by Theresa Higgs, UP Vice President of Global Operations

This week kicks off a year of celebration for the 50th anniversary of the Peace Corps! At 2:00am on October 14, 1960 on the campaign trail, John F. Kennedy gave an impromptu speech to thousands of students on the steps of the University of Michigan. The speech was only about 3 minutes long, but in it, the presidential candidate challenged the students to share their education with the world.

A group of students took action, and collected thousands of signatures on a petition to get President Kennedy to start a program to allow them to travel the world to exchange ideas and knowledge. Kennedy responded to this request by starting the Peace Corps in March of 2011.

I am proud to call myself a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer (RPCV). I served in Niue, a small island in the South Pacific, as a Youth Development worker. I am grateful for the opportunity to have entered the lives of the incredible people of my host community, and learn about a part of the world that had previously seemed so foreign and remote.

My experience in Niue solidified a passion in me to enable others to have these kinds of experiences. I truly believe that in these meaningful interactions, relationships are built, walls of differences and indifference come down, and we take one step closer to a more united and peaceful world. I am lucky to have had the opportunity these past five years to translate this passion into action by working for United Planet!

Returned Peace Corps Volunteers are everywhere and it is easy to contact your local RPCV group to request a speaker for your school or community group. One of Peace Corps’ three goals is to bring world cultures back home to others in the U.S. RPCVs take this very seriously and are always happy to talk about their host countries and issues affecting other regions of our world.

Even if you don’t join the Peace Corps or travel to other countries, you can take advantage of the rich resources we have available to us in the U.S. and continue to learn, grow and share about our world!

We also encourage you to sign your name to this new petition about international volunteering, a project of ServiceWorld. Thanks!

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