Peace Corps

A Legacy of Volunteering: CU in the Peace Corps

Anna Tolette — Tue, 12 Nov 2024 17:19:57 +0000

A Legacy of Volunteering: CU in the Peace Corps Anna Tolette Tue, 11/12/2024 - 10:19

Kelsey Yandura

Last year, ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� ranked No. 4 on the list of all-time top Peace Corps volunteer-producing universities in the nation. These photos are just a few glimpses into the experiences of 2,100+ ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� alumni who have served abroad since the agency’s founding in 1961.

Julia Leone (IntlAf’22) currently works in Madagascar as a health volunteer.

Pamela Civins (Engl’86) served in Nepal as an education volunteer.

Lee Belstock (A&S’63; Law’66) volunteered in Peru doing community economic development.

Ryan Van Duzer (Jour’03) worked in youth development in Honduras.

Page Weil (CivEngr’05; MS’15) helped design and construct local water systems in the Philippines.

Submit feedback to the editor

Photos courtesy Julia Leone, Lee Belstock, Page Weil, Pamela Civins, Ryan Van Duzer

Last year, ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� ranked No. 4 on the list of all-time top Peace Corps volunteer-producing universities in the nation. Take a peek into the experiences of 2,100+ ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� alumni who have served abroad with the Peace Corps since 1961.

Off

Traditional

Fall 2024

White

Commitment to Service

Anonymous — Tue, 24 May 2022 20:15:12 +0000

Commitment to Service Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 05/24/2022 - 14:15

Erica Grossman

Service has always been a core value for Lisa Waugh (Hum’81; Nurs’84; MPubAd’97; PhD’10) and Peter Waugh (CivEngr’81; MS’84).

In 1986 the couple first served in the Peace Corps soon after graduating from ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ��. Decades later in 2019 while approaching retirement, they reapplied and were soon accepted and assigned to work in Peru. There, the Waughs would work in health and environment to improve water safety and supply. But when the COVID-19 pandemic unfolded globally in early 2020, the Peace Corps suspended global operations, canceling their trip and evacuating its nearly 7,000 worldwide volunteers.

Now, in May 2022, Lisa and Peter will be among the first Peace Corps volunteers to return to service overseas — 35 years after they first served together in Seychelles. The couple will resume their original commitment to water, sanitation and hygiene efforts in Peru.

“I believe that every person has a right to a safe water supply and access to safe and clean sanitation facilities,” said Peter.

From Boulder to Seychelles

Lisa and Peter first met in the Kittredge residence hall on the ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� campus in 1977, when Peter was a sophomore and Lisa a freshman. As they forged a relationship, they were connected by each other’s ambitions to serve others.

“It was something Pete and I had in common from the beginning — we were drawn by the ethic of service,” said Lisa.

Since childhood, Lisa has been interested in serving in the Peace Corps. Officially established in 1961, the Peace Corps partners with communities abroad to develop sustainable solutions for pressing challenges through volunteerism. To date, more than 240,000 Americans have served in 142 countries worldwide.

But it was while studying humanities and pre-nursing at ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ��, that the opportunity to participate presented itself to her.

“I remember walking by the recruitment table near the UMC [University Memorial Center] under the arches by the fountain,” Lisa recalled.

The Waughs' first Peace Corps service trip to Seychelles in 1986.

She joined informational sessions that inspired her commitment, and shared that enthusiasm with Peter. Soon after graduating, the couple married and decided to officially join together. In 1986, they embarked on their first service trip to Seychelles, a small country in the Indian Ocean about 1,000 miles east of Kenya. There, they took on different roles. Lisa served as a community health nurse, teaching continuing education courses for Seychellois nurses. Peter spent his time with the land transport division of the Seychelles government, working with engineers and technicians to design and construct bridges, maintain roads and assist small communities with their own roadway construction.

“The Seychellois were a joy to work with,” said Peter. “They were gracious, friendly and open-hearted.”

The experience heightened the couple’s passion for community-based work, inspiring both Lisa and Peter to explore other ways of helping others when they returned home in 1988. In addition to working as an engineer and operating a consulting business, Peter’s career also included time spent working with Indian tribal communities throughout the U.S. and with Engineers Without Borders abroad. Lisa went on to work for Boulder Public Health as a nurse outreach worker before transitioning her career to policy, planning and evaluation. She worked in program evaluation for donor organizations like the Clinton Health Access Initiative and the Annie E. Casey Foundation, and even served as a fellow with USAID, the leading U.S. agency for international development and humanitarian efforts.

