Mariah Joyce
News Editor
In the coming weeks, Wooster will launch its first Peace Corps Prep program, joining 24 other colleges and universities nationwide with similar groups, which are part of a five year-old national push to engage students in the Peace Corps. The number of such programs has been on a steady rise in recent years.
The program, while not a major or a minor, is a focus students may select at the College similar to the pre-health or pre-law advising programs. Harry Gamble, an associate professor of French and Francophone studies at the College, and a 1994 graduate of the Peace Corps in Mali, West Africa, is the campus coordinator for the Peace Corps Prep program.
Gamble was instrumental in securing such a program at the College. A proposal for the program was submitted last April after an inquiry by Dean for Curriculum and Academic Engagement Henry Kreuzman. After looking at the data, Kreuzman and other administrators and faculty at the College realized that Wooster has a relatively low rate of Peace Corps enrollment as compared to other colleges and universities with similar profiles. Wooster was subsequently admitted to the program this past June.
Although this is the first time formal steps have been taken, Gamble says that he has been talking to interested students about the Peace Corps and encouraging them to join “little by little” as they’ve come into his office throughout his 13 years teaching at the College.
According to Gamble, the program is meant to be flexible and adaptable to students’ needs and interests. The program, which is designed to last at least two years, has five core requirements:
First, at three junctures during the program students must do a formal reflective piece about their participation in the program and how they feel it has affected them.
Second, advanced proficiency in a foreign language is required, which is defined as five semesters or an equivalent level of competence.
According to Gamble, study of a foreign language is particularly important because “it is very empowering to be able to function in a different environment,” an experience which volunteers will certainly find helpful.
Third, students will be expected to gain international understanding linked to the developing world; they may assemble four courses from across disciplines that help to achieve a nuanced understanding of the developing world centered on a theme of their choosing.
Fourth, students are to develop the beginnings of a skill set in one of four areas in which Peace Corps volunteers are expected to serve. Students will take three courses in one of the following four areas: teaching and education; health and nutrition; entrepreneurship, development economics and accounting; or environmental studies and agriculture.
Finally, participants of the program are expected to gain out-of-the-classroom experience. This component of the program should be some sort of “sustained experience that suggests you’ve tried to get out in the community, cross lines and develop skills on the ground,” said Gamble.
While the program is designed with the Peace Corps in mind, participants are not required to apply to the Corps, though Gamble does hope that a good portion of them do. Similarly, participants are not guaranteed acceptance, as there are factors at play such as medical clearance that the program cannot control.
Instead, Gamble says the main point of the program is its core values and its focus on service, cross-cultural exchanges and giving back.
Gamble anticipates that “it will take a good part of the semester to ramp up to where we want to be.” However, an advising committee made up of three APEX members, Associate Professor of History Greg Shaya and Gamble will begin accepting students in the next few weeks.
“The Peace Corps is a wonderful springboard for so many things,” said Gamble. “It’s confidence building – it gives you the flexibility and openness to think about people in other circumstances. I trace a lot back [to my time] there.”