After four years in the concrete jungle of Los Angeles, a handful of graduating students this year prepare not only for life after UCLA, but for life in an entirely new corner of the world.
While their peers may shop for business clothes and hope to find a high-paying job, some students wish only for a smooth adjustment to a new country ““ a country that may have no running water, no electricity and definitely no social scene like that of UCLA.
And these soon-to-be graduates ““ the 18 UCLA students who have received nominations to volunteer with the Peace Corps ““ will embark on journeys unlike anything they’ve grown accustomed to while living in Westwood.
Sarah Ellison, a third-year history student who will graduate this year, will depart for Africa this summer.
Ellison will leave on July 1 for Benin, a country in Africa, to teach English and HIV/AIDS awareness for the Peace Corps.
“I can’t really picture what it will be like living in a country so different from here, but I really think this is what I’m supposed to be doing,” Ellison said.
Peace Corps Volunteers spend 27 months in a foreign country learning the language, assimilating themselves with the culture and representing America, said Kate Kuykendall, Peace Corps public relations specialist.
The goal of the Peace Corps Volunteers is to help developing countries, promote the understanding of Americans and to teach Americans about other nations, Kuykendall said.
Ellison’s time at UCLA has fueled her passion to carry out the Peace Corps’ mission, she said.
Ellison is not the only UCLA student whose opportunities at UCLA have led her to a decision to join the Peace Corps.
Stuart Sia, a fourth-year psychology student, has received a nomination to serve sometime in the next year.
Sia waits only for a pending medical and legal screening to receive his official invitation to the Peace Corps, Kuykendall said.
He will be invited to a country in sub-Saharan Africa.
Sia’s passion for traveling originated long ago in high school.
“My senior year of high school I studied abroad in Germany, and it was that time in Germany that led me to my interest in traveling other places like Africa,” Sia said. “Learning about the Holocaust … got me interested in genocide and other countries in general.”
UCLA sparked and fueled his desire to join the Peace Corps, to learn about foreign lands and his passion to help others, he said.
“I’ve always known I wanted to give back,” he said.
Sia is a member of the Darfur Action Committee, and he learned a lot from his involvement in Darfur Action Committee, he said.
“The more I learned here, the more it really made me want to apply my knowledge more hands on,” he said. “What I’ve found most enriching at UCLA isn’t the time spent in the classroom, but the groups and internships I’ve been involved with.”
Sia also doesn’t know exactly what to expect in Africa.
“It’s hard to say at this point what it’s going to be like, but at this point there’s a bit of an underlying level of nervousness, I guess,” he said. “But I don’t know if nervous is exactly the way to describe it; I’m antsy, because I want to get out there.”
Ellison said volunteers are trained by the Peace Corps ““ they are taught the language and customs of the country in which they serve ““ to help them transition.
One of the biggest transitions for Sia between life as a UCLA student and a Peace Corps volunteer will be the living conditions, Sia said.
“At UCLA I’ve always lived with a roommate in a nice, furnished apartment,” Sia said. “In Africa I could be living in any number of places, or in some small village somewhere.”
Some Peace Corps volunteers are stationed together, and some are stationed alone in their city, Kuykendall said.
Sia said he would prefer to be “isolated” in his city, immersed in the culture and working personally with whatever village in which he is placed.
One thing is certain: Ellison, Sia and all of the other graduating seniors who have plans to join the Peace Corps this year are keeping with a long tradition of Bruin Peace Corps Volunteers, Kuykendall said.
UCLA currently has 44 alumni serving in the Peace Corps overseas in 33 countries, according to an e-mail from Kuykendall.
Since its inception, 1,664 UCLA alumni have served as Peace Corps volunteers, according to the document.
The Peace Corps lets volunteers forge their own path, Sia said.
And despite his slight uncertainty, Sia feels good about the change coming his way.
“I’m OK with it,” he said “It’s exciting.”