As they neared retirement, Lisa and Peter considered how they might want to continue their service. Returning to the Peace Corps came to mind.

“The Peace Corps affords volunteers the opportunity to work at a grassroots level with people from a different culture — and that is a unique and special experience,” said Peter.

Making the Most of Moment

Though their trip was delayed, that didn’t stop the couple from offering their skills during a time of need. While waiting for the opportunity to resume, Lisa and Peter volunteered with the New Mexico Medical Reserve Corps, providing COVID-19 vaccinations across rural New Mexico.

When the COVID-19 pandemic delayed their assignment in Peru, Lisa and Peter Waugh dedicated their time to providing vaccinations in rural New Mexico.

With their Peace Corps assignment to Peru back on schedule, Lisa and Peter look forward to their following through on their commitment to improving water and sanitation efforts abroad. But no matter where in the world they serve, Boulder is always home.

“We’ve spent our lives on this campus, attending events, dramatic productions, lectures, rallies, the Conference on World Affairs, the film series, holiday concerts at Macky, running the Bolder Boulder, the Fourth of July fireworks…” said Lisa. “It’s been a central part of our lives for so many years. Even now, we’re calculating the time until we qualify to audit classes as seniors, when we return from the Peace Corps.”

Photos courtesy Lisa and Peter Waugh

��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� alumni among first Peace Corps volunteers to return overseas.

Off

Traditional

White

Legacy of Peace

Anonymous — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 07:00:00 +0000

Legacy of Peace Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 03/01/2013 - 00:00

Christie Sounart

October 1960
Campaigning for president, Sen. John F. Kennedy challenges 5,000 students at the University of Michigan to dedicate two years of their lives to volunteer in developing countries.June 30, 1962
Programs begin in 28 host countries with nearly 3,000 volunteers in the field.September 1964
National Geographic features the Peace Corps on its cover.October 1977
President Carter appoints Carolyn Robertson Payton Peace Corps director, its first female and first African American leader.1979
Peace Corps closes its post in Afghanistan that opened in 1962 and hosted 1,652 volunteers. September 1985
More women enter the Peace Corps than men for the first time. February 1997 Following the fall of apartheid, the first group of 33 Peace Corps volunteers arrive in South Africa.January 2004
CU-Boulder ranks in the nation’s top three schools for producing the most Peace Corps volunteers — and continues to rank in top three through 2012. September 2005
In response to natural
disasters like Hurricane Katrina, Peace Corps volunteers are deployed domestically. March 1, 2011
Peace Corps celebrates 50 years of promoting world peace and friendship. March 1, 2013
CU-Boulder ranks fourth in the nation for producing the most Peace Corps volunteers. More than 210,000 Americans have served in 76 host countries.

In 1965, perched on the side of a steep hill in Tansen, Nepal, stood a tiny 9-foot-by-13-foot house with a tin roof and a windowless first floor. The house lacked electricity and running water. Neighbors did not understand why its inhabitant lived alone. Surely he would be greeted by unfavorable ghosts, they thought.

Yet the strange inhabitant continued to live there apparently ghost-free. William Kieffer (PolSci’63) pushed on with his Peace Corps assignment — teaching English to local Nepali students. Unbeknownst to him, he was blazing the trail for the more than 2,300 CU-Boulder alumni who have served in the Peace Corps since its inception in 1961. This year the university was ranked fourth in the number of Peace Corps volunteers currently serving. In 2011 and 2012, it was ranked first in the nation.

While many of these volunteers felt the immediate impact of their service, much of their Peace Corps experience has shaped the rest of their lives.

Kieffer joined the Peace Corps in 1964 after Sargent Shriver — founding director of the Peace Corps — visited San Francisco State and urged students like Kieffer, who enrolled there after graduating from CU, to apply. Shriver was appointed by his brother-in-law President John F. Kennedy to establish the program with three goals: to meet the needs of countries with trained men and women, to promote a better understanding of Americans to the people being served and to give Americans a better understanding of other cultures.

“I had adventure in my heart,” Kieffer says. “The Peace Corps gave me the opportunity to get involved. Shriver opened the door, and I walked right through it.”

