November 15, 2005: Headlines: Directors - Vasquez: Monitor: Director Vasquez kicks off International Education Week at University of Texas

Peace Corps Online: State: Texas: February 8, 2005: Index: PCOL Exclusive: Texas : November 15, 2005: Headlines: Directors - Vasquez: Monitor: Director Vasquez kicks off International Education Week at University of Texas

By Admin1 (admin) (pool-151-196-110-196.balt.east.verizon.net - 151.196.110.196) on Tuesday, November 15, 2005 - 10:17 am: Edit Post

Director Vasquez kicks off International Education Week at University of Texas

Director Vasquez kicks off  International Education Week at University of Texas

"I thought he presented the Peace Corps in a real positive light," said Mike Guerra, a senior from Pharr-San Juan-Alamo North High School. "There’s a lot of students from the Valley who don’t know what the Peace Corps is." "It’s great to have someone from Texas who is Hispanic who is director of the Peace Corps. That was inspiring."

Director Vasquez kicks off International Education Week at University of Texas

Global Perspective

November 15,2005

David L. Tijerina
The Monitor

The biggest adjustment Peace Corps members face after returning to the United States is getting used to how much food supermarkets contain.

"Half the world’s people live on less than $2 a day," Gaddi Vasquez, the director of the National Peace Corps, told about 250 students from area schools who participated in the Global Opportunities Day at the University of Texas Pan-American.

The event kicked off UTPA’s International Education Week, which runs through Friday. It features a weeklong study-abroad fair, panels on world events, international films and an Italian and Indian art exhibit in the library.

International Education Week was created in 2000 through a partnership between the U.S. Departments of Education and State to celebrate the benefits of international education and exchange programs worldwide.

In 1961, President Kennedy established the Peace Corps to promote world peace and friendship. Today, the Peace Corps is a volunteer agency of the federal government that accepts college graduates who are 18 or older and are U.S. or naturalized citizens.

They commit to volunteering for two years in one of 77 countries worldwide to help train the natives of those countries in areas.

The program also benefits the volunteers, who gain an understanding of other cultures and help promote American culture.

While abroad, their room, board and medical insurance is paid by the Peace Corps.

"The whole idea is that if you train people and teach them new skills, they will be able to improve their lives," Vasquez said.

He asked the students to remember the Peace Corps when they graduate from college and to consider giving something back to the world.

Vasquez who was born in Carrizo Springs, Texas, and is the first Hispanic director of the Peace Corps, had some words of encouragement for the students as well.

"I want to encourage you if you don’t remember anything else to think about the future and how you can accomplish things," Vasquez said.

The Region One Education Service Center and the office of U.S. Rep. Rubén Hinojosa, D-Mercedes, cosponsored the event.

"I hope they will take the opportunities to study abroad, work abroad and then come back to their local communities to make their local communities a better place for the next generation of students," said Region One Director Sylvia Hatton.

"I thought he presented the Peace Corps in a real positive light," said Mike Guerra, a senior from Pharr-San Juan-Alamo North High School. "There’s a lot of students from the Valley who don’t know what the Peace Corps is."

"It’s great to have someone from Texas who is Hispanic who is director of the Peace Corps. That was inspiring."

Hatton told the students when she grew up in Edinburg she would never have dreamed that she’d travel as much as she did and meet the people she has had a chance to meet.

Dovetailing with the Global Opportunities Day, was a international cultural event and fashion show that began in the evening and a food festival that lasted into the night.

During the international cultural event and fashion show one of the many groups to wow the crowd was Maharlika Dance Group, which performed Pandanggo Sa Llaw, described as the Dance of Lights, and Singkil, described as a Muslim princess dance. Spain was represented by a Spanish guitar quartet.

Sascha Hansen, a German UTPA exchange student, had the crowd rolling with his one-man play "A Typical Day in a German Boy’s Life," in which he described his first experience with the Rio Grande Valley heat and stereotypes of his country.

