By Cal State Long Beach and the Peace Corps created an official partnership of two new Peace Corps Masters International programs at CSULB on Friday.
The Beach auditorium was overflowing with people when the agreement of the programs was signed by Carrie Hessler-Radelet, Peace Corps director, U.S. Congressman Alan Lowenthal and CSULB President Jane Close Conoley.
Professor and chair of the geography department Paul Laris, said one of the two established programs will involve geographic research and environmental work, and the other will involve linguistics and teaching English as a second language.
Hessler-Radelet said she has made changes to the Peace Corps application process. She said she made the volunteer application process easier and same-sex couples can now serve together. Applicants can also apply for a specific country and a specific job, which has not been an option in the past, she said.
As a returning volunteer, she said that, aside from helping others in faraway lands, there is so much more to gain from serving in the Peace Corps.
“You share your community’s joys and their sorrows, and you begin to see the world through their eyes — and that is such an incredible gift,” Hessler-Radelet said. “The more you understand about the people around you, the more you understand about yourself.”
Serafin Rodarte, a senior political science major, just applied to the Peace Corps a few weeks prior to the event.
“College teaches you how to incorporate certain frameworks of how to understand the world around you and Peace Corps is how you practice that,” Rodarte said. “It’s a really good training ground for who you want to be and what you want to do.”
For people who are not sure what they want to do, the Peace Corps can help guide a way to passion, which can also help others, Hessler-Radelt said.
“That commitment to service and that commitment to some adventure, not only helps those many thousands of people all across the world touched by the Peace Corps, but will help you,” Conoley said.
Serving in the Peace Corps can also help with finding a career path and is a great resume booster for graduates, Hessler-Radelet said. “Service is a training ground unlike any other, and it’s a launching pad for a twenty-first century career where you can make a difference in this world,” she said.
Lowenthal said what drove him, and drives others involvement in Peace Corps is “work with communities, to empower communities, to build upon the strength that communities have, not on the weakness.”
He was a professor at CSULB teaching community psychology for 28 years before becoming a congressman in the U.S. House of Representatives.
CSULB has had 777 alumni that have served the Peace Corps and is ranked the second most diverse school for volunteers, Hessler-Radelet said.
Hessler-Radelet said she hopes to make this an annual event at CSULB, and that it is a “perfect school” for the Peace Corps.
