Aggies rank high in service with Peace Corps

UC Davis graduate Leonard Van Boven chose to serve in the Peace Corps to travel, learn and help others. What his two years in Guatemala taught him most, however, was a greater understanding of himself.

“You discover your own culturally based assumptions as they are challenged,” said the 26-year-old. “Some of them remain intact; others are changed forever.”

Van Boven, who earned a degree in technocultural studies in 2006, is one of more than 1,300 Aggies who have joined the Peace Corps since 1961. Last month, the Peace Corps ranked UC Davis 13th among large U.S. universities for the number of alumni in the field: 61. UC Davis is the 19th all-time producer of those volunteers.

Tobhiyah Holmes of Sonoma is a 2003 sociology graduate who teaches English at Chongqing University in China. In an e-mail from China, he said it makes sense that Aggies are interested in Peace Corps service. “UC Davis, being a more liberal university, attracts the type of students who are more likely to take interest in humanistic endeavors such as Peace Corps.”

International volunteer organization

U.S. President John F. Kennedy established the Peace Corps in 1961 to provide trained volunteers to interested countries and to foster understanding between Americans and the peoples they serve. Volunteers typically serve 27 months overseas, promoting peace and helping communities address needs in education, health, business, agriculture and the environment.

Van Boven served the bulk of his time in Chicuxtin, Guatemala, where he built “health-improving technologies” like kitchens, latrines and hand-washing stations. He returned to Berkeley last year, where he works at a nursery and tutoring center and for an event planner.

He said UC Davis and its sister campuses attract “cool people, and cool people do cool things … like the Peace Corps.”

What’s so cool about it? “You learn the beauty of a slow and simple life, and you discover many useful secrets,” Van Boven said. “You learn that the American way is not the only way, and sometimes it’s not even the best way.”

Benefits

Although the work is unpaid, volunteers said benefits abound. Many learn a new language, build interpersonal and professional skills, and develop lifelong friendships.

Holmes, 30, said, “Peace Corps is an opportunity to truly learn about a culture and people who are not your own, by living and working among and with them. It will broaden your understanding of others, the world at large and, most importantly, of yourself,” he said. “Lessons this valuable and rich are rare in life.”

Volunteers may even combine Peace Corps service with earning a master’s degree. There are more than 100 participating graduate school programs, including two at UC Davis. The Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences offer unit credits for projects completed during Peace Corps service.

Applying

Nathan Hale Sargent, a public affairs specialist for the Peace Corps who worked in Armenia from 1998 to 2000, said each year 76 countries request volunteers with particular skills. There are currently about 7,600 volunteers and trainees with the Peace Corps.

The application process — six to 12 months long — is competitive, and candidates need to be flexible on country and assignment choices. Sargent said students and graduates should apply online about one year before they hope to start service. Applicants must be at least 18.

After applying, candidates are interviewed, then nominated to a specific work area and region. They must pass medical and legal reviews before they are matched to a country and assignment. Once invited, most volunteers depart in two or three months.