ABIGAIL CIRELLI | staff writer
Azusa Pacific University was recently named the top Peace Corps producer of small colleges in California. The annual Peace Corps list of “Top Colleges and Universities” was released in January, and APU was listed with 13 alumni serving in the Peace Corps.
The list divides schools into categories based on the size of the student body. For California, APU placed highest in the small schools category, which consists of schools with less than 5,000 undergraduate students. Medium schools have 5,001 to 15,000 undergraduate students, and large schools have 15,000 undergraduate students and up.
The APU alumni currently serving in the Peace Corps come from a variety of majors and are serving in a variety of locations, including Jamaica, Mongolia, Costa Rica, and Kazakhstan. According to APU’s Peace Corps recruiter Jeanette Earley, APU alumni are currently represented in nearly all of the Peace Corps regions.
“Placement is based on an applicant’s skills and experience and where those skills and experiences are most needed at the time the volunteer applies,” Earley said.
Earley spoke of a variety of opportunities the Peace Corps offers.
“I get a lot of people who want to go on to public service, to be involved, whether it’s domestic or abroad, working with NGOs [non-governmental organizations] or non-profits, using the Peace Corps as a place to get that international experience,” Earley said. “I also get people who know they want to do service, but they don’t necessarily know how, and see Peace Corps as a way to do it.”
Director of the Office of World Missions Chiraphone Khamphouvong served in the Peace Corps after graduating from APU in 1997 with a global studies degree.
Khamphouvong served in South Africa doing education and community development. She said when she joined, only one or two students from APU joined each year, and that the increase in volunteers shows where APU is headed.
“One of the reasons I love APU is we’re more of a cutting edge [Christian] institution,” Khamphouvong said. “We have people in different places who are willing to take risks and who are willing to [ask] what can we be a part of in serving others?”
Khamphouvong said the Office of World Missions provides missions programs that are three to eight weeks. Those short term programs serve to get students interested in something more long term.
“As the world is getting smaller, APU offers varying programs to partake in such as South Africa, Oxford, Global Learning term and missions,” Khamphouvong said. “They may then be interested in a longer short-term service like the Peace Corps.”
There are people at APU she has encountered who, for political or philosophic reasons, do not see the Peace Corps as a good option. However, for the most part she feels support on campus, and as director of the Office of World Missions has hosted recruiters.
“This is a special time at APU; students are at a place to make a difference in the world,” Khamphouvong said. “When you want to make a difference in the world, you have to explore what means are available to you. Peace Corps is becoming more well-received among students because it’s a means, a potential opportunity.”
Earley said APU students’ service and international experience is a strong applicant trait for the Peace Corps, which provides excellent experience for a strong future.
“With the market place being as global as it is now, the international experience and learning another language and the cross cultural experience and understanding are really important,” Earley said.
According to Early, 95 percent of Peace Corps volunteers have at least an undergraduate degree.
Earley said the Peace Corps gives students the chance to demonstrate leadership ability, “to show how creative and resourceful [they] can be, working with very limited resources, and starting projects from the ground up. Those are good skills to have in any professional career.”
APU alumnus Sean Faulkner graduated in 2005 with a degree in social work and went on to join the Peace Corps, serving in the Federated States of Micronesia. He heard about the Peace Corps his junior year when Khamphouvong gave a presentation in one of his social work classes. The son of short-term missionaries to Japan, Faulkner had always been interested in international development.
“When I heard about the Peace Corps I thought to myself, ‘Here’s a perfect way to see if I’m cut out for international development work, use my social work degree, and do it all on the government’s dime. Brilliant!’” Faulkner said. “I got started on the application process and a year later I found myself in a place I had never heard of and is hard to even see on a map.”
Faulkner’s long-term goal is to work for an international development organization or non-profit. He said the Peace Corps helped him land a social work job upon arriving home, and it will help him with his long-term goal as well.
“I could write you an entire novel of the things I learned about and loved because of my Peace Corps experience,” Faulkner said, “but instead I will just say that it confirmed my dreams and passion for working internationally.”
Peace Corps applications for fiscal year 2008 increased 16 percent, which is the largest increase in five years. Peace Corps public affairs specialists Kate Kuykendall attributes the increase in Peace Corps service to two main factors. Firstly, she says most people understand that interested students are evaluating their options and apply to serve because of the economic or job benefits.
However, Kuykendall believes the greater force behind this year’s increase in volunteers is President Obama’s campaign. Throughout his campaign, Obama has talked many times about the Peace Corps. Kuykendall noted the increase in applications around January’s inauguration compared with the same time period last year.
