Amanda McRoy had no running water or electricity for two years – and she loved it.
From 2009 to 2012, McRoy volunteered as a health educator for the Peace Corps in Cameroon, West Africa and Zambia, South Africa. Now she is Tennessee’s only official Peace Corps representative.
“It’s made me intentional about relationships (and) made me listen when people talk,” McRoy said, reflecting on her experience. “A lot of the time, we ask, ‘how are you?’ and the answer is ‘fine,’ and we’re okay with that. It wasn’t like that in Cameroon. People really wanted to know how you were and what was going on. I hope I brought that back over with me.”
While there are only 80 Tennessean Peace Corps volunteers currently in the field, 22 of which graduated from UT, recent changes to the application process will likely draw more students to apply.
“The application in and of itself is much shorter,” McRoy said. “Our invitation to service is what people waited for forever and ever in the past, and that now comes as soon as three months after you apply.”
The quicker confirmation is intended to give potential volunteers time to plan, prepare and reach an informed decision about their trip. Interested applicants must submit a resume, transcript, two letters of recommendation and an essay describing why they wish to serve with the Peace Corps. The application, McRoy claimed, can be completed in 45 minutes.
The streamlined application process also comes with graduate school opportunities. UT has been approved to become a member of the Fellows Program, offering financial aid to returned Peace Corps Volunteers seeking a master’s degree.
“If (a returned volunteer) wanted to get their master’s in social work and nursing, they could do it right here on UT’s campus, and it’s paid for,” McRoy said.
These incentives, along with free international travel, medical care and monthly stipends while abroad, are just a sampling of the benefits accompanying Peace Corps service.
Ruben Hernandez, a former Peace Corps Country Director, thinks the value of service lies in the freedom one has to use his or her individual talents and passions for the good of the host country.
“It’s a job that allows you to leverage your interests and skills with the community’s needs,” Hernandez said. “It will probably be the most liberating job you have in that regard.”
Still, students often express concern regarding safety provisions while serving abroad. Although Hernandez said such concern is valid, he mentioned the “significant strides” the Peace Corps has made in approaching dangerous situations by stationing safety coordinators in each country.
Nonetheless, Hernandez stresses one must “accept the fact that it’s going to be riskier to live in Ecuador than it would be to live here in Knoxville.”
For McRoy, however, the lasting benefits of service which lie in lessons learned and connections formed in the host community make the trip well worth the danger. She talks to her host family regularly and intends to return to Cameroon after completing her master’s in speech pathology.
“It’s an experience that changes you and makes you want to change the world,” McRoy said, emphasizing how the Peace Corps gave her life a sense of purpose. “(You) feel like you’re doing something that’s different and that makes a difference.”
For more information on the Peace Corps and the application process, contact Amanda McRoy at [email protected].
