Joining the Peace Corps: Day 514

I am a planner. This fact partially explains why I am on day 514 of joining the Peace Corps, and does explain why I am starting my Peace Corps blog less than six months before my service actually begins.

From what I can tell, people who join the Peace Corps may come to the decision differently, but I'd like to believe all of us do it with the hopes of fulfilling a simple phrase—"Making a difference." At least this is my generic and seemingly trite response when I am asked, "What made you decide to join the Peace Corps?"

But if you are interested in the details of why I decided to apply to the Peace Corps began five years ago, maybe even earlier. Following my freshman year of college I held my first summer internship. I worked (for free) at my hometowns biweekly newspaper. I spent most of my time reviewing birth and engagement announcements, and obituaries. In between staring at these pages made my head seem impossible to hold up—I would often have to stop myself from falling asleep—I did fall into a couple reporting assignments. The majority of my assignments had human interest angles. I interviewed people who were making a positive difference in the community. One man in particular really inspired me. He was a tae-kwon-do instructor, who had sickle-cell anemia. Despite having this condition the young man had managed to learn tae-kwon-do, and started working in the community teaching kids as young as three to 14 the same skill. The man himself was very quiet, reserved, and humble. I was struck by the passion he had, and also by the love and appreciation those he helped had for him. It was July when I did this story. I remember driving home that evening with my windows down and hot air blowing on my face, and I had this sense that I was not doing enough. I wanted to give back as this man had.

From that moment on I began to wonder what I could do. My mind was immediately drawn to the Peace Corps. I am not sure why the Peace Corps was the first thing that came to mind—maybe it is because "Dirty Dancing" happens to be my all time favorite movie, and Baby at the beginning of the movie says it was summer before she joined the Peace Corps. I began doing research into the Peace Corps, and initially I didn't feel I could take being gone for two years. I always kept the idea in my mind. I added it to my "Life To Do List." As I got deeper into college, and other aspects of life the notion of joining the Peace Corps was put on the back burner, but I never forgot.

The summer before my senior year, again I was interning at a newspaper, but this time at a daily in the town where I went to college. Again, I was given a few assignments in a row that dealt with community service/human interest projects. Again, I was struck by the idea of giving back. Again, I was reminded that I was not doing enough. I could do so much. So in June of 2007 I began re-researching the Peace Corps, and in July I decided to start the application process. At the end of August and the summer I submitted my application.