Volunteer opportunities might replace job search

As many students prepare to join the workforce, a small percentage of IU students look to volunteer organizations, such as the Peace Corps or Teach For America, as a place to go for the few years after graduation.\nJan Van Dyke, senior assistant director for career resources at the Career Development Center, said students express serious interest in volunteer organizations.\n"It seems IU students are very interested in community service," Van Dyke said. "For example, IU has so many students interested in the Peace Corps that there's now a Peace Corps recruiter in the Career Development Center. Also, Teach For America has been very successful in recruiting IU students."\nThirty-six IU students were accepted to Teach For America this year, said Laura Nalley, Midwestern recruitment director for Teach For America.\n"IU has the one of the highest number of applications and the quality of students is very high as (is) interest in taking this kind of work," she said. "Students are interested in volunteer opportunities, I think, because they want to be surrounded by people with the same level of commitment and interest and drive to do something that will impact the world. There's a sense of idealism in this generation that's tempered by wanting to work very hard and do something more than a short-term fix."\nVan Dyke also feels idealism motivates students to pursue volunteering after college.\n"(Students are interested in volunteer organizations because) of altruistic reasons of wanting to help others," he said. "A lot of students just want to serve and help." \nOthers choose volunteer organizations for growth experience. Students are unsure of their career direction and want to grow personally, Van Dyke said. Some students who volunteer for Teach For America even decide they want to continue teaching.\nNalley said 50 percent of Teach For America volunteers decide to continue teaching, which she attributes to the volunteers' commitment to equity.\n"In Teach For America, college graduates commit two years to teach in low-income communities where students often receive compromised educations," she said. "At the age of nine, many of these students are three to four grade levels behind. It's challenging, hard work, but 50 percent of volunteers stay in the classroom. The hope of the program is volunteers continue to work for issues of equity."\nThomas Bonnenfant, an IU alumnus and graduate student, spent two years serving in Uzbekistan with the Peace Corps. Bonnenfant said the Peace Corps inspired him to continue humanitarian work.\n"The Peace Corps gave me career