By Iris Campbell
San Marcos CISD
San Marcos — Recognizing March as the 49th anniversary of the founding of the Peace Corps by President John F. Kennedy in 1961, some San Marcos CISD educators are sharing with students and staff their varied public service experiences.
Hilary Kouhana
Hilary Kouhana is an assistant principal at San Marcos High School, but she is also a former Peace Corps volunteer who served two years in Liberia, West Africa.
Kouhana attended a reception in Austin on March 1 to meet Aaron Williams, the new director of the Peace Corps who was named to the position in July 2009 by President Barak Obama.
Williams is also a former volunteer who worked from 1967-1970 in the Dominican Republic, was an executive vice president of the International Youth Foundation and a USAID mission director in South Africa during President Nelson Mandela's administration.
Kouhana said that Williams shared his global vision for the Peace Corps with Monday's group of Central Texas volunteers.
Jan Rudnicki
Travis Elementary's Jan Rudnicki volunteered “in a former life” for two years with 300 natives on the tiny atoll of Italik in Micronesia.
Now she brings literacy and life skills to the students of San Marcos in her role as campus librarian.
Rudnicki also spent a summer in the Amazon on an anthropological expedition, and now helps students check out books on the Amazon.
She said her experiences in the Peace Corps were amazing, and she is looking forward to the 50th anniversary of the organization next year.
Fred Deibel
San Marcos High School art teacher Fred Deibel was a VISTA volunteer in 1977-1978 in Idaho.
In 1976, he graduated from Southwest Texas State (now Texas State University) and applied for the Peace Corps. But because he had been an intelligence specialist in the Air National Guard, he was offered a VISTA position instead anywhere in the U.S. where his training and experiences could enhance the program.
VISTA focuses on issues relating to fighting poverty in the U.S. and related areas of homelessness, hunger, early childhood education, etc.
Deibel chose to work in southern Idaho with housing programs for migrant workers and the youth challenge program. His work with a volunteer bureau was coordinated thorough ACTION.
“I think my greatest satisfaction was to talk with high school students I worked with, to hear their great experiences, to see them grow up to continue volunteering in their community and to get their own children involved in the volunteer spirit,” Deibel said. “This was the beginning of a great educational wave of integrating service learning projects into curriculums in schools at all levels from elementary to high school and college. I will always remember my many friends in Idaho and Washington, and the great unique qualities of the people and environment there.”
In addition to the Peace Corps and VISTA volunteers, SMCISD's Stephanie Henderson was an AmeriCorps volunteer in Austin last year. She is now an instructional assistant at Miller Middle School, where she often talks with students about the challenges and rewards of volunteering.
