Peace Corps volunteer Roger Samuels chooses Guatemala
Wall Street or Latin America?
Peace Corps volunteer chooses Guatemala.
By Brynn Grimley
August 12, 2004
Photo by Brynn Grimley/The Connection
Roger Samuels stands next to his mother Helga Samuels on their back deck. Roger will leave at the end of the month for Guatemala with the Peace Corps for two years.
Roger Samuels was born in Paris, his mother is a native of Germany and his father was African-American. Although raised in America he has lived an international life, traveling through Europe, and even living in London for three months.
At 21 years old, Samuels, a Herndon resident, knows the world has many possibilities, and because of his desire to travel and his family's "international nature," he has chosen the Peace Corps to expand those possibilities.
"Latin America business was my choice all along," said the recent Syracuse University graduate. "The agriculture and marketing with the banana trade and black tea trade is big, and I want to help with the inventory and with marketing."
Samuels, a class of 2000 graduate from Herndon High School, recently completed his bachelor of science degrees in finance and entrepreneurship & emerging enterprises with a minor in economics from Syracuse University, where he graduated summa cum laude and was a management scholar. He was also a member of Beta Gamma Sigma, the honor society for undergraduate and graduate scholars in business programs.
The logical next step for Samuels, who had good grades, participated on his school's ski and crew teams and who took an internship abroad in London one summer, would be to continue with school — to get a master's in business administration.
But Samuels chose to detour instead.
"MY FRIENDS are working on Wall Street in firms, starting from the ground up," said Samuels. "I wasn't in a hurry to get on a three-piece suit and go work in a mailroom." Adding, because he loved to volunteer and travel, the Peace Corps fit.
"I'm glad he found something he feels passionate about," said his mother, Helga Samuels, adding she played devil's advocate at first. "I told him, your fellow graduates will all be making money and you'll be living [simple]."
Samuels said the $2,000 a year salary was not important, that volunteering is something he enjoys and a natural fit.
"When I first heard of [the Peace Corps] I thought it was just a bunch of missionaries out in the bush somewhere teaching English," said Samuels.
Now, Samuels is more excited than nervous to leave his mother's Herndon home and meet up with his group in Miami. They'll then go to Guatemala City for three months of training before their two-year assignment.
"I'm really not as nervous as I thought I'd be," said Samuels. "I'm not worried about homesickness as much, because now I am just at home while all my friends are at work, I'm going stir-crazy."
SAMUELS SAID he's ready to take the next step, but he admitted he still has a lot to do before he leaves.
"I'm not quite where I want to be as far as packing clothes," he joked. "I need to buy some more."
Samuels said he is excited to learn the lifestyle of a new culture and become fluent in Spanish.
"It's a lot of pressure and responsibility," said Samuels of developing businesses in a new country. "You have to earn the respect from the people, you can't just plop in and order people around."
Samuels said the group will train for three months in Guatemala City, where they'll learn the ins and outs of the culture and how the businesses operate. Then they will move in with families in neighboring areas that need assistance in economic development.
"I want to get my hands dirty and earn respect from people," said Samuels.
His mother, Helga Samuels, said she thinks two years is just enough time for her son to not only experience a new way of life, but also make a difference.
"He has traveled a lot in Europe, where it's not much different from here," she said. "He's going inside into a totally different economic level and political situation."
ALTHOUGH SHE SAID as a mother it's her nature to worry, she hopes her son does something positive with the experience.
"I hope that he will make things better ... to help them improve something that otherwise wouldn't have happened," she said.
Once he returns home, Samuels admitted he can't predict what will happen, saying he knows he will have to adjust.
"I'll get back and [my friends] are all going to be talking about 401Ks and stuff," he joked.
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