Eager to go abroad, Kieffer applied and received his Nepal assignment within the month. Today about one in three Peace Corps applicants is selected after a six-to-eight-month application process, says Cedar Wolf, CU-Boulder’s Peace Corps coordinator. It includes an interview, a legal background check and medical clearance. Volunteers fill positions in one of six areas — education; youth and community development; health and HIV/AIDS; business development/information and communication technology; agriculture; and environment.

“We always tell Peace Corps volunteers to go in wanting to help people rather than wanting a specific location or project,” Wolf says. “We encourage people to be flexible and to have two or three different programs in which they are willing to serve.”

When volunteers receive their assignments, they are sent to their prospective countries for about three months of in-country training before they travel to their assigned communities. But until the early 1990s, volunteers trained in America.

Kieffer’s group bound for Nepal had 45 people — including Dave Carlson (PolSci’64, MA’69), David Lewis (A&S’64) and William Robinson (PolSci’64) — who trained at George Washington University and in Hawaii. They studied the Nepali language and learned about the culture and geography along with how to teach. Physical training included running up and down stairs of the Washington Monument.

No amount of training, however, could have primed Kieffer for the culture shock that overwhelmed him after he arrived in Tansen, a hilltop town of several thousand people.

He was unprepared for the lack of water and electricity and realized his physical training was woefully inadequate. His assigned location was a day’s walk from the nearest road. He paid a woman to carry him water in three-to-five-liter cans daily from the bottom of the hill. He read and wrote his mother detailed letters by candlelight. A response took at least a month to arrive.

As one of the first Peace Corps groups in Nepal, Kieffer also was slammed with the realization that his teaching assignment could have very little impact on the school. His students were either in classes too large or displayed little interest.

“My assignment was nearly hopeless,” he says. “There was no way I could make a major impact on what I wanted to do.”

Despite his frustrations, Kieffer never thought of backing out of his assignment. He learned to make the most of his time and reap the value of his term.

Often, it is important for volunteers to realize their service is more long-term than immediate, Wolf says.

“In two years big projects can happen, but on the whole [volunteers] can’t go into the Corps with the mindset that they are going to change the world,” Wolf says. “They are planting the seeds of change that will occur over a person’s lifetime.”

Across the country’s western mountains in a village named Baglung, Carlson was having a different experience. While he, too, experienced culture shock, he and Lewis were warmly welcomed by their village and taught enthusiastic high school students English and science. They also developed a more sanitary sewage system for the villagers who often did not understand the need for latrines.

“We were very intent on persevering to the point where after six months we started to feel so much more at ease,” Carlson says. “Then our whole world changed.”

The pair became extremely engaged in their service, seeing their work directly benefitting the community to the point that Carlson’s life focus changed to helping others. Amid his difficult situation, Kieffer also recognized his impact in unintended ways.

He fondly remembers when a teenager named Kul Chandra Gautum ambled into a house where some Peace Corps volunteers were playing chess. Gautum was fixated by the game and returned to the house daily, asking them enough questions to make the volunteers realize Gautum’s extreme intelligence. They worked through the U.S. embassy to secure him a scholarship to Dartmouth College. Gautum eventually received a master’s degree from Princeton and had a very successful career with UNICEF.

“This is a kid who wandered into a Peace Corps house,” Kieffer says. “That’s the kind of unintended positive impact the Peace Corps can have.”

Some volunteers find their work so rewarding they extend their service. Kerri Courtney (Hist’06), a social studies teacher, stayed an additional year in 2009 in Namibia, Africa, empowering the young women she taught, emphasizing the need for gender equality. Her 7th-to-10th-grade students never had been taught by a foreigner before and were interested in places beyond their village. She showed her students videos and letters from the U.S. to help them grasp a different culture.

Courtney says her time in the Peace Corps was exactly what she had hoped it would be.

“I’m still reflecting on all the ways the Peace Corps has impacted my life,” she says.

Upon return to America, many remain invested in their country of service and often attend graduate school for research, Wolf says. Laura DeLuca (PhDAnth’02) received her doctorate years after serving in the Peace Corps as a teacher near Kisumu, Kenya, from 1987-89. She left her assignment in Africa with many questions about the culture of her village and sought answers through academic scholarship.

