By Ava Cunningham
Up until fairly recently, I knew very little about the Peace Corps and what they do, but since then I have learned that it is one of the most amazing programs America has to offer. Peace corps is a voluntary way to serve your country and help the world, and gives you a chance to see new places while you’re at it.
The Peace Corps is a program where you can volunteer and help with developmental efforts in other countries. This can include, health and safety, environmental or agricultural work, or education and child development. As of right now there are over 60 countries that the Peace Corps helps and serves.
The Peace Corps was established in 1961 on March 1. It was established by executive order #10924 by President John F Kennedy. During his presidential campaign he offered up this idea and people took a lot of interest. Especially young people who were looking for a way to serve their country. When he got elected he kept his promise and within the first month there were thousands of volunteers. The leader of the Peace Corps, Kennedy’s brother, R. Sargent Shriver, chose 750 of those people to serve in 13 different countries. These people made such a difference and other people saw that and followed suit.
Though the Peace Corps program is only for people who are 18 and older, there is another program for middle school and high school kids that is a lot like Peace Corps. This program is called Global Leadership Adventures (GLA) and focuses on a lot of the same things like community development and service. There are trips for different age groups and different things you can choose to focus on when and where you go. GLA offers service in over 50 countries and is great because most trips are over the summer.
If you choose to volunteer for the Peace Corps there is a several month training process before you go that includes language skills, safety, culture, ect… After that you head to whichever country you are volunteering in and do two years of service there. The GLA programs are only two or three week long trips but you still get experiences with a lot of the same things. The websites are listed below if you want to check them out!
Peace Corps website: https://www.peacecorps.gov/
GLA website: https://www.experiencegla.com/
Sources:
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/peace-corps-established
https://www.experiencegla.com/
