JMU students big on volunteering
Posted on January 10, 2008
Since the establishment of the Peace Corps in 1961, it took nearly four decades for 100 JMU alumni to serve. But in the last decade, 215 have made their promise to promote world peace and friendship.
Recent graduate Megan A. Mahoney is departing for Nicaragua this week while alumni Becky Trytten and her husband are already in Fiji.
After graduating and going corporate for several years, Jordan Mallah joined the Peace Corps and served in Peru creating sustainable, organic gardens to prevent malnutrition.
With 54 active volunteers, JMU is currently ranked #14 among large universities for having the most alumni serving in the Peace Corps.
In 2006, JMU was considered a mid-sized school (less than 15,000 undergraduate students) and ranked #2 for the most alumni serving in the Peace Corps.
The rise in JMU students joining the Peace Corps, Director of Community Service-Learning Rich Harris said, is parallel to and may be due to the growth of service learning in the classroom and the Alternative Spring Break program.
In 1996, ASB offered two trips and a decade later, they offered 32, according to Harris.
“In my experience with JMU students, there’s a real sense of cynicism in the world so the opportunity to go some place where you really feel like you can meet people and make a difference is important to young people,” Harris said.
JMU students are not the only ones with an increased interest in helping others; according to JMU Peace Corps Recruiter Evan M. Papp, there are more people serving now than in the last 30 years combined.
Papp attributes the popularity of joining to people’s greater interest in service, global affairs, and desire to make an impact outside of America.
“The purpose of the Peace Corps is really to build better relations with American citizens in other countries and communities,” Harris said.
Today, a member of the Peace Corps have traveled to 139 different countries to serve any community that strives for a better life economically, socially, politically, and healthily. The volunteers teach children, help those infected with HIV/AIDS, promote environmental conservation and preservation, and spark business development among other missions. According to Papp, education is the most common service performed.
“I think wherever we go, we make a big difference,” Papp said.
Many volunteers are sent to underdeveloped countries with no running water, electricity or everyday essentials enjoyed by the majority of Americans, which according to Harris, forces the community members and the Peace Corps volunteers to work together.
“Whereas in the US we have the capability of doing things for ourselves all the time,” Harris said. “We hear over and over you live in an apartment complex, you don’t know the people in your building. That never happens in the Peace Corps sites.”
Besides an appreciation for the light bulb and proper plumbing, Harris said that students return from the Peace Corps with a less materialistic view of the world.
However, after spending two years in a completely different culture and atmosphere, the adjustment back to American life is not an easy one for everyone.
“You go from a country or community that’s not very wealthy, much more relationship-oriented, much slower pace of life to a culture that’s very materialistic, very fast-paced,” Harris said, adding that this can present a problem for some.
“The Peace Corps is really to build human caring and trust,” Harris said. “If you build positive relationships among the people in the world you’ll need less military life.”