DeLuca teaches several Africa-related courses at CU-Boulder, conducts research in such areas as conservation, African policies and refugees and co-edited a book about community-based peace building. A saying she learned from Luo villagers has helped shape her outlook: “Haraka, haraka haina baraka,” which translates to “Hurry, hurry has no blessing.”

“In the Peace Corps you’re immersing yourself and trying to figure out how society works,” she says. “It opens up a new world.”

For most volunteers, the Peace Corps is the first step in a lifetime of public service.

“Ever since the Peace Corps, I’ve always sought jobs with a focus on community service,” says Carlson, who worked at Community Food Share in Boulder before retiring. He and several others from his Peace Corps group are involved with the nonprofit he helped start, Friends of Nepal, which is committed to helping development within the country to strengthen Nepalese communities.

Even though his tiny Nepali house was never ridden with ghosts, Kieffer was haunted by his powerful experiences in the Peace Corps. After he completed his assignment, he received his master’s degree and doctorate at Michigan State University. Years later he became field director of Plan International, which gives donors the ability to sponsor children in other countries. In 1978 he launched the program in Nepal — where his life’s journey started 14 years earlier.

“I would not have had the opportunity to go back to Nepal without the Peace Corps experience,” he says, adding that starting Plan International in Nepal was one of his life’s greatest accomplishments. “The Peace Corps was the first brick in the wall.”

The Peace Corps Today

Host countries: 76
Volunteers and trainees: 8,073
Gender: 62 percent female 38 percent male
Marital status: 93 percent single, 7 percent married
Minorities: 22 percent
Average age: 28
Volunteers over 50: 7 percent

Source: Peace Corps

Since the founding of the Peace Corps in 1961, more than 230,000 ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� alumni have served abroad.

Off

Traditional

White

Buffs No. 1 in Peace Corps, Again!

Anonymous — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 07:00:00 +0000

Buffs No. 1 in Peace Corps, Again! Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 03/01/2012 - 00:00

Staff

University of Colorado Boulder Peace Corps coordinator Alea Richmond, pictured on the right in white, volunteered for the Peace Corps in Ecuador from 2008 until 2010.

What do 112 CU-Boulder alums have in common? They are all Peace Corps volunteers who helped CU-Boulder become first in the nation for the second consecutive year in Peace Corps participation.

What’s more, CU-Boulder is ranked the No. 5 all-time school for Peace Corps volunteers with 2,317 alumni who have served since the corps was established by President John F. Kennedy in 1961. Each year since 2004, CU-Boulder has ranked among the top three schools in the nation for Peace Corps volunteers.

“It will teach you a lot about yourself and the world,” says Eli Weber (MechEngr’08), who served as an environmental health volunteer in Panama from August 2008 to October 2010. “You will get 10 times as much out of it than you put in. You will be exhausted, lonely, sick and angry some of the time. You will also learn an incredible amount and have stories you would not believe.”

To commemorate the university’s No. 1 ranking, Peace Corps director Aaron Williams visited campus in January.

“CU fosters civic engagement and participation, and students graduate from CU with the language and cross-cultural skills necessary to make them successful during their 27 months of Peace Corps service,” Williams said.

The University of Washington ranked No. 2 for large schools this year with 110 undergraduate alumni serving. Also in the top five, in descending order, are University of Wisconsin-Madison, University of Florida and University of Michigan.

What do 112 CU-Boulder alums have in common? They are all Peace Corps volunteers who helped CU-Boulder become first in the nation for the second consecutive year in Peace Corps participation.

Off

Traditional

White

Profile: Ellie Vaughter

Anonymous — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 16:43:12 +0000

Profile: Ellie Vaughter Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 03/01/2011 - 09:43

Alex Bak

After a lifetime of helping others and dreaming about what it would be like to serve in the Peace Corps, Ellie Vaughter’s (Thtr’91, MHum’00) aspiration is finally coming true. At age 77, Ellie will start an exciting new chapter in her life — a two-year journey to Kazakhstan in central Asia where she will teach people in a small mountain village to speak English.

“I love to travel but never had a lot of money to do it, so this will be a great experience,” says Ellie who has been to London and France but never to Asia.

While the prospect of living in a foreign country for two years might make some elders nervous, the adventuresome Ellie has no qualms about her upcoming journey, except her luggage limits.

“They told me I could only take 50 pounds of clothing, which is going to be absolutely impossible!” she exclaims.

