Ronald Schwarz, a panel speaker and Colombia I honoree who served from 1961 to 1963, discussed his memories of that time during his presentation. "[Before training] a lot of us couldn't identify Colombia on a map, half of us couldn't speak Spanish, and none of us had any idea what community development was about," he said. Even though they were a diverse group, the Peace Corps' proactive objective tied them together, Schwarz said. "We were talking about apathy in America and [how] the Peace Corps joins us spiritually," Schwarz said. "The fact of getting out of America, on the road like Jack Kerouac said and leaving America to do something for America, that was something that brought us all together."
Thirty-five Colombia I members attended the celebration at the University, which became the first Peace Corps training site in 1961 under President John F. Kennedy
U. reunites first Peace Corps trainees
Contributing Writer
Published: Sunday, November 7, 2010
Updated: Sunday, November 7, 2010 23:11
Caption: Member of Colombia I and anthropologist Ronald Schwarz describes how volunteers integrate into the communities they work with during Thursday's Peace Corps' 50th anniversary, held at the University. Photo: Jeffrey Lazaro / Senior Staff Photographer
Some of the first Peace Corps volunteers reunited in the Rutgers Student Center on the College Avenue campus Thursday to celebrate the Peace Corps' 50th anniversary.
Colombia I was a group of 62 Peace Corps volunteers who became the first citizen diplomats to promote peace in some of the most remote places in Colombia, said Carrie Hessler-Radelet, Peace Corps deputy director.
Thirty-five Colombia I members attended the celebration at the University, which became the first Peace Corps training site in 1961 under President John F. Kennedy.
Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs Philip J. Furmanski emphasized the University's special relationship with the Peace Corps and the integral part the late Samuel Proctor, the first holder of the Martin Luther King Jr. chair at the University's Graduate School of Education, and alumnus Harry Kranz played in that relationship.
"Up until [Proctor's] recent death, [he was] one of the University's most loyal alums," Furmanski said. "[He] designed the curriculum outline that described what volunteers should be taught before going overseas."
Proctor was deeply involved in the establishment of the Peace Corps and was its associate director and first director in Nigeria, where he served for 18 months, he said.
Kranz, as coordinator of Recruitment Training and Selection, was instrumental in bringing that training to the University, Furmanski said. Kranz was also involved in the domestic version of the Peace Corps, the AmeriCorps Volunteers in Service to America program.
The University signed a memorandum of understanding in 1987 with the Peace Corps to start a graduate-level Masters in Public Administration at the University's Camden campus - making it the only campus in the nation to work with the Peace Corps in nonprofit management and in preparing volunteers for service abroad, he said.
Ronald Schwarz, a panel speaker and Colombia I honoree who served from 1961 to 1963, discussed his memories of that time during his presentation.
"[Before training] a lot of us couldn't identify Colombia on a map, half of us couldn't speak Spanish, and none of us had any idea what community development was about," he said.
Even though they were a diverse group, the Peace Corps' proactive objective tied them together, Schwarz said.
"We were talking about apathy in America and [how] the Peace Corps joins us spiritually," Schwarz said. "The fact of getting out of America, on the road like Jack Kerouac said and leaving America to do something for America, that was something that brought us all together."
After Colombia I's training, the members visited the White House and met with former President John F. Kennedy and Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson, he said. During the meeting, Kennedy said he viewed the Peace Corps as a training ground and as another way of looking at foreign policy.
Hessler-Radelet called the members of Colombia I pioneers because they ventured into an unknown territory in the organization's infancy. The Peace Corps had no systems in place, no standard operating procedures and no safety net.
In keeping with the evening's theme of "Peace Corps Past and Future," Timothy Shek, an Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy graduate student, discussed his experiences in the Peace Corps when he volunteered in 2007 in Bolivia.
One of Shek's fondest memories was during training in Bolivia where he and his team members drove to a remote Andean settlement to help drill a water well for a single mother and her two children.
"For four days we battled altitude sickness, freezing wind and sun, but we finished," he said. "She stood there with her children crying tears of joy as she pumped water for the first time in her life. She thanked us and the heavens above for bringing us to her. That was the greatest gift I have ever received."
Kevin Quigley, the National Peace Corps Association president, described how the volunteers become a part of the community in which they are working.
"When you're working, sleeping, eating and living essentially integrated into another community, it changes how [we] look at the world ... our hearts all have another home," Quigley said.
Jack Elzinga, a Colombia I honoree learned cultural humility through his experience with the Peace Corps, he said.
"Cultural humility is accepting that other cultures have as much to offer us as we have to them," Elzinga said.
Jerry McMahon, another Colombia I honoree, said he recently went with his wife and Peace Corps partner back to the community where he volunteered and was excited to see how the community evolved.
"It's exciting to see how the town has improved and the things that have changed in the lives of the people there. That was the most rewarding thing," he said. "We saw people we worked with 50 years ago. There was a plaque on a school we helped build and their names were [printed] right alongside our names."
The reunion also offered him a chance to revisit the University and reconnect with friends.
"This is really special, after so many years there are still fond memories of being here," McMahon said. "Coming back and seeing the campus, it's really exciting … it seems much bigger, much more active."
Denia Navarrete, a Peace Corps Regional Recruiter and University alumna, is proud of this connection the organization has with her University.
"Honestly I just feel a strong sense of pride that I have the opportunity to be back as a return Peace Corps volunteer and Rutgers alum," Navarrete said. "To hear such a great panel of speakers and to see such a passionate group from Colombia Peace Corps, it's an honor."
