Spring Break
Peace Corps seeks Southern Volunteers
MELISSA WEINMAN
Issue date: 2/28/08 Section: News
Representatives from the Peace Corps will be looking for those interested in making a difference, one village at a time - as the Peace Corps motto reads.
"We need more diversity," said David Leavitt, the public affairs specialist for the Peace Corps Atlanta Regional Office.
He said the Corps is looking to recruit more people from the South.
"Volunteers are selected based on education, community service, compassion, flexibility and technical skills," Leavitt said. "We want everyone who applies to get in."
Emily Levitan, a University graduate student and former Peace Corps volunteer, spent two years in Nicaragua and said she went to "give back" and "spend time seeing what life was like on the other side with no amenities."
Levitan said she worked in the sector of agriculture, working with farmers in the field to increase food production and promoting new crops and processing food.
Peace Corps volunteers are assigned to work in different countries for two years and train for three months prior to leaving.
Training includes learning the language and health issues of the country, Levitan said.
Matt Armstrong, a doctoral candidate in the Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, said he was able to use his background in forestry while volunteering in Paraguay.
Armstrong worked in agroforestry, which is "using trees and annual crops on the same land," he said.
"I made it my business to learn how they lived," Levitan said, describing the way she shadowed people in the town, waking up at 6 a.m. to chop firewood, apply pesticides and help in the fields.
Armstrong said he went through ups and downs in Paraguay.
"You're always a foreigner," he said. "You look different, you speak different."
But he still found it rewarding.
"People will take you into their house and treat you like family," he said.
"It can be frustrating, emotionally draining, but the most rewarding experience that will affect you for the rest of your life," Levitan said.
The Peace Corps is hosting a meeting tonight in room 275 of the Student Learning Center at 6:30.
"We need more diversity," said David Leavitt, the public affairs specialist for the Peace Corps Atlanta Regional Office.
He said the Corps is looking to recruit more people from the South.
"Volunteers are selected based on education, community service, compassion, flexibility and technical skills," Leavitt said. "We want everyone who applies to get in."
Emily Levitan, a University graduate student and former Peace Corps volunteer, spent two years in Nicaragua and said she went to "give back" and "spend time seeing what life was like on the other side with no amenities."
Levitan said she worked in the sector of agriculture, working with farmers in the field to increase food production and promoting new crops and processing food.
Peace Corps volunteers are assigned to work in different countries for two years and train for three months prior to leaving.
Training includes learning the language and health issues of the country, Levitan said.
Matt Armstrong, a doctoral candidate in the Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, said he was able to use his background in forestry while volunteering in Paraguay.
Armstrong worked in agroforestry, which is "using trees and annual crops on the same land," he said.
"I made it my business to learn how they lived," Levitan said, describing the way she shadowed people in the town, waking up at 6 a.m. to chop firewood, apply pesticides and help in the fields.
Armstrong said he went through ups and downs in Paraguay.
"You're always a foreigner," he said. "You look different, you speak different."
But he still found it rewarding.
"People will take you into their house and treat you like family," he said.
"It can be frustrating, emotionally draining, but the most rewarding experience that will affect you for the rest of your life," Levitan said.
The Peace Corps is hosting a meeting tonight in room 275 of the Student Learning Center at 6:30.
Be the first to comment on this story