The fashion show boasted native dress from countries such as China, Costa Rica, Ethiopia, Saudi Arabia, Tanzania and Bangladesh.

A variety of food was available at the food festival ranging from Irish potato soup and potato pancakes, to such foods as baklava, candy from Iran. Greek representatives also displayed their tyropita, cheesecake which was a crowd favorite and didn’t last long.

"I myself am an international student," said Arturo Hernandez a sophomore electrical engineering student from Matamoros. "I think this is a good idea for different cultures to show themselves. Besides, they have good food.

David L. Tijerina covers education and general assignments for The Monitor. You can reach him at (956) 683-4434.





When this story was posted in November 2005, this was on the front page of PCOL:


Contact PCOLBulletin BoardRegisterSearch PCOLWhat's New?

Peace Corps Online The Independent News Forum serving Returned Peace Corps Volunteers
Peace Corps at highest Census in 30 years Date: October 22 2005 No: 745 Peace Corps at highest Census in 30 years
Congratulations to the Peace Corps for the highest number of volunteers in 30 years with 7,810 volunteers serving in 71 posts across the globe. Of course, the President's proposal to double the Peace Corps to 15,000 volunteers made in his State of the Union Address in 2002 is now a long forgotten dream. With deficits in federal spending stretching far off into the future, any substantive increase in the number of volunteers will have to wait for new approaches to funding and for a new administration. Choose your candidate and start working for him or her now.

Top Stories and Breaking News PCOL Magazine Peace Corps Library RPCV Directory Sign Up

Military Option sparks concerns Date: September 13 2005 No: 731 Military Option sparks concerns
The U.S. military is allowing recruits to meet part of their reserve military obligations after active duty by serving in the Peace Corps. Read why there is opposition to the program among RPCVs. Director Vasquez says the agency has a long history of accepting qualified applicants who are in inactive military status. John Coyne says "Not only no, but hell no!" and RPCV Chris Matthews leads the debate on "Hardball." Avi Spiegel says Peace Corps is not the place for soldiers while Coleman McCarthy says to Welcome Soldiers to the Peace Corps. Read the results of our poll among RPCVs. Latest: Congressman John Kline introduces legislation to alter the program to remove the Peace Corps as an option for completing an individual’s military enlistment requirement.

Why blurring the lines puts PCVs in danger Date: October 22 2005 No: 738 Why blurring the lines puts PCVs in danger
When the National Call to Service legislation was amended to include Peace Corps in December of 2002, this country had not yet invaded Iraq and was not in prolonged military engagement in the Middle East, as it is now. Read the story of how one volunteer spent three years in captivity from 1976 to 1980 as the hostage of a insurrection group in Colombia in Joanne Marie Roll's op-ed on why this legislation may put soldier/PCVs in the same kind of danger. Latest: Read the ongoing dialog on the subject.

'Celebration of Service' a major success Date: October 10 2005 No: 730 'Celebration of Service' a major success
The Peace Corps Fund's 'Celebration of Service' on September 29 in New York City was a major success raising approximately $100,000 for third goal activities. In the photo are Maureen Orth (Colombia); John Coyne (Ethiopia) Co-founder of the Peace Corps Fund; Caroline Kennedy; Barbara Anne Ferris (Morocco) Co-founder; Former Senator Harris Wofford, member of the Advisory Board. Read the story here.

PC apologizes for the "Kasama incident" Date: October 13 2005 No: 737 PC apologizes for the "Kasama incident"
The District Commissioner for the Kasama District in Zambia issued a statement banning Peace Corps activities for ‘grave’ social misconduct and unruly behavior for an incident that occurred on September 24 involving 13 PCVs. Peace Corps said that some of the information put out about the incident was "inflammatory and false." On October 12, Country Director Davy Morris met with community leaders and apologized for the incident. All PCVs involved have been reprimanded, three are returning home, and a ban in the district has since been lifted.

