Perspective | Volunteering for peace, at and after Penn

Andy Nottestad grabbed a hamburger with some new friends at New Deck Tavern last week.

But he wasn't just eating dinner - he was saying good bye to his American way of life, at least for the next two and a half years.

"There's nothing more American than a hamburger," he said.

Nottestad, 27, is a volunteer in the Peace Corps, and his last stop before leaving for the Gambia region of Africa was Philadelphia for an orientation.

The Peace Corps is a government agency that sends volunteers to underdeveloped nations to aid with projects related to health, education, business, information technology, the environment and agriculture.

Once the volunteers arrive in the country where they are serving, they undergo a 10-week training session that is specific to their country.

But the Peace Corps holds a three-day "staging event" for new volunteers before they leave the country to give them an overview of Peace Corps' practices and what to expect once they arrive at their destination.

The events are usually held in Miami, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, San Francisco and Philadelphia, depending on what airport the volunteers are flying out of to start their service.

Behind Washington, Philadelphia is the most popular location for the events. About 40 staging events are held in hotels all around Philadelphia - including the University City Sheraton - each year, according to Peace Corps training specialist Elizabeth Erickson.

For the volunteers who complete the staging event in Philadelphia, the city provides their last glimpse of America and last chance to take advantage of American amenities before their service.

"I've been drinking a lot of soda," said Mai Shintani, 21, who completed the staging event at the University City Sheraton last week.

David Stewart, 53, joined the Peace Corps with his wife. They came to Philadelphia a day early and walked around campus a bit. "It's a pretty cool town," he said.

The average age of a Peace Corps volunteer is 27, illustrating that joining right out of college isn't the only option.

"I was surprised because I know the Peace Corps has a wide range of ages, but I thought the majority of volunteers would be like myself, recent grads," Shintani said.

Five percent of volunteers are over the age of 50, and the oldest current volunteer is 79.

Stewart explained that he was at an age when he wanted to give something back.

"We've had a pretty successful life, and we're tired of the everyday rat race," he said.

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Despite playing host to a number of departing volunteers each year, University City is connected to the Peace Corps in a much more direct way.

In 2006, 34 Penn alumni entered the Peace Corps out of about 4,000 volunteers who start each year.

That year, Penn was ranked No. 12 for producing volunteers among medium-sized universities. In 2005, Penn was No. 8, sending 42 volunteers.

Civic House, the campus hub for community service, and Career Services work together to advise students who are considering the Peace Corps as a post-graduation option.

Additionally, the Peace Corps sends a representative to campus to recruit potential volunteers.

Last year, the Peace Corps had an on-campus recruiter specifically for Penn.

After budget cuts, the organization got rid of the position, however, and the Penn community is now serviced by Rebi Wong, the Philadelphia-area recruiter.

Wong, who is based in New York, comes to Philadelphia at least once a week for recruitment events.

While Penn does send a good number of volunteers each year - 799 Penn alumni have served in the Peace Corps since it started in 1961 - there is definitely room for improvement, Wong said.

"It could be a lot higher since it's such a big school," she said.

Wong said she thinks that interest among undergraduates has decreased in recent years because of an increase in study-abroad opportunities.

"A lot of students, because they've been abroad, also to developing countries, they might not be as interested in doing it again," she said.

In order to find those students who may be interested, Wong attends career fairs and holds an informational session on campus.

She also does presentations to some classes and uses professors to single out students with desirable qualities.

For example, if the Peace Corps is looking for more French-speaking volunteers, she would go to French classes to promote the opportunity, she said.

That's how Penn alumnus Alex Harris started exploring the Peace Corps.

Harris, who graduated in 2006, is now serving as an environmental-education volunteer in Armenia.

He majored in Environmental Studies and Political Science at Penn, and he said his Environmental Studies professors were very helpful and supportive when he was making his decision to join the Peace Corps.

The Environmental Studies Department talked about the Peace Corps and other service programs "as not only legitimate things to do after graduation, but [it] also regard[s] these programs as giving important experience for later careers," Harris wrote in an e-mail.

But not all majors have this type of support system, and it's possible "to graduate without ever knowing how there are tons of options out there for service-oriented work," he wrote.

Penn alumna Julia Barmeier, a former DP editor, said she found little help from resources at Penn when she was looking into the Peace Corps. She even looked through the alumni database looking for Peace Corps volunteers, but could hardly find any.

"Peace Corps was something I pursued without help from Penn," she wrote in an e-mail.

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After completing their two and a half years of service, Peace Corps members finish with new skills that help them in their next step - which may include graduate school at Penn.

Bradley Dakake completed his service in Uzbekistan and Moldova in May and immediately got ready to start his MBA at Wharton.

About 15 other current MBA students were Peace Corps volunteers before graduate school in a program of about 1,600.

Dakake says he couldn't have ended up where he is now without his time in the Peace Corps. In fact, he had no idea he wanted to go into business until he taught a business seminar for schoolchildren in his village.

Through that experience, he noted that the expansion of industry was ultimately the way to improve local conditions.

"What you need is the local economy to grow," he said. "It's this sexy area to be in now of doing good while doing well."

Thus far, Dakake has been impressed with Wharton's commitment to service.

"I felt like Wharton really wants to do a better job of creating options for students who are interested in going into the non-profit sector," he said.

The opportunity for personal and professional development is one of the reasons volunteers choose to join, Wong said.

And Peace Corps volunteers realize that their new skills make them more prepared for a job or further study.

"I knew Peace Corps would teach me technical skills that I could use later in life as well as give me an experience that would show employers or grad schools how I was capable of overcoming any type of challenge," Harris wrote.

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