2010.10.31: First-ever Peace Corps recruits to hold reunion at Rutgers

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First-ever Peace Corps recruits to hold reunion at Rutgers

First-ever Peace Corps recruits to hold reunion at Rutgers

Ron Schwarz, who now lives in the south of France, recalled the grind of that summer. "We worked our rear end off. We crammed a year's worth of college into two months," he said. The program included language training, a study of Colombian culture, physical training, and lessons in horseback riding. They also learned the fundamentals of soccer, at a time when few Americans were familiar with the game. The first class of 62 flew to Bogota, Colombia, before going to their assigned villages. "Our job was "community development' whatever that meant. It was a vague concept in my mind," said Ned Chalker, who had grown up in a small town in Connecticut at a time when young people were less worldly than today. "There were no poor people I knew of, growing up," said Chalker. Two men were assigned to each village, one with strong language skills and one without. Chalker was the one without. His partner's father was a native of Colombia. He said they illustrated "democracy at the basic level," promoting decision-making modeled after the New England town meeting. "I came away with the understanding that people (in Colombia) are like people anywhere. They want a happy life, good things for their kids," said Chalker.

First-ever Peace Corps recruits to hold reunion at Rutgers

First-ever Peace Corps recruits to hold reunion at Rutgers

By RICK MALWITZ • STAFF WRITER • October 31, 2010

Caption: Peace Corps Columbia I trainees learn Spanish in a language lab.

Peace Corps Columbia I trainees learn Spanish in a language lab. (Courtesy Rutgers Archives)


RUTGERS - Sixty-two young men about to begin the adventure of a lifetime were standing in a room at the White House when the young president introduced himself, "Hi, I'm Jack Kennedy."

As if they didn't know.

The 62 were part of the first class of volunteers for the Peace Corps, a program Kennedy spoke about in his 1960 campaign and created on March 1, 1961.

The men - the Peace Corps was all-male at the beginning - trained on the Rutgers University campus for two months in the summer of 1961 before spending two years in Colombia.

On Thursday, members of the first class of volunteers will return to the campus to dedicate a plaque at Hegeman Hall on George Street, where they roomed that summer. On Friday, they will participate in a job fair at the student center.

Dennis Grubb was a sophomore at Penn State when he sent a handwritten letter to the White House seeking a position with the Peace Corps. He recalled the pep talk from Kennedy.

"He said, "I don't know how this is going to turn out. Remember who you represent. You represent the people of the United States. You represent me,' " recalled Grubb.

"We were literally writing the book," said Grubb, a resident of the Washington, D.C., area who will attend the reunion this week.

The Peace Corps traces its roots to 1960, when Kennedy, running against Richard Nixon, challenged students at the University of Michigan to serve their country in the cause of peace by living and working in developing countries, according to its history at peacecorps.gov.

Five weeks after his inauguration, legislation was passed to create the Peace Corps, with Kennedy's brother-in-law Sargent Shriver as its first director. Beginning June 25, 1961, the first classes of volunteers trained at four colleges, including Rutgers.

Ron Schwarz, who now lives in the south of France, recalled the grind of that summer.

"We worked our rear end off. We crammed a year's worth of college into two months," he said.

The program included language training, a study of Colombian culture, physical training, and lessons in horseback riding. They also learned the fundamentals of soccer, at a time when few Americans were familiar with the game.

Harold Northrup, a resident of Cedar Grove, recalled how the training in horseback riding came in handy. After flying to Colombia he went by truck and then by horse, riding for about three hours to the mountain village where he was assigned.

"We were right up there with the stars," he said.

Northrop, who had interrupted his studies at Texas Christian University, would spend two years in Colombia without coming home. He stayed in touch with his family in Texas using mail that would take months to be delivered.

Of the experience, he said, "It totally turned my life around."

Northrop would spend the next 40 years of his life in foreign service, working with CARE on development projects in South America and Central America, and later with the International Rescue Committee in war-torn areas including Bosnia and Chechnya.

The period around the Kennedy inauguration was a time of change, Schwarz recalled.

"We were lulled to sleep by (presidents) Truman and Eisenhower. America was boring back then. There were plenty of jobs, we could have done a number of things. We heard about the Peace Corps and thought it would be an adventure," said Schwarz.

The first class of 62 flew to Bogota, Colombia, before going to their assigned villages.

"Our job was "community development' whatever that meant. It was a vague concept in my mind," said Ned Chalker, who had grown up in a small town in Connecticut at a time when young people were less worldly than today.

"There were no poor people I knew of, growing up," said Chalker.

Two men were assigned to each village, one with strong language skills and one without. Chalker was the one without. His partner's father was a native of Colombia.

He said they illustrated "democracy at the basic level," promoting decision-making modeled after the New England town meeting.

"I came away with the understanding that people (in Colombia) are like people anywhere. They want a happy life, good things for their kids," said Chalker.

Chalker, whose first job after graduating from Trinity College was participating on the design team for the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, said he put his engineering skills to work to facilitate projects in the Colombian village.


After leaving the Peace Corps, Chalker worked with the National Institute of Education in Washington.

Following his two years in the Peace Corps, Schwarz pursued doctoral research in anthropology. He returned to Colombia, where he spent an additional 13 years. He later worked in Africa for 25 years before settling down in the south of France. ("Three hundred days of sunshine, great food and great wine," he explained.)

Schwarz is writing a book, "Kennedy's Orphans," about the experiences of the 62 men who volunteered in Colombia.

He laments that "Kennedy's vision has not been harvested."

Kennedy's vision was to enlist 100,000 volunteers annually.

"He (Kennedy) thought they would serve and change the face of America when they came home, with a commitment to community service," said Grubb.

The Peace Corps volunteer roster peaked at about 15,000 in the late 1960s, and has been about 8,000 to 10,000 in recent years. Of that number, about 60 percent are female.

Timothy Shek, a graduate student at the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers, volunteered for the Peace Corps in 2007. Shek, who grew up in the San Francisco Bay area, served in Bolivia for a year and a half, then was assigned to Honduras following political unrest in Bolivia.

Following his time in the Peace Corps he opted to study urban planning, and he plans to someday combine his studies and his experiences with the Peace Corps in the developing world.

"It shaped who I am now," he said of his time with the Peace Corps.
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Rick Malwitz:

732-565-7291; rmalwitz@

MyCentralJersey.com




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Headlines: October, 2010; 50th Anniversary of the Peace Corps; Peace Corps Colombia; Directory of Colombia RPCVs; Messages and Announcements for Colombia RPCVs





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