Good to the corps
School Alumni postpone careers to embark on the ultimate road trip

By Luke Graham

Amy Cortina and Savannah ThomasArrigo stand in front of a mud oven in La Florida de Nicoya, Guanacaste province, Costa Rica.

When Amy Cortina ('04) offered to exchange language lessons with a young woman, she never thought she'd get the small-town rumor mill going.

"I only knew a little bit of Spanish," she said in an e-mail, "but I told this girl I would help her with her English if she helped me with my Spanish. I was so proud of myself that I had gone out and did this on my own and practiced speaking Spanish with someone of the community."

Until, of course, her host family told her the woman was a prostitute, and word soon got around.

Cortina said it was a quick lesson in what to expect from the Peace Corps in a foreign land.

"I learned to ask about people first because rumors in small towns spread fast," she said. "I also learned that I don't want to exclude others based on their jobs, unless they are murderers. But it is probably those people who need the most help."

Cortina is not alone with her experiences. She is one of many SJMC alums who joined the Peace Corps after graduation in search of adventure and self-fulfillment.

From the start, CU has ranked near the top of large U.S. universities at placing people in the Peace Corps. In 2005, CU trailed only the University of Wisconsin at Madison in participants.

Those who enter the Peace Corps usually begin with three months of training followed by two years of working in a related field.

J-school alums in the Peace Corps have included Cortina, Brady McCombs ('01), Heidi Anderson (MA '94), Savannah ThomasArrigo ('03), Ryan Van Duzer ('03), Jennifer Ooton ('02), Joshua Johnson ('94) and Andy Castelano ('05).

Brady McCombs poses with children from the state-run orphanage and group housing project near rincol de la Vieja in Guanacaste Province, Costa Rica. His Peace Corps assignment included organizing chidren's recreational and educational activities.

"Joining the Peace Corps was always a dream that I wanted to accomplish after graduating from CU," said Van Duzer, who was in Honduras working as a youth development volunteer. "As a freshman, I remember walking through campus and picking up info about the Peace Corps at one of the fairs. After seeing all the wonderful photos of volunteers around the world, I knew I wanted to join," he said.

For some alums, the Peace Corps will help supplement their careers.

"If I go back to journalism after being here," said ThomasArrigo, who works in a rural community development program in Costa Rica, "I think I will have a better perspective on the world, which could greatly help me if I wanted to do some sort of international journalism in the future."

In Honduras, Van Duzer said, he incorporated his journalism background into his work with the youth program. He said he started a television news show for which he trained 50 high school students on broadcast techniques. After six weeks of training, the show went live, with the students doing most of the work. The show has been on for more than a year and deals with stories involving youth issues.

Van Duzer said he also worked with two indigenous schools to develop a school newspaper.

"It is important for me that the kids get involved with these projects, because journalism is a great way for the kids to express themselves and have a voice in their community," he said.

While Van Duzer had success integrating his journalism background into his work in the Peace Corps, it hasn't been as easy for some alums.

Cortina said she wants to write about what is happening but can't, because the volunteers are not allowed to get involved in politics without the consent of those above her.

"It makes sense, but it is hard," she said. "It has furthered my desire to be an international journalist."

McCombs is one alum who turned his experiences from the Peace Corps into success.

As a reporter for the Greeley Tribune, McCombs said his fluency in Spanish has helped him in the diverse and changing city of Greeley.

"(Spanish) opens a whole extra portion of the world to me," he said.

While McCombs cherishes his Peace Corps experiences, he said the three years there took him off the fast track in the journalism field. Nevertheless, the time spent in the Peace Corps eventually turned out to be more beneficial.

"The diversity of my experiences coupled with my Spanish outweighed the three years I took off," he said.

"Journalistically speaking, I think (the Peace Corps) would help anyone."

One thing most alumni said they received from the Peace Corps is a sense of autonomy and the knowledge that they can accomplish anything.

For Anderson, time in Nepal from 1987 to 1989 taught her how to be more independent and to "face challenges you don't expect to face."

Anderson, a Boulder free-lance writer, said the Peace Corps was well worth her time.

"I'd do it all over again," she said. " In fact, I am considering doing it again."

"The Peace Corps is very challenging because you change your idea of success," McCombs said. "You mature and grow and learn so much about yourself – your learning curve goes way up."

His Peace Corps commitment fulfilled, Van Duzer is currently bicycling his way back to the United States. His accounts – complete with an interactive map on the Web – were to run every Tuesday in the Boulder Daily Camera as he pedaled through jungles, banana fields and Caribbean beaches until his scheduled return this December.

"The cost of fuel is killing me," he wrote in his Nov. 1 update.

"While my two-wheeled vehicle might not require the gasoline a Subaru Outback does, the money I save at the pump is being siphoned by my belly. I'm burning about 4,000 calories a day, and the cost of keeping my tummy from rumbling is sending my 'fuel' budget skyward.

"I'm on a two-cans-of-beans-per-day diet, but I'm still constantly hungry. Thankfully, Mexico produces masses of a serious cyclist's power food: bananas.

"Every morning I buy a kilo of bananas and a kilo of fresh corn tortillas. Then, throughout the day, I roll one of my sun-baked bananas – I strap them to the back of my bike trailer – into warm tortillas, and I've got a great, cheap, potassium-filled treat.

"When I'm feeling extravagant, I add strawberry jelly to the mix to make a nice French crepe."