June 2, 2000
RELEASE ON RECEIPT

12 Oberlin College Graduates Enter Peace Corps

OBERLIN, OHIO--Bukina Faso, Togo, and Honduras are among the countries that will host 12 recent Oberlin College graduates and alumni during a two-year stint as Peace Corps volunteers. The 12 will be going not only to learn about a new culture but also impelled by a desire to make a difference.

"I recruit at colleges and universities across the country and it is really a pleasure to come to Oberlin," says Peace Corps recruiter Michael Tajeham, who is based in Chicago. "I am always impressed by the quality of the College's applicants--by their knowledge of international issues and their commitment to service. I find few applicants in their 30s and 40s who are able to demonstrate the level of community involvement exhibited by the students at Oberlin."

A total of 18 Oberlin alumni are among the 6700 volunteers currently serving in the program. With more than 413 alumni having joined the Peace Corps, Oberlin is fifth in the nation among the small colleges and universities whose graduates have served in the agency since its founding in 1961. Total American volunteers number more than 150,000.

The 12 prospective volunteers have accepted positions in health; crop and agricultural extension; environmental education; animal husbandry; secondary mathematics teaching; forestry; business advising; urban and regional planning; and community service. They will be assigned to a number of the 77 countries served by the Peace Corps.

Christine Arriola '94 will be teaching secondary mathematics in Burkina Faso, and Claire Miller '00 of Atlanta, Georgia, will be involved in agricultural extension in Guatemala. Enviromental education will be the focus of Owen Okie '98 in Guinea, West Africa, and Elizabeth Schuster '00 of Keene, New Hampshire, in Honduras. Diana Simoes '00 of Elmsford, New York, will engage in forestry in Togo, and Emily Zeugner '00 of Worcester, Massachusetts, will undertake animal husbandry in Gabon, West Africa.

Seven alumni awaiting country assignments have selected their areas of involvement. They are Francisco Franco '98, who is in the Peace Corps' master's international graduate program; Shoshana Inwood '99, agriculture extension; Jonathan Martinez '00 of Ireland, Indiana--crop extension; David Raikow '92, business advising; Diana Smith '00 of Buffalo, Iowa, urban and regional planning; and Joshua Starmer '98, secondary mathematics education.

Media Contact: Betty Gabrielli 6 /2/00 #103 bg