December 1, 2005: Headlines: Application Process: Stanford Daily: The new year will find Maria Palmer in Latin America, volunteering as a business advisor for the Peace Corps
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December 1, 2005: Headlines: Application Process: Stanford Daily: The new year will find Maria Palmer in Latin America, volunteering as a business advisor for the Peace Corps
The new year will find Maria Palmer in Latin America, volunteering as a business advisor for the Peace Corps
Palmer first heard about the Peace Corps through her AP environmental studies class as a junior in high school.
“Peace Corps was appealing for its international focus — the opportunity to immerse yourself in a foreign culture with such perks as learning a new language while offering your time to improve humanity around the globe,” she said.
The new year will find Maria Palmer in Latin America, volunteering as a business advisor for the Peace Corps
Grads seek out nonprofit employment
By Francie Neukom
Thursday, December 1, 2005
last updated December 1, 2005 12:45 AM
While many of her classmates will be attending medical school or tackling their first professional jobs next year, senior Maria Palmer has chosen a different path for her postgraduate career. The new year will find Palmer in Latin America, volunteering as a business advisor for the Peace Corps.
Palmer is not alone. According to Lance Choy, the director of Stanford’s Career Development Center (CDC), 7 percent of the respondents who report finding jobs at the time of the CDC’s annual postgraduate survey obtain jobs with nonprofits or the U.S. government, not including the military. Teach for America and the Peace Corps are the most popular of these options.
Palmer first heard about the Peace Corps through her AP environmental studies class as a junior in high school.
“Peace Corps was appealing for its international focus — the opportunity to immerse yourself in a foreign culture with such perks as learning a new language while offering your time to improve humanity around the globe,” she said.
Founded in 1961, the Peace Corps is an international volunteering organization that currently operates in 71 countries, with more than 7,000 active volunteers. According to the Stanford News Service, Stanford was ninth among medium-sized universities in the number of volunteers active in the Peace Corps as of January 2004. Stanford ranked 12th on the list for the all-time number of volunteers, regardless of college size.
According to the Peace Corps Web site, interested students must fill out a detailed application with two written essays. A Peace Corps representative then contacts the student for an in-person interview. This representative chooses to nominate or not nominate the student. If the student is nominated, he or she must undergo an extensive medical examination in preparation for his or her travels.
“The [medical evaluation] packet includes such forms as getting a dentist check-up, including X-rays, to getting three stool samples from your primary-care physician,” Palmer said.
Because Palmer’s medical review is still pending, she does not yet know exactly what her 27-month service will require.
“The role of a business advisor can range from working in the equivalent of our Chamber of Commerce in a large Latin American city to working in a rural setting helping artisans and farmers bring their works or crops to market,” she said. “I will know where I’m going six months before I leave, at the earliest.”
According to the Web site, Peace Corps volunteers receive a living allowance while working in their assigned countries, which enables them to live in a manner similar to the local people in their communities. The organization also provides complete medical and dental care and covers the cost of transportation to and from the country of service.
Although Palmer will be gone for more than two years, she has not yet ruled out graduate school.
“I don’t look at this as doing something instead of going to graduate school or getting a job; I look at it as preparation for such things,” she said. “I will presumably become fluent in Spanish; I will learn how to adapt in a new place and culture; I will hone business-advising techniques and all the while, I will be learning how to interact and care for people, all of which are invaluable skills for future endeavors.”
When this story was posted in November 2005, this was on the front page of PCOL:
Peace Corps Online The Independent News Forum serving Returned Peace Corps Volunteers
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Story Source: Stanford Daily
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