“It was actually fairly easy to leave my job and the people in my life and just say goodbye to the U.S. for two years,” said Scott Burgess from his Peace Corps recruitment office at the University of Michigan.
“I was ready to take on the world. I was so excited. It was a lot easier going there than it was coming back.”
Fresh from college with an undergraduate degree in environmental biology and psychology with a passion for volunteer work, Burgess left the United States for Paraguay in 2007 to serve in the Peace Corps. The experience, he said, was
life-changing.
The Peace Corps is an agency of the United States government developed in the 1960s by President John F. Kennedy. Prospective volunteers from all over the states apply to spend two years of their life in another country, filling a role necessary for the development of a particular community.
The Peace Corps places volunteers in one of six different work areas: education, youth development, health and HIV/AIDS, business and communication, agriculture and environment.
Applicants are expected to have an undergraduate degree or 3-5 years work experience applicable to one of the listed work areas.
Eastern Michigan University and the city of Ypsilanti do not have their own campus recruiting office. However, the University of Michigan recruiting office is not limited to UM students. The office and its informational sessions are both open to the public.
The nearest regional recruiting station is in Chicago, so the University of Michigan’s office is accommodating to all who are interested in volunteering.
Having returned home in 2009, Burgess, now a master of public policy, works as a University of Michigan Peace Corps coordinator, recruiting and encouraging those who are interested in volunteering.
Burgess served as an environmental educator in Paraguay, helping teachers and administrators establish programs and activities to teach middle school and high school students about good environmental practices.
“Paraguay is very rustic,” said Burgess. “They don’t have anyone come and pick up the trash from the street, you know? So we taught the kids things about recycling and composting and what to do with that.”
In his two years in Paraguay, Burgess became fluent in Spanish and Guaraní, the two official languages of the country.
He also organized a summer camp, trained teachers and developed environmental education curriculum in multiple schools, started a weekly national public radio show and traveled the country with a pack of high school students as they visited other schools to speak on safe-sex practices and HIV/AIDS education.
If that seems like a lot to take in, that’s because it is.
Peace Corps volunteers are fully invested in their service, spending two years in-country, living with and working in the community they are there to help.
Burgess emphasized the importance of building relationships with the community members.
“My first summer in Paraguay, I set up the summer camp. It helped me get familiar with the language and to get to know the community,” he said. “That was the first thing I did there.”
Burgess outlined his experience with the Peace Corps.
“After the application process, I received my invitation which told me where I would be going. I had 10 days to make my decision,” he said. After some research, he responded to the invitation and was sent to Miami to staging process.
“It’s sort of the jump-start to everything. There, they teach what the culture is like, some of the language and learning how to act, to be respectful and learn how to not offend people, things like that.”
After the staging, volunteers are sent to their country and go through a two and a half month training period, where they live with a host family, take part in intensive language instruction, safety procedures and all of the things necessary to complete whatever task that you have been assigned.
Once training is complete, the volunteers are on their own, to live and work in the community for the remainder of their time.
Throughout his service in Paraguay, Burgess lived with nine different families as well as in his own apartment.
He even lived in a firehouse for a period of time. He described the firehouse, with its hand-me-down equipment — including a 1962 fire truck that had to be parked on a slope and manually pushed to start — and sleeping mats strewn about the floor.
One thing to be made clear is that every volunteer has a different experience in the Peace Corps.
“Fortunately I had running water and electricity,” Burgess said. “But not all volunteers get that. It really depends on their placement.”
“It’s not for everyone,” he said. “But we do a lot of work to make sure that we take care of that when reviewing the applications. I would say 99% of the people I’ve talked to have said the experience was positive.”
In addition, applicants typically have past volunteer experience as well as experience with foreign language and a cross-cultural background. A medical evaluation is also a part of the application, including physical and mental health.
The application process is competitive.
“It’s getting more and more competitive, due to budgeting and the positions available,” Burgess said. “So we really look for outstanding applicants. We need to see passion.”
Though the program is competitive, the Peace Corps accepts a wide variety of applicants, of all ages and walks of life. The website www.peacecorps.gov contains a lot of information so those interested can read to see if they are a good fit for the Peace Corps.
The UM Peace Corps holds various info sessions throughout the semester on UM’s campus. They do not have any scheduled at this time for EMU.
“We’re working on scheduling one for this semester, but we don’t have one right now,” Burgess said. “But anyone can come to the info sessions here.”
The next info session will take place Thursday, Jan. 19 at the University of Michigan International Center, Room 9.
The International Center is located at 603 E. Madison in Ann Arbor. The next session after that is Feb. 16.
“I’ve changed my career path and my entire perspective on international development and Latino culture has changed. I now have career goals in Central and South American development,” Burgess said. “Serving in the Peace Corps really has changed my life.”
