Peace Corps Prep at JMU Tops the National Charts

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The Peace Corps Prep program celebrated its enrolled and active students this past Thursday, April 11, at the PC Prep “Welcome Back and Send-Off” event. PC Prep students, PC invitees, and Returned Peace Corps Volunteers (RPCVs) gathered to celebrate the JMU students that have completed the PC Prep program and the JMU students who have been accepted in the PC Prep Program. Overall, it was a great opportunity for PeC Prep students to meet and mingle with RPCVs that were eager to share their stories from service, provide advice, and instill their enthusiasm about the Peace Corps and their host country. 

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A total of 26 students enrolled in the program this semester, and five of them have fulfilled the requirements of the program. They were presented with their PC Prep certificate of completion.

JMU ranked #20 among large schools on Peace Corps list of “Top Volunteer-Producing Colleges and Universities” in the nation this year. Currently, 42 JMU alumni are serving across the world and 19 current seniors applied and have been invited to start their service this summer.

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With JMU students becoming engaged in international service, we wanted to hear what brought them to this opportunity. So, we asked them!

The PC Prep program is a robust initiative that invites students from all backgrounds to partake in making the world we share a better place. With a variety of different majors already representing JMU in the first year of PC Prep opening, it will be interesting to see the variety of majors represented as we grow as an institution.

Here’s what our students are saying about what motivated them to apply for PC Prep and potentially serve in Peace Corps—it might just surprise you!

Estefani Flores, a Senior International Affairs major, mentioned “My case was different coming in [as] a senior and applying to the program, but I knew I had most of the requirements fulfilled during my tenure here at JMU. It made me realize just how much I had done throughout my time here and it was a heartwarming feeling, especially working with Church World Services and with the refugee community downtown.” Estefani was one of the seniors that received her certificate at the PC Prep event.

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Another student that received her certificate was Mikaela Briones, a senior International Affairs and French major. She reflected on her upcoming adventure with the Peace Corps and explained what she hoped to get out of the program. She said, “[I hope to learn] how to tailor my skills to the right sector so that everyone involved, myself and those I am impacting, would reap the most benefits from my service. This program proved to me that I am qualified, now even more so, to take on the Peace Corps with my best foot forward.”

It's exciting to see these views come to life as our students venture onto the next chapter of their lives. The staff at CGE and JMU as a whole wish them all the best and hope to continue to follow their stories abroad.

Moving forward, CGE hopes to continue to aid students in following their dreams of serving in the Peace Corps by encouraging them to get involved and be the change the JMU stands by. We hope that PC Prep will continue to grow at JMU and bring us up even higher on the national charts as a school producing enlightened and engaged citizens. 

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Published: Wednesday, March 13, 2019

Last Updated: Thursday, November 2, 2023

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