2009.02.20: February 20, 2009: Headlines: Figures: COS - Tunisia: Staff: Deputy Directors - Olsen: Student Life: Questions about the Peace Corps for Josephine Olsen

Peace Corps Online: Directory: Tunisia: Special Report: Peace Corps Deputy Director Jody Olsen: 2009.02.20: February 20, 2009: Headlines: Figures: COS - Tunisia: Staff: Deputy Directors - Olsen: Student Life: Questions about the Peace Corps for Josephine Olsen

By Admin1 (admin) (151.196.24.133) on Monday, February 23, 2009 - 10:01 am: Edit Post

Questions about the Peace Corps for Josephine Olsen

Questions about the Peace Corps for Josephine Olsen

"For people who want to go into foreign service—national work of any kind—being a Peace Corps volunteer is one of the strongest assets they can bring. The person who’s going to be the next ambassador to Iraq was a Peace Corps volunteer so it is a real enhancement for an international career. It also is an enhancement for a public-sector career or a non-profit career here in the U.S. so it strengthens a lot of service that people might think of as a career choice." Jody Olsen, Deputy Director of the Peace Corps appointed by President George W. Bush, served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Tunisia.

Questions about the Peace Corps for Josephine Olsen

Questions for Josephine Olsen

Bryan Beth
Contributing Reporter

Published: Friday, February 20, 2009
Updated: Friday, February 20, 2009

Acting Director of the Peace Corps Josephine Olsen was on campus Thursday as part of “Making the Difference Day: Careers in Government and Public Policy.” Contributing Reporter Bryan Beth spoke with Olsen about the corps’ mission, what it means to college students and how it aims to change the world.

Student Life: What do you see as the mission of the Peace Corps?

Josephine Olsen: Well, what’s most important for me in communicating is the importance of service, and as possible, international service. The Peace Corps is alive and well and a wonderful place for students because it builds leadership. It takes who you are as an American into a community in some other spot of the world.

SL: Has it benefitted those volunteers and the communities they serve?

JO: Yes. First we talk about how much it benefits the Peace Corps volunteer. And you talk to almost any returning Peace Corps volunteer who says, “Well I got much more out of it than I’m sure my community did” and I, who was involved in Tunisia, feel the same way because it totally changed my life in terms of how I try to listen and feel, appreciate others’ experiences, but what we’re finding is that in the countries, people have gained their own kind of self-respect, they gained self-confidence, they gained technical skills from the volunteer whether it’s speaking better English or understanding health issues and nutrition values for kids, but they also learn more about Americans.

SL: Why would a college graduate want to go into the Peace Corps as opposed to the private sector?

JO: For people who want to go into foreign service—national work of any kind—being a Peace Corps volunteer is one of the strongest assets they can bring. The person who’s going to be the next ambassador to Iraq was a Peace Corps volunteer so it is a real enhancement for an international career. It also is an enhancement for a public-sector career or a non-profit career here in the U.S. so it strengthens a lot of service that people might think of as a career choice.

SL: Washington University has scholarships for Peace Corps volunteers. Why do you see that as important?

JO: The importance of that is because Wash. U. is saying, “We value that Peace Corps experience.” What I hear from admission directors and from faculty and fellow graduate students is that what that grad student brings who’s a volunteer is a flexibility, a problem-solving set of skills and perspectives. They can get in and do whatever needs to happen to make their experience successful.

SL: Were you recently appointed to the position of acting director?

JO: I was [appointed] deputy director seven years ago under the Bush administration. The Obama transition team asked me to stay on and work so I’m thrilled, I’m honored. This is so exciting because the administration is such a strong believer in the Peace Corps and has publicly advocated increasing the size of the Peace Corps.

SL: Is the economic crisis affecting your vision for the corps?

JO: Not at the moment. The applications to the Peace Corps are up and I think that has more to do with the sense of service and the valuing of service. This is very encouraging to us. Countries are coming forward and saying, “We really want to do this” or asking for the Peace Corps either increasing the number of volunteers serving in the countries or saying “Please can you return to our countries?”

These are countries that we served in some years ago so I’m hoping that it gives us an opportunity to make more opportunities available for the people that want to serve.

SL: Why does the Peace Corps make such an effort to recruit college students?

JO: About 93-94 percent of all peace corps volunteers do have a bachelor’s degree. Most countries prefer someone with that college degree because it brings just enough of the maturity and technical skill. Because it is a 27-month commitment and you cannot take families it seems to work best for people who are beginning or who have recently graduated college and don’t have a house or a car and haven’t had that first child yet. It’s a good time as a whole beginning place to a career.

SL: It’s been said that one of the biggest obstacles to overcome in the Peace Corps is the language barrier. In your personal experience, did you find that you overcame that language barrier by just being there?

JO: For [the first] three months you’re completely engrossed in learning the language, whatever the language is. The language instructors are native speakers from the communities where you’re going to be serving and so they basically just put you into the mix. It’s not easy but very intense and after the three months you will actually go out to your community. The language is so important because behind the language is the culture. You’re valuing the person, you’re valuing the community when you learn that language because you’re saying, “You’re important and I respect you.”




Links to Related Topics (Tags):

Headlines: February, 2009; RPCV Jody Olsen (Tunisia); Figures; Peace Corps Tunisia; Directory of Tunisia RPCVs; Messages and Announcements for Tunisia RPCVs; Staff





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Story Source: Student Life

This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; Figures; COS - Tunisia; Staff; Deputy Directors - Olsen

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