Upon her arrival in Kazakhstan, Ellie will spend three months learning to speak the local language before diving into 21 months of volunteer work. She has had experience teaching English as a second language in Los Angeles, Minneapolis and Denver.

“I would like to encourage older citizens who are finished with their careers to step out and take some risks and make a difference in the lives of other people,” she says. “The baby boomers who are retiring from their jobs should consider doing something valuable, whether it be joining the Peace Corps or volunteering at a local school.”

Ellie is much older than the average Peace Corps volunteer but that doesn’t faze her. She enrolled in college in her 50s to broaden her horizons and obtain a degree in theater, a field for which she has long been passionate. While at CU she also served as the house mother at Sigma Alpha Epsilon and was involved with the French department.

“You don’t go to school to get jobs,” Ellie says. “You go to get an education and broaden your world.”

As Ellie prepares to leave for Kazakhstan, she is spending a lot of time with her family and is busy planning her son’s wedding. She stays active by swimming and cross country skiing. Despite being 77, age isn’t a barrier to Ellie.

“One of the reasons I keep going is because I get up every morning and I do something,” she says. “If someone gives me a discount, I’ll take it, but that’s about the only time I consider myself a senior citizen because I’m doing everything I want to do.”

Photo by Andi Fabri

After a lifetime of helping others and dreaming about what it would be like to serve in the Peace Corps, Ellie Vaughter’s (Thtr’91, MHum’00) aspiration is finally coming true.

Off

Traditional

White

First Place for Peace Corps

Anonymous — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 16:43:12 +0000

First Place for Peace Corps Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 03/01/2011 - 09:43

As a Peace Corps volunteer, Julie Fast (IntPhys’08), far left, lives in a town of 2,000 inhabitants in Peru offering everything from self-esteem classes to recycling programs.

For the first time in its history, CU-Boulder is ranked No. 1 in the nation for graduates serving as Peace Corps volunteers with 117 alumni who received undergraduate degrees currently serving around the world.

The university was ranked No. 2 last year and in 2009, and is ranked the No. 5 all-time school for volunteers with 2,269 alumni who have served in the Peace Corps since it was established by President John F. Kennedy in 1961.

“I am delighted that our emphasis on civic engagement as part of the learning experience at CU-Boulder has resulted in service-oriented graduates contributing to their global community,” says
Chancellor Philip P. DiStefano.

The University of Florida ranked No. 2 for large schools this year with 97 undergraduate alumni serving. Also placing in the top five were the University of Michigan, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the University of Washington.

Each year, more than 13,000 CU-Boulder students participate in some form of community service, according to Peter Simons, director of The Institute for Ethical and Civic Engagement.

Photo by Julie Fast

��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� received the top ranking for the first time in history.

Off

Traditional

White

Giving Peace a Chance

Anonymous — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 07:00:00 +0000

Giving Peace a Chance Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 03/01/2010 - 00:00

Emery Cowan

Photo courtesy Casey A. Cass

On Oct.14, 1960, on the steps of the University of Michigan student union, a young senator named John F. Kennedy made history when he challenged students to spend two years of their lives working for peace in developing countries.

In the 50 years since Kennedy’s speech, the Peace Corps has sent hundreds of thousands of volunteers across the globe in its mission to fulfill his grassroots quest for world peace. Serving for two-year stints, volunteers work on everything from AIDS education to information technology and environmental preservation. In the process, they gain the intangible yet invaluable life experience and cultural understanding that come with living and learning from people different from themselves.

This year, CU-Boulder is ranked No. 2 in the nation among large schools producing Peace Corps volunteers. The next four pages feature alums who answered Kennedy’s call to make a difference in various pockets of the world. While their post-Peace Corps paths have meandered in different directions, the overarching theme among their stories is clear — the experience of living and volunteering abroad stayed with them long after they set foot back home.

Daisy Schultz Jackson (Bus’55), second from left, stands with her former Peace Corps co-workers at the Farmers Training Center in Mohale’s Hoek, Lesotho. This photo was taken when she returned to the country in 2007.

Daisy Schultz Jackson

During the last 10 years, Daisy Schultz Jackson (Bus’55) has jetted overseas almost more times than she can count. Trinidad, Uganda, South Africa, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Botswana — the list never seems to end. And the 77-year-old is hardly slowing down. As an office manager for the U.S. Foreign Service working on a short-term contract basis, Jackson bounces from country to country, filling temporary positions wherever she is needed.

