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Show Application Comes First . . . Peace Corps Lists 4 Steps to Service Abroad By BONNIE MARSH Some say that it is this emphasis on the individual that keeps the of the Minnesota Daily Peace Corps alive and growing, and In the Peace Corps Washington forestalls the bureaucracy which offices where there seems to be plagues other government agencies. more bustle than around a cataWith up to 7,000 requests for it appears information coming in each week logue mail order desk impossible that prospective Volun- and 3,600 Questionnaires a month, teers could receive individual atten- how does the Peace Corps even tion. But they do. begin to place a person in a pro gram and see that he stays happy and effective while on the job? In other words, how does a person who is interested in working for the Peace Corps overseas go about out a Questionnaire, available at his local post office. This is not a test, but a probe into such things as citizenship and marital status, medical inforrhation, and especially into skills and schooling. It also asks for getting there? farm, trade, foreign travel and Application ' The answer is simple, in the words teaching experience, and in addition of one staff member: Apply. lists 201 skills from which the apTo do this, an applicant must fill plicant is to choose three as his major interests. College students indicate how many credits they have in certain areas. Applicants are given a page to answer the question, What do you hope to accomplish by serving with the Peace Corps? This answer is regarded as important because it indicates the motivation of the applicant. (See Steps, page 2) VOL. 2 NO. A Special College Supplement 1 ID) AUTUMN, 1963 eace Corps Future Sees Challenge For New PCVs By ROGER EBERT of the Daily Jllini The fundamental challenge facing the Peace Corps at the start of its third year, according to Director R. Sargent Shriver, can be stated simply: As young Americans realize how unglamorous and unromantic the work of developing nations can be, will they be tricked into believing it is also unimportant? Shriver said in an interview that new waves of Peace Corps Volunteers will be called upon to remain persevering and determined despite the fact that service is not quite as romantic as it first appeared to be. He said Volunteers actually have VOLUNTEER BARBARA WYLIE, of Eastern Michigan University, is an harder jobs now, and are faced English teacher in Katmandu, Nepal. She's shown teaching in a school with more meaningful challenges. she started for children of neighborhood servants. Normally these The first Volunteers could afford to make mistakes, simply because children would receive little or no schooling. By Next Fall . . . 7M00 PCVs To Be Selected By next fall 7,000 new Peace host country governments is for projecting the idea that in unity Corps Volunteers will be serving Volunteers who can teach in the there is strength. When a community realizes that overseas, many filling completely public schools. Government offinew assignments in the 48 countries cials are aware that no lasting it can work together to meet its requesting additional Volunteers. progress can be made through tech- own needs in this manner, the Applications are now being received from students eligible to enter training in January and June for these programs. Projects will begin training on a monthly basis beginning in February, although the major will be in the summer months. Students who apply now will be notified within one month if they will be accepted. . Liberal arts majors will fill most of the new assignments in teaching and community development work. Teacher-trainin- g courses will be included in the training program for teacher' training projects. Prior teaching experience is not required for Volunteers assigned to elementary and secondary classrooms. More than half of the Volun teers serving overseas are engaged in some type of teaching. Many of these Volunteers did not major or minor in education. The most frequent request from in-p- ut nical advancements until the populace reaches an adequate educational level. Some university-leve- l assignments will require advanced degrees. The requirement for a secondary school teaching job is usually only a bachelors degree. Volunteers assigned to community development will seek to help rural and urban communities organize to meet their own needs. Liberal arts majors with experience in youth club work, recreation programs, farming and construction are generally assigned to these programs. A college degree is not required for all community development programs. A Volunteer working in this type program in Colombia defined the work as group education through physical projects. Volunteers seek to get a community to work together on such projects as building a new health center, school or road, Volunteer said, then major attacks can be made on the whole spectrum of social, educational and health problems. Among the 7,000 new Volunteers will also be doctors, nurses, medi cal technologists, vocational teach ers, physical education workers, foresters and agricultural specialists. Spring programs will utilize 656 Volunteers in community developinclude Countries ment work. Somalia, Malaya, Thailand, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Jamaica,. Panama, Vene zuela and Nigeria. Teachers and health workers will serve in these countries, as well as Ecuador, Nepal, India, Togo, Iran and Tanganyika. For a complete listing of opportunities by skill and country with training dates, write the Office of Public Affairs, Peace Corps, Washington, D. C. 20525. - i 4 J iSnt ii ft . srf i V" j V I 1 1 C- I' PEACE CORPS DIRECTOR 1 . Of ) and a Sargent Shriver sees a challenge in the Peace Corps future. Shriver discusses the Peace promise Corps program in Honduras with a group of Volunteers and nationals. they were the first, Shriver said. But now the work is mapped out for us and we have a fine tradition of two years of service which we must maintain. According to Shriver, the first two years of the Peace Corps experience have provided a clear-canswer for cynics who asked, How can you expect to accomplish anything when even experts have failed? As the first returns from Peace Corps projects are studied, he said, we are becoming more and more aware that Americans of 23, 24, 25 and 26 years of age not only can match the work of the experts but are, in fact, often better. Shriver said experts require extensive equipment and 'often are capable of working only in sharply limited areas. On the other hand, young people who are creative and adaptable, and who can work with the tools at hand, can often achieve better result, in an underdeveloped society. The Bolivian ambassador recently warned us, in fact, not to select ourselves out of business, the Peace Corps director said. He pointed out that most of the people Volunteers work with do not have extensive educations, and can often be reached most effectively by Volunteers who are capable of consistent, determined effort over long regardless of periods of time education. ut Another challenge facing the Peace Corps, Shriver said, is the need to recognize that progress is often slow and discouraging in developing nations. Volunteers sometimes grow discouraged when, so to speak, they succeed in moving the ball only from the line to the said. Shriver line, They fail to realize that, in many cases, it may be the first time the ball has ever moved at all. 50-ya- rd 49-ya- rd The Editors This special Peace Corps distribcollege supplement uted by the nations college newspapers to nearly a million college students as a public service was written and edited for the Peace Corps by four college editors. The four, who spent a week at Peace Corps Washington headquarters and spoke with dozens of Corps officials,' were: Roger Ebert, editor of The Daily lllini (University of Illinois); Steven V. Roberts, feature editor of The Har- vard Crimson; Bonnie Marsh, editor of The Minnesota Daily; and Richard Simmons, editor of the Western Washington State Colle- gian. The supplement, a Peace Corps publication, is being distributed to hundreds of college papers in cooperation with the newspapers, the U.S.' Student Press Association and the Associated Collegiate Press. |