Nate Peterson entered the Peace Corps in spring of 2003 and spent the past year volunteering in the former Soviet Union Republic of Georgia as an English teacher and community organizer
Graduating? Consider the Peace Corp
By Nate Peterson
Special to The Arbiter
April 08, 2004
When we remember John F. Kennedy, we often remember his famous phrase, “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.”
In America, it is increasingly more difficult for individuals to find time for public service as family, work, and school require our time and ever present commitment. For college students, facing these challenges plus the daunting task of starting a career after college can render the opportunity for public service as impossible.
Fortunately for American citizens with bachelor degrees, the United States Peace Corps, created by President Kennedy’s executive order, remains a life long option for public service. Whether you are soon to graduate, or someone looking to take time off work and/or retire, there are countries in the world that are in desperate need for educated and professional volunteers.
The Peace Corps not only gives you the opportunity to devote part of your life to public service that serves our country by serving communities in need beyond our borders, but it also gives you the opportunity for professional and personal development spiced with a bit of adventure.
After graduating from Boise State University in 2002, I entered the Peace Corps in spring of 2003 and have since spent the past year of my life volunteering in the former Soviet Union Republic of Georgia as an English teacher and community organizer.
I had thought about joining the Peace Corps in high school and later I briefly considered it while at college, but it was not fixated in my mind. That changed following September 11th, when in the aftermath of the attacks, I was left to consider my own responsibility and duty as an American in responding to the threat of terrorism.
I concluded that the Peace Corps offered me the best opportunity as an American to serve my country in its fight against terrorism by serving communities in need the rest beyond our borders. This was re-enforced to me when hearing my favorite political hero, Senator John McCain, encourage college students to serve in the Peace Corps as a way to combat terrorism.
Subsequently, I chose the Republic of Georgia due to its recent dissolution from the Soviet Union, as well as for its proximity to the Middle East. Georgia sits on the eastern coast of the Black Sea and southern slopes of the Caucasus Mountains.
Russia, Turkey, Armenia, and Azerbaijan are Georgia’s neighbors in a region that is instable at best. Due north of Iraq, Georgia’s border to the war torn country is closer than Boise is to Salt Lake City.
As circumstances would lend themselves, I eventually arrived here in Georgia the same week that the war began in Iraq. It was tense here for the first month, but eventually things calmed down as the war died down.
Living in a de-stabilized country and war-torn with a transitioning economy from communism to capitalism has not been uneventful. This past year in Georgia I witnessed a popular revolution that peacefully and successfully overthrew the corrupt president and former Soviet Union Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze.
Things are quiet now in the country that I have grown to love. As I study the Georgian language and experience the Georgian culture, I find myself loving this country more and more. Although my values and beliefs remain the same, being a volunteer in Georgia has changed me personally for the better.
I have also come to believe that my experience here in Georgia has become as important to my professional development as anything else I have done. Besides language acquisition and teaching, I also work extensively with community organizations in addressing problems and expanding resources.
Recently, I was asked by a friend if I was satisfied. After first complaining about the difficulty of working in a soviet educational system and living without the luxuries of clean water and constant electricity, I answered yes.
I answered yes, because I feel that Peace Corps and Georgia has given me back everything I have put into it and more. Furthermore, I know that when my service ends in June of 2005, the Peace Corps will continue to help me in terms of educational, financial, and social benefits.
Returned Peace Corps volunteers are not only given preferential status for jobs and schools, but they are also given help on student loans as well as money for transitioning back to work and school. The greatest benefits, however, are the social ones.
By serving in the Peace Corps, I have had the opportunity of working with a truly talented and productive group of volunteers. They are people I consider to be some of my best friends and I know that I will know them my whole life.
Currently, there are over 200,000 returned Peace Corps volunteers in America and they constitute a very broad and deep network in business, government, and education. Regardless of your career plans, there will be a returned volunteer in your field somewhere who is willing to help you.
Boise State University is a remarkable institution and a place that I hold very dear to my heart. I truly believe that BSU students are remarkably talented and hardworking. I would like to know that in the future, BSU will be well represented in the Peace Corps.
When a Peace Corps recruiter comes to campus, please take the opportunity of visiting with him or her and asking about the available programs and how you and your interests might fit into them. If you are looking for excitement, personal and professional development, or an edge on other people in your field, the Peace Corps will not disappoint you.
If you just want to pass the time for a couple of years in a foreign place and read a lot of books, then again, you will not be disappointed.
Good luck on graduation and I hope to see you in the Republic of Georgia.
Peterson served as ASBSU president during 2000/01 and 2001/02
