Renee Shaktivel
Staff Writer
ISU’s partnership with the Peace Corps began this August where Peace Corps Prep Certification Courses were offered through the Global Studies and Languages department, which prepares future volunteers with the skills necessary to function within the Peace Corps.
The Peace Corps was created by John F. Kennedy in 1961 as a two-year international service organization, allowing citizens to live overseas while aiding their host countries in multiple facets, with the intention of spreading world peace through cultural awareness.
“The Peace Corps is the perfect opportunity to explore the world for two years and learn how people live in other cultures,” said Malliga Och, academic advisor for the Peace Corps Prep Program.
ISU and 75 other academic institutions hold partnerships nationwide with the Peace Corps by offering certification programs that aid students in becoming proficient in a foreign language and developing leadership abilities, a work ethic and intercultural skills. These skills are gained through area-specific coursework and hands-on activities, such as planning and executing symposiums, fundraising, catering, hosting international scholars, managing skills and advertising.
Students will be able to choose between agriculture, community development, education, environment, health and youth development when they choose a sector focus.
“Peace Corps allows students to tailor their educational experience here at ISU in such a way that teaches intercultural competence and leadership skills, making returned volunteers competitive job candidates when they graduate,” said Amber Greening, lead coordinator for Student Opportunity Development.
The program is not only beneficial to volunteers—it’s also important for the Peace Corps because it provides them a pool of student recruits that are pre-trained. ISU currently has 144 previous volunteers with six students serving and five that are currently enrolled for the upcoming program.
“Peace Corps is a life-changing experience for those that serve,” Greening said. “Peace Corps experiences allowed me to learn skills that can never be taught in any classroom—things such as self-reliance, resourcefulness, patience, and confidence that any unforeseen issue that arises can be handled.”
The Peace Corps Prep program has no additional costs for students, and the prep course can be taken at the Pocatello campus.
Peace Corps itself is a free volunteer program that covers all of volunteers’ expenses, including travel to and from the desired country, housing, a monthly stipend, paid vacations, a readjustment allowance upon returning home and the possibility of student loan forgiveness.
“The Peace Corps community of returned Peace Corps volunteers is extremely close knit,” Och said. “Once you are part of it, you are part of a powerful professional network that will help you find professional opportunities all over the world – and of course the U.S. – for the rest of your life.”
Experience gained through the Peace Corps will put volunteers at an advantage when job searching, Och and Greening said. Upon completion of the program, volunteers have high appeal to federal employment, greater access to job announcements and the ability to demonstrate related field experience to potential employers.
“Being part of the program will make you part of a great community,” Och said. “You will build your professional skills and gain work experience at the same time.”
