AU sent 51 graduates to participate in the Peace Corps last year, the second-highest number of volunteers from all mid-sized universities, according to the Peace Corps.
The George Washington University ranked just above AU in the same category for sending 53 volunteers last year.
Except for a three-person decrease from 2004 to 2005, the number of AU graduates who have gone to the Peace Corps has steadily increased since 2003, which was the first year the Peace Corps tracked this data.
John Charles, a career adviser for students in the School of International Service, formerly worked for the Peace Corps as a placement officer and subsequently as a desk officer for the Europe, Mediterranean and Asia regions, he said.
The increase in AU students’ participation in the organization in recent years can be attributed to a variety of reasons, Charles said.
“Being in Washington, D.C., has become a stronger draw in recent years for many students,” he said.
This could mean that when more students were attracted to the Washington area in recent years, they were drawn to AU, he said.
Another reason is that AU students have goals that are in line with what they expect to do in the Peace Corps.
“Students are committed to making important contributions to the world, so I think it’s a natural fit for many of them to go into Peace Corps,” Charles said. “I really do believe there is a connection between what AU values and what Peace Corps service represents.”
Another reason for an increase in Peace Corps involvement could involve the economy in two ways, Charles said.
“In one way because it is harder to get jobs, so some people who may not have considered Peace Corps will consider it now,” he said.
The second way is that students with private loans need to start paying them back too soon after college and cannot defer their loans for Peace Corps service.
“I’ve known a few students who would have loved to do Peace Corps, but because they could not afford to pay their loans back without a regular job, they decided not to pursue the Peace Corps,” Charles said.
Students also often want to enter the workforce right away in order to start getting paid, according to Charles.
But many advantages for a career search remain in volunteering for the Peace Corps, he said.
For jobs in the State Department, language skills — which are taught in the Peace Corps — are very important, according to Charles. In addition, organizations that are of interest to SIS students whom he advised such as the United States Agency for International Development, Development Alternatives Inc. and the International Resource Group require at least two years of experience in the developing world, he said.
Scott O’Beirne is a current AU junior in SIS who went to the Peace Corps after attending Full Sail University, before enrolling at AU. He said having the Peace Corps on his résumé helped him get into AU and that the Peace Corps helps its volunteers get into graduate school.
“They’ll help you find recommendations, they’ll help you get your application in,” O’Beirne said. “The Peace Corps has so many connections from former volunteers ... It’s definitely very good for you.”
O’Beirne went to Kenya during his Peace Corps experience and said that there are many things about the Peace Corps experience that makes volunteers grow as people.
“[You have to] take everything you learned in college, even if you’re an international development major and throw it out the window ... stuff them down in your pocket, and don’t take them out,” O’Beirne said. “I didn’t let my beliefs and ideologies get in the way of the work I was trying to do.”
Because volunteers tend to live in extreme environments, they will become very cynical, feeling they had accomplished nothing, if they let certain ideas get in the way of their work in the Peace Corps, he said.
While his background of getting into the Peace Corps was different than most, O’Beirne said that once in a while at AU, he runs across students in all of his classes that he thinks would make particularly good Peace Corps volunteers.
“AU students are very smart ... but there’s a certain personality that I could look at and think they could make a good Peace Corps volunteer.” O’Beirne said. “But, really, anyone could be a Peace Corps volunteer.”
You can reach this staff writer at mfowler@theeagleonline.com.