After holding a position with the Foreign Service for 22 years, the Peace Corps was a way for Jackson to fulfill her yearning to travel after retiring.

“The experiences gave my life another dimension,” Jackson says of her service in Lesotho. But instead of satisfying her craving to live overseas, the Peace Corps reignited it and spurred her return to the temporary position with the Foreign Service that she holds.

Ten years after returning home to Colorado Springs from Lesotho, Jackson is writing a book to gather her thoughts about the Peace Corps experience. The title is based on a traditional Lesotho saying, one that rang true for Jackson through every day of her service: Anyone who is a mother is a teacher.

Tungurahua, an active volcano, towers above the town of Ambato in central Ecuador, one of the many countries John Roberts (IntlAf’64) visited after his years with the Peace Corps.

John Roberts

In teaching continuing education classes at Colorado State University, John Roberts (IntlAf’64) chooses one country to cover in-depth for the entire semester. While preparing for the class could be a daunting task, Roberts simply scans through his own experiences.

His first venture overseas was with the Peace Corps in Somalia. Afterwards, he joined the U.S. State Department for 34 years, racking up visits to 186 countries. He helped resettle war refugees in Vietnam, supervised rural development projects in Indonesia and oversaw spending of U.S. aid in Egypt following the Camp David Accords. After retiring, Roberts served as Peace Corps country director in Tunisia, Malta and the Solomon Islands.

The Fort Collins resident’s next goal is to pay homage to the organization. He envisions a museum and learning center based around the third goal of the Peace Corps: promoting a greater understanding of other people among Americans.

“If I tell the stories behind this stuff,” Roberts says, “I can show how small the world is and also how big the world is, sharing with people what the world is really like.”

Leslie Boyhan (DistSt’86), fourth from left, returned to Guatemala with her husband and two sons in 2005. She stands surrounded by members of her host community.

Leslie Boyhan

Leslie Boyhan (DistSt’86) always knew she wanted to go into nursing, but she says she never would have arrived where she is today without her Peace Corps experience. She is the nurse for the Teen Parenting Program at Fairview High School in Boulder.

“Being in the Peace Corps opened up doors to the health department and the community health center that I never would have had otherwise,” Boyhan says.

After two years of service with the Peace Corps in Guatemala, Boyhan pursued nursing school and then a position at the University of Colorado Hospital before joining the Boulder County Health Department’s Community Infant Project. Her Spanish language skills led her to Clinica Campesina in Lafayette, Colo. She describes her job at Fairview as part community health, part social work as she helps pregnant and parenting teens with everything from prenatal care to breastfeeding to health-care planning. Many of the teens she works with are minorities, and Boyhan says her Peace Corps experience has given her the skills to navigate cross-cultural boundaries and connect with her clients.

“I think that I’m much more able to meet people where they are and appreciate what their values are,” Boyhan says. “At least that is my hope.”

Norma, left, and Bercilia, right, chat as they knit shawls and hoodies for Kate Robertson’s (Mgmt’03) Mayu, an online clothing company.

Kate Robertson

In a small Peruvian village ringed by the Andes, Kate Robertson (Mgmt’03) started her Peace Corps service making cheese with the locals. But where she ended up — working with a group of Peruvian women to start a knitting business — made her volunteer experience extraordinary.

��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� halfway through her Peace Corps service, Robertson discovered the town’s female knitting group. After her mom visited and took home an alpaca wool scarf knitted by one of the women, Robertson received requests for similar items. It was then she decided to start a business to help the women get access to a larger market and much-needed income.

Kate Robertson (Mgmt’03)

Mayu, a hand-knit alpaca clothing company, is in its third year. The online business is a way for her to stay connected to her Peruvian community.

“The place where I was and the people who I encountered were too good to just leave,” she says.

Post-Peace Corps, Robertson worked at a refugee resettlement agency and then traveled to Colombia last June with an organization to help artisans escape poverty. She is pursuing a master’s degree in international development at Thunderbird School of Global Management in Arizona.

“If it weren’t for Peace Corps,” she says, “I would probably be working in some corporate office because my dad told me to.”

CU alums rank No. 2 in the country in Peace Corps volunteers.

Off

Traditional

White