a check list of all the things I need to turn in and what the next steps are

it gets updated every time I turn something in and I can’t stop checking it even though I know nothing should have changed yet

I just hope I don’t have to drive all the way to Chicago for an interview

total cost: $11. 39

tomorrow at 9

I think I will keep a tally of how much the whole process costs me. As of tomorrow the count will be $10

after submitting my application and getting all of my reference letters in,  I received an e-mail from my recruiting agent a few days later. It had some basic information about the positions I might qualify for and a few surveys I had to fill out about additional skills I didn’t put in my application and my vegetarian diet.  

About a week after that (a few days ago) I got a packet in the mail. It has a few things I have to fill out for a background check and finger print charts I have to get done at the local Police Station. I have to mail it back by next week.

I think the next step is setting up a meeting with my recruiter!

Your success as a Peace Corps Volunteer is based on the trust and confidence you build by living in, and respectfully integrating yourself into, your host community and culture (Core Expectation #4). Describe an experience you have had in living or working in a social or cultural environment different from your own. What specific challenges did you face concerning trust, confidence, and/or integration? What did you learn from this experience that you will bring with you to your Peace Corps service?

In total I have had over 300 hours of field experience in diverse schools in Louisville, not including the student teaching I will do this fall. Through these experiences I have learned an extreme amount about myself and the kids with which I have worked. Growing up in a smaller town, where everyone had the same skin color, religion and prejudices I did not have the opportunity to be exposed to much diversity first hand. I was always taught to treat everyone with respect; to have an open mind in the face of differing opinions, but it was not until college that I really had a chance to practice this to the fullest extent. It has been such a positive experience for me to be in a more diverse and challenging environment during my years at Bellarmine.

In Louisville schools I have worked with many students who are learning English as a second language or students whose families have a completely different cultural background than my own. These schools also tend to have a free and reduced lunch program that is provided for 75% or higher of the students in the school, something I did not have experience with. I have learned foremost that I have to take into consideration the whole child if I am ever going to teach them the content they need to know in order to succeed. That means knowing their background and home life, whether or not they get to have breakfast or enough sleep, if they have parents who have to work a lot or access to books at home. I have learned to earn trust first.

I have also spent time this semester volunteering at the Americana Community Center, which provides classes and after school programs for children and adults within the refugee or immigrant population in Louisville. Once a week I volunteer in the afterschool program providing homework help and mentoring to the students who come to the center. I have loved every minute I have been able to spend there because of the help I have been able to give and all of the new faces and stories I have learned.

I typically work with different students each week and this is a challenge because, instead of building on relationships from week to week, I have to form new bonds each time.  Although I am there to help the students learn, I am also being taught. It might be a greeting in another language, some new game in the gym, or fact about a country; they are always willing to share and I am willing to listen. I have learned that it is important to learn a name no matter how many times I have to ask and try to say it, that a positive attitude can go a very long way and that respect is the most important part of gaining trust.

Peace Corps service presents major physical, emotional, and intellectual challenges. You have provided information on how you qualify for Peace Corps service elsewhere in the application. In the space below, please provide a statement (between 250 - 500 words) that includes:

• Your reasons for wanting to serve as a Peace Corps Volunteer; and
• How these reasons are related to your past experiences and life goals.
• How you expect to satisfy the Peace Corps 10 Core Expectations (please be specific about which expectations you expect to find most challenging and how you plan to overcome these challenges).

All of my life I have felt a calling to help others. It is this passion for service that has led me to where I am today and the path that I am following. I have always considered myself to be a determined individual and when I made up my mind to become a teacher in the second grade I knew I would never look back. At the time I simply wanted to help others, now I have a much greater appreciation for the power of a good education. I strongly believe it is one of the most empowering tools in breaking the cycle of poverty and oppression in this world. To me, becoming a teacher has always meant that I will be the one to provide that life altering education. Joining the Peace Corps is something I decided on in middle school. It was an idea I came across in a book, the title has been long forgotten but the idea stuck. For a second time my mind was made up and I have not looked back. My determination pushed me to become my high school valedictorian and on to a university where I am earning certifications in both elementary and special education. With these degrees I hope to empower many in the years to come. 

While I certainly have a passion for helping that began, and will persist, in my own community, I have also found a calling to reach out to the rest of the world. This calling was solidified after taking a class on Women in Islam my sophomore year in college. Learning about the conditions children endure just to have an education, one that I tend to take for granted, was extremely eye opening to say the least. I want to reach out somewhere that can benefit the most from the help that I want to give. I want to show the people in this world that they are cared about and deserve the same chance that I have been given. I think that it will be as much a teaching experience for me as it will be for the people I encounter. I will learn from experiences I would never be able to have if I remain where I am, and lessons that will help me be a better person and teacher in the future. It will push me outside of my comfort zone, which I believe is the best way to grow.

I know that one of the biggest challenges for me will be leaving friends and family for my term of service. At this point in my life I have not been away from my family for more than a few weeks at a time and am certainly used to the comforts and support they provide. It will be difficult going into a place so different from what I am accustomed to and knowing no one, but I am confident in my ability to find friendship and support in a new and exciting home. While it may, without familiar faces, be more challenging than moving away to college I know that I will succeed because I am willing and determined to make it so.