While many ASU graduates head off to the corporate world to find jobs, some decide to travel overseas to help communities grow with the Peace Corps.
Kate Kuykendall, the Peace Corps’ public-affairs specialist, said ASU is the leading producer of volunteers in the state, with 41 graduates currently serving.
Kuykendall said ASU has made an effort to make service and global understanding an important part of the curriculum.
“ASU is a school that’s always very interested in knowing how they did and what their numbers were,” she said. “It’s important to have a student body that’s committed to service and global perspective.”
Students like Jonathan Stall, who graduated from ASU in 2006 with a degree in economics and supply chain management, is an example of a student who forewent a traditional career path to work with the Peace Corps and spend more than two years in Ghana.
“It’s seemed like it would be a really interesting experience with meaningful work,” Stall said.
While in Ghana, helped the community with small business development.
“I advised companies on how to improve their businesses in the community,” he said, “and how to do accounting and promote themselves.”
Even though he said living in a different culture for two years could be challenging, he was glad that he volunteered.
“What I enjoyed most were the relationships we formed with people, getting a chance to learn all about their customs and becoming part of their community,” Stall said.
Overall, he said the work he accomplished and the individual satisfaction made the experience worth it and even changed his future plans.
“I went to the business school [at ASU], but now I’m shifting gears to public service,” he said.
Kuykendall said there’s a range of personal and professional benefits that come with joining the Peace Corps after college.
“On the personal side of things, it’s a life-changing experience,” she said. “It’s a chance to learn a new language, to immerse yourself in another culture and to have some great adventures.”
On the professional side, the Peace Corps has consistently been ranked by Business Week magazine as one of the top places to launch a career, Kuykendall said.
“It’s a great way to show employers that you have leadership skills and creativity to get projects completed in a very unstructured and often challenging environment,” she said.
Shaina Neidermeier, a global studies major who graduated in December, is leaving for Armenia in May.
“I want to do international development, but I [don’t] want to go to graduate school yet because I want more experience,” she said.
Neidermeier said she will be working in environmental education and community development, which includes implementing environmental curriculum and helping add it to public schools.
“I’m looking forward to everything,” she said. “I’m really excited to live with a host family and all of the training we’re going to get and working with the community and forming bonds.”
Besides having personal growth and experiencing cross-cultural communication, Neidermeier said she’s hoping to leave something with the community.
“Hopefully I can leave some sort of positive impact,” she said.
Kevin Elliott, the Peace Corps’ regional recruiter for Arizona and Southern California, said the program is a great transition from college to either graduate school or to a career.
“For my own self, it helped me clarify a little bit more what I wanted to do,” said Elliott, who majored in liberal arts at University of California Davis and volunteered in Bulgaria.
There are two graduate school programs affiliated with the Peace Corps. One is called the Master’s International and the other is the Fellows/USA, he said.
“Master’s International allows people to get their graduate degree and also do their Peace Corps service simultaneously,” Elliott said. “It consists of a year of grad work, then a 27-month service.”
Fellows/USA is a post-Peace Corps grad program that offers returned volunteers scholarships or reduced tuition at more than 40 participating schools.
“It allows grads to apply experience to work in grad school,” he said.
Elliott said ASU President Michael Crow is a big supporter of the Peace Corps, and that plays a significant part in ASU being the current leader of volunteers.
“I know he tries to promote it to the faculty, staff and students,” he said. “And I think Phoenix has a very active group of return Peace Corps volunteers who help get the word out.”
Reach the reporter at charlsy.panzino@asu.edu.
