2008.03.28: March 28, 2008: Headlines: Directors - Tschetter: Figures: Directors: COS - India: The Winchester Star: Peace Corps Director leads by his example

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Peace Corps Director leads by his example

Peace Corps Director leads by his example

"When you do and are going through it, you just don’t realize how much it is going to impact your life," he said. "Your whole value system, your insight, perceptions are impacted as such that it really changes your outlook. It changes what you do, and it changes your desire to serve." Tschetter said he and his wife have spread the good news of volunteering with the Peace Corps for 40 years, hoping to convince others to make a similar commitment of improving lives around the world. He said he almost always accepts invitations to talk about the Corps experience because it helps to bring in new volunteers and also builds a better understanding of the program. "When I get an invitation from a university, it gets my attention because I just know what this can do for a young person who decides to do it," Tschetter said. "I am here to encourage the students that this is an option in your life that you ought to give serious consideration." Ron Tschetter is the seventeenth Director of the Peace Corps. He served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in India in the 1960's.

Peace Corps Director leads by his example

Peace Corps director leads by his example

By Drew Houff
The Winchester Star

Caption: Peace Corps Director Ron Tschetter (ctr.) with Guinean drummers and dancers, Peace Corps/Guinea Country Director Stephen Peterson (back row, second from lft.), and several Peace Corps Volunteers.

WINCHESTER — For just the third time in its history, the Peace Corps has a director with experience as one of its volunteers.

Ronald A. Tschetter became the 17th director in September 2006, but his Corps experience in India years ago, along with that of his wife Nancy, formed the beliefs that have kept him with the organization.

Ronald A. Tschetter, the 17th director of the Peace Corps, is always looking for new volunteers for the global aid organization: “I am here to encourage the students that this is an option in your life that you ought to give serious consideration.”
(Rick Foster)

Tschetter appeared on Thursday at Shenandoah University, discussing the Corps and even trying to recruit a few volunteers to help the global program.

Interviewed before his International Topics Forum speech on the history and importance of the Peace Corps, Tschetter said his volunteering proved to be a life-changing experience.

"When you do and are going through it, you just don’t realize how much it is going to impact your life," he said. "Your whole value system, your insight, perceptions are impacted as such that it really changes your outlook. It changes what you do, and it changes your desire to serve."

Tschetter said he and his wife have spread the good news of volunteering with the Peace Corps for 40 years, hoping to convince others to make a similar commitment of improving lives around the world.

He said he almost always accepts invitations to talk about the Corps experience because it helps to bring in new volunteers and also builds a better understanding of the program.

"When I get an invitation from a university, it gets my attention because I just know what this can do for a young person who decides to do it," Tschetter said. "I am here to encourage the students that this is an option in your life that you ought to give serious consideration."

One of Tschetter’s efforts has been to increase the numbers from various age groups in the Corps.

While recent college graduates still make up the vast majority of volunteers, Tschetter wants to increase the number of older volunteers to as much as 15 percent.

He said the reason for adding older volunteers is that they bring decades of expertise — an impossibility for the younger people who typically sign up.

The 50-Plus Initiative, Tschetter said, will add to the experience without removing the opportunity for the younger people.

People 50 and older typically have made up about 5 percent of the volunteers, he said.

Tschetter said all Corps volunteers are placed in countries where they have been invited, either by political leaders, school officials, or others who need some volunteer assistance.

Corps placement officers then try to match volunteers to the needs of a country, building toward a stronger future, he said.

Environmentalists have become a real need throughout the world, Tschetter said, so the Peace Corps has been supplying such volunteers in hopes of helping natural resources last and be used properly.

He said representing the Corps in Washington has been an honor, particularly in helping to show others the value of the program.

"It’s the best job in Washington — I report directly to the president," Tschetter said. "It is bipartisan, apolitical, and supported by most everyone. It also is strongly recognized as a great brand. I tell the new volunteers, ‘You are working for the gold standard of volunteerism in the Peace Corps.’"

Tschetter, a graduate of Bethel College and Seminary in St. Paul, Minn., is also a former chairman of the board of the National Peace Corps Association.




Links to Related Topics (Tags):

Headlines: March, 2008; Ron Tschetter; Ron Tschetter (Director 2006 - ); Figures; Peace Corps Directors; Peace Corps India; Directory of India RPCVs; Messages and Announcements for India RPCVs





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Story Source: The Winchester Star

This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; Directors - Tschetter; Figures; Directors; COS - India

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