The formula for most degree/career seeking students is the same. Get into college, earn a degree, graduate. Get a starter job, move up in their desired field, retire successfully. For a smaller percentage of students, like myself, following that formula exactly is not ideal. I did want to be accepted into college, and I do wish to earn my degree and graduate; however, jumping directly into a nine-to-five job is not what I had in mind. Even as a child, I was never really excited for your typical “grown up” life. I liked spending time with people and I enjoyed making others happy. Sitting in an office at the age of 23 was not the dream.

Now, as a college student, I can really focus on myself as an individual, my education, and my future. My updated formula at the moment is to finish college with my degree, then apply to join the Peace Corps. After the Peace Corps I can change the equation when necessary, but up until then, it is fairly set in stone. For me, the Peace Corps provides an experience like no other. I have traveled with a program to volunteer abroad, but a longer term scenario would likely have a greater impact on both sides, mine and theirs. Being placed in an area that would benefit entirely from the program and using specific skills to positively affect a community is very different from starting a nine-to-five career right away. This gap between college and career will provide me with cultural and personal learning, and will allow me to compose a better understanding of the world. And who doesn’t want to better understand their surroundings?

I have spoken to a few friends and mentors with ties to the Peace Corps, and all have had positive and negative things to say about their specific program. Not everyone will enjoy every aspect of a culture, or even of a job, so I have had to determine what experiences were influenced by opinions. Most report that their pre-placement programs were extremely helpful and allowed them to transition smoothly into their new community. Learning the language and customs of a given area is helpful to sustainability, and pre-placement programs provide ambassadors with those resources. Once there, the individual is placed with a host family in order to be introduced to the community firsthand. Many of the past volunteers I have spoken to spoke very highly of their host families, saying that even after they moved out they continued to remain in close contact with the family. Their advice was that the host family is there for a reason, and to use their knowledge of the area and of the people to help you throughout your term.

In my opinion, not enough students keep their eyes on how the world is evolving. Although they may update themselves with war developments and politics, an average student won’t think to look into female empowerment in the third world or educational development. Being able to be immersed in a community and see that there are women and children struggling to be heard and to learn is a shocking endeavor.

We are very privileged, especially those of us in the United States, to not know what it feels like to be steps behind the rest of the world. Children in these areas are hungry for knowledge while in the first world children may take their schooling for granted. Women in certain areas are considered to be nothing other than a pair of hips for bearing children. They were never shown that they have the ability to become a strong intellectual influence in the lives of their peers and family members. The most important thing to remember is that anatomically we are entirely the same. We are all equipped with the same bones and organs, and all with potential.

Spending a few years in another place, another country, separated from my life back at home devoting myself to others is exactly what I believe I have been preparing for. There are numerous other programs besides the Peace Corps that would love an increase in volunteers. An experience like this is extremely humbling, seeing what we have and are able to give. Maybe if every individual participated in international aid then not only would our world be a better place, but our people more understanding.