Top Stories: October 10, 2005 Date: October 9 2005 No: 727 Top Stories: October 10, 2005
Carl Pope says the looting of America has only begun 2 Oct
Report of PCV Misconduct in Zambia 7 Oct
Chic Dambach speaks in Oklahoma 6 Oct
Murphy to give papers to Heinz museum 6 Oct
Mike Honda speaks out on Katrina 5 Oct
Kinky Friedman could be the next governor of Texas 5 Oct
Peter McPherson urges new nuclear weapon designs 5 Oct
Doyle and Green in dead heat for Wisconsin Governor 5 Oct
NPCA Membership Directory ready in late November 5 Oct
GOP hopefuls avoiding Taft 4 Oct
Ask not 4 Oct
Russell Carollo wins journalism prize for "The Toll of War" 4 Oct
Mark Gearan says provision was a mistake 4 Oct
Mike Tidwell says Bayou has been sinking for years 3 Oct
Carl Pope writes: Preparing for Global Warming 3 Oct
Director Vasquez Meets with Volunteers in Gulf Coast 3 Oct
John McCain's call to service 3 Oct
Joshua Berman wins Lowell Thomas Travel Writing Award 2 Oct
Operation Offset proposes freeze in Peace Corps Funding 1 Oct

Returned Volunteers respond to Hurricane Katrina Date: September 12 2005 No: 729 Returned Volunteers respond to Hurricane Katrina
First and foremost, Give. Then volunteer with the Crisis Corps. Carol Bellamy says "In situations such as this one, money is needed the most" and added that Hurricane Katrina's impact on New Orleans is comparable to last year's tsunami. Thailand RPCV Thomas Tighe's Direct Relief International has committed an initial $250,000 in cash to assist hurricane victims. Mayor Tom Murphy (RPCV Paraguay) says Pittsburgh is ready to embrace refugees from devastated areas. Brazil RPCV Robert Backus is among the first Vermont doctors to volunteer to travel to Louisiana to treat victims. Latest: FEMA requests RPCVs to assist in recovery efforts through the Crisis Corps and the Peace Corps hopes to send 400 RPCVs to the Gulf Coast for short term assignments to assist victims with their applications for federal aid.

The Peace Corps Library Date: March 27 2005 No: 536 The Peace Corps Library
Peace Corps Online is proud to announce that the Peace Corps Library is now available online. With over 30,000 index entries in 500 categories, this is the largest collection of Peace Corps related stories in the world. From Acting to Zucchini, you can find hundreds of stories about what RPCVs with your same interests or from your Country of Service are doing today. If you have a web site, support the "Peace Corps Library" and link to it today.

Friends of the Peace Corps 170,000  strong Date: April 2 2005 No: 543 Friends of the Peace Corps 170,000 strong
170,000 is a very special number for the RPCV community - it's the number of Volunteers who have served in the Peace Corps since 1961. It's also a number that is very special to us because March is the first month since our founding in January, 2001 that our readership has exceeded 170,000. And while we know that not everyone who comes to this site is an RPCV, they are all "Friends of the Peace Corps." Thanks everybody for making PCOL your source of news for the Returned Volunteer community.


Read the stories and leave your comments.






Some postings on Peace Corps Online are provided to the individual members of this group without permission of the copyright owner for the non-profit purposes of criticism, comment, education, scholarship, and research under the "Fair Use" provisions of U.S. Government copyright laws and they may not be distributed further without permission of the copyright owner. Peace Corps Online does not vouch for the accuracy of the content of the postings, which is the sole responsibility of the copyright holder.

Story Source: Monitor

This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; Directors - Vasquez

PCOL23611
04


Add a Message


This is a public posting area. Enter your username and password if you have an account. Otherwise, enter your full name as your username and leave the password blank. Your e-mail address is optional.
Username:  
Password:
E-mail: