{"id":6473,"date":"2013-02-21T09:23:01","date_gmt":"2013-02-21T14:23:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.cos.ucf.edu\/?p=6473"},"modified":"2016-12-21T08:55:04","modified_gmt":"2016-12-21T13:55:04","slug":"peace-corps-expands-post-grad-experience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/peace-corps-expands-post-grad-experience\/","title":{"rendered":"Peace Corps Expands Post-Grad Experience"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>This is an excerpt post from the Central Florida Future, read their full story <a href=\"http:\/\/www.centralfloridafuture.com\/news\/peace-corps-expands-post-grad-experience-1.2805150#.USWF02kS6Fc\">here. <\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p>Joining the Peace Corps isn\u2019t just for students who are trying to avoid the job search after graduation. Volunteering overseas can be a\u00a0r\u00e9sum\u00e9\u00a0booster for those who can make the months-long commitment.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_6475\" style=\"width: 229px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-6475\" class=\"wp-image-6475 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2013\/02\/Screen-Shot-2013-02-21-at-9.20.02-AM-e1361456507930.png\" alt=\"UCF Political Science alumna Lindsy Townsend.\" width=\"219\" height=\"235\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-6475\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">UCF Political Science alumna Lindsy Townsend.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Alethea\u00a0Parker, public affairs specialist at the Peace Corps Southeast Regional Recruitment Office, said becoming a Peace Corps volunteer gives college graduates a competitive advantage.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c[The Peace Corps] has humanitarian appeal,&#8221; Parker said. &#8220;They go because they can build goodwill overseas. They\u2019re making a difference.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Jessica\u00a0Lampron,\u00a0UCF\u00a0campus recruiter, said not all applicants need a four-year degree to serve in the Peace Corps. Only 80 percent of volunteers are college graduates. However, applicants must be flexible as to where they are willing to serve for their 27-month term. There are many volunteers who do not make it through the nine- to 12-month application process due to personal reasons. Volunteer benefits while serving include student loan assistance, living allowance, full medical and dental coverage and vacation time.<\/p>\n<p>Lindsy\u00a0Townsend returned from Burkina Faso in West Africa in November after 25 months of serving as a Peace Corps volunteer. Living like a local didn\u2019t mean hardship \u2014 she had running water and electricity \u2014 but she did go without the Internet, which she said wasn\u2019t very difficult.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNow that I\u2019m back, it\u2019s weird doing more than one thing in a day,\u201d she said. \u201cLife was much slower there.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Townsend graduated with a degree in political science and international studies in 2010 and hopes to find employment in the public health industry in Washington D.C. with the experiences the Peace Corps gave her.<\/p>\n<p>In Burkina Faso, she worked with the local elementary schools, taught health lessons and participated in summer camps. The village she stayed at was home to more than 2,000 people, and she said she felt so safe it wasn\u2019t uncommon for her to leave her doors unlocked or sleep outdoors.Townsend became very close to her neighbors and had to adapt to the Burkina Faso people\u2019s view of alone time.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere was no such thing as privacy,\u201d she said. \u201cBut the people are so wonderful. If someone shifty was coming through [the village], they would look after me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Townsend noticed a big difference between the Burkina Faso way of life and the one in her home city of Bradenton when she returned and visited her high school classrooms.<\/p>\n<p><em>This is an excerpt post from the Central Florida Future, read their full story\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.centralfloridafuture.com\/news\/peace-corps-expands-post-grad-experience-1.2805150#.USWF02kS6Fc\">here.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This is an excerpt post from the Central Florida Future, read their full story here. Joining the Peace Corps isn\u2019t just for students who are trying to avoid the job search after graduation. Volunteering overseas can be a\u00a0r\u00e9sum\u00e9\u00a0booster for those who can make the months-long commitment. Alethea\u00a0Parker, public affairs specialist at the Peace Corps Southeast [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":122,"featured_media":6475,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[31,36,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6473","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni-news","category-class-notes","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Peace Corps Expands Post-Grad Experience - College of Sciences News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/peace-corps-expands-post-grad-experience\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Peace Corps Expands Post-Grad Experience - College of Sciences News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This is an excerpt post from the Central Florida Future, read their full story here. Joining the Peace Corps isn\u2019t just for students who are trying to avoid the job search after graduation. Volunteering overseas can be a\u00a0r\u00e9sum\u00e9\u00a0booster for those who can make the months-long commitment. 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