2008.01.10: January 10, 2008: Headlines: COS - Guatemala: The Register-Guard: Audrey Lynn Squires to serve as Peace Corps Volunteer in Guatemala

Peace Corps Online: Directory: Guatemala: Peace Corps Guatemala: Peace Corps Guatemala: Newest Stories: 2008.01.10: January 10, 2008: Headlines: COS - Guatemala: The Register-Guard: Audrey Lynn Squires to serve as Peace Corps Volunteer in Guatemala

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Audrey Lynn Squires to serve as Peace Corps Volunteer in Guatemala

Audrey Lynn Squires to serve as Peace Corps Volunteer in Guatemala

Squires applied to the Peace Corps in March through a process she described as difficult and time-consuming. “I think it’s to weed out those who aren’t committed,” she said, “the ones who see it as something romantic.” In September, Squires got word that she was accepted to be part of a program called Environmental Conservation and Income Generation, specifically promoting eco-tourism. Squires said her duties will be to help communities identify and develop environmentally benign and sustainable projects that can generate income, for example, through tours, crafts and useful plants. Squires joins 237 other Oregonians now in the Peace Corps. Since the Peace Corps was established in 1961, more than 5,282 Oregon residents have served. In Guatemala, she will add her efforts to those of 184 other volunteers working in such areas as agriculture, health, HIV/AIDS prevention, small business and youth development.

Audrey Lynn Squires to serve as Peace Corps Volunteer in Guatemala

PEACE CORPS OFFERS NEW DIRECTION

By Kurt Madar For The Register-Guard

Published: January 10, 2008 09:15AM

Audrey Lynn Squires is not nervous.

Last week, she left her familiar world to spend two years in the Peace Corps. But she showed no traveler’s jitters as she explained how she came to abandon early ambitions of a very different kind in favor of promoting eco-tourism in Guatemala.

“When I was a kid, I wanted to be a doctor, the first woman president or an Olympic runner,” Squires said with a laugh. “Then, in college, I was going to major in math.”

Everything changed, however, when she landed a summer internship in Yellowstone National Park through the Student Conservation Association at Willamette University, where she enrolled following her graduation from Springfield High School. The job was to protect the native cutthroat trout by gill netting the nonnative lake trout.

Later, she went on to work as a volunteer on a project to reintroduce wolves to Yellowstone. That effort concluded this fall.

“I loved the park,” she recalled, cradling a cup of tea. “Yellowstone completely changed my direction in life. It got me into what I want to do — it gave me my major.”

In June, the 21-year-old graduated from Willamette University with a bachelor’s degree in environmental science. She already was primed for foreign adventure by the five months she spent in Ecuador through a campus exchange program.

She wanted to work in a Spanish-speaking country, but “in a less controlled and protected environment than the exchange program.” All of which led her to contact a Peace Corps recruiter at Willamette.

Squires applied to the Peace Corps in March through a process she described as difficult and time-consuming.

“I think it’s to weed out those who aren’t committed,” she said, “the ones who see it as something romantic.”

In September, Squires got word that she was accepted to be part of a program called Environmental Conservation and Income Generation, specifically promoting eco-tourism.

Squires said her duties will be to help communities identify and develop environmentally benign and sustainable projects that can generate income, for example, through tours, crafts and useful plants.

Squires joins 237 other Oregonians now in the Peace Corps. Since the Peace Corps was established in 1961, more than 5,282 Oregon residents have served.

In Guatemala, she will add her efforts to those of 184 other volunteers working in such areas as agriculture, health, HIV/AIDS prevention, small business and youth development.

Squires doesn’t know exactly what form her eco-tourism efforts will take over the course of her stay. But when she arrives, she will live with a host family for three months while working on language skills, learning about the culture, and figuring out where and what her particular placement will be.

She wants to work for a nongovernmental organization, groups that work independently of government agencies in carrying out a wide variety of projects.

“I feel that it would be more productive in the long run because they are already on track.”

Squires said she will miss her sister, 26, and a brother, 24. Her parents, Rick and Peggy Squires, have never left the United States or even had passports.

“But they’re going to come and visit me in Guatemala,” she said. “They are very supportive, sad that it’s for so long, but very excited for me.”

When asked what she wants to do when she grows up, Squires laughed.

“If I went to grad school right now, it would be in fisheries biology, but I don’t feel like that is my true interest. I’m hoping the Peace Corps will help me figure that out — something involving the outdoors and conservation.”

“Eco-tourism is sort of an oxymoron — tourism is never environmentally sound. However, tourism does provide much-needed revenue, so the trick is to make it as environmentally sound as possible.”




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Headlines: January, 2008; Peace Corps Guatemala; Directory of Guatemala RPCVs; Messages and Announcements for Guatemala RPCVs





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