Peace Corps maintains its appeal

Every morning for the next two years, Seth Spencer will wake up in a country halfway around the world from his native Duluth. He'll learn to use a new currency and will adapt to a different culture. And each day, he'll try to communicate in a language he began learning this fall -- and he'll use it to teach third- through 10th-graders.

That's life for this Peace Corps volunteer.

Spencer is one of the 103 Northland volunteers participating this year in the federal program, which is staving off popular, newer volunteer programs as its fifth decade comes to a close.

Spencer, 22, became seriously interested in the Peace Corps as a sophomore at St. John's University in Collegeville, Minn.

"The main thing that interested me was that it was a chance for me to go out and help others in any way possible and to get America's name out there and have people not only think of our country as one that invades other countries," Spencer wrote in an e-mail from Ukraine, where he has been posted.

Spencer applied in September 2006. He departed for Ukraine Sept. 28 of this year.

There are 8,079 Peace Corps volunteers working in 74 countries, the most since 1970. Minnesota ranks 12th in volunteers per capita. Spencer, whose degree is in history, will teach English, history and literature to students in Rokytne, a city of about 20,000 about two hours south of the capital, Kyiv.

Founded in 1961, the Peace Corps places volunteers -- most often 20-something college graduates -- in developing countries and assigns them to projects. Peace Corps participants usually agree to a two-year stint and can work in a variety of fields, including AIDS prevention and awareness, environmental programs and teaching.

The number of Peace Corps volunteers from Northeastern Minnesota and Northwestern Wisconsin has not changed much in the past five years, said spokeswoman Kim Ramsden, and it's the same nationwide.

But Ramsden pointed out that the Peace Corps' continued appeal is remarkable in light of the recent interest in other programs that compete for recent college graduates, such as Teach for America and AmeriCorps.

Mary Anderson, a career counselor at the College of St. Scholastica, said she sees about 20 students per graduating class of 500 or so take a serious interest in post-

college volunteering.

She said students have options for such work now more than ever in the form of AmeriCorps, Teach for America and religious-based programs.

"I do think that students are looking at more and different opportunities," she said. "In the past, the Peace Corps was it. Now there are a lot of different options."

Ramsden said Peace Corps volunteers tend to be interested in the concept of giving back and are attracted to the idea of working overseas.

"What we've noticed is, with a typical volunteer there are certain traits -- a tradition of service, a sense of adventure," she said. "They see it as an opportunity to maybe grow themselves while helping other people."

Ramsden also noted employers may look favorably on a resume that lists Peace Corps service.

Anderson said post-college volunteer work can help participants develop skills that are transferrable to the professional world, such as flexibility and independence, but that's not the reason most students take an interest in volunteering.

"I think most of them acknowledge the benefits, but that's not the motivator," she said.

Getting into the Peace Corps, though, is no easy trick. Ramsden said the program may get up to 12,000 applications each year, and only a third of those people will be accepted. Applicants must wait between six months and a year to find out if they've been accepted.

Spencer said the promise of cultural exchange appealed to him.

"I basically just wanted to give both my friends back in the U.S. and people in the country I was going to be posted in a chance to learn more about each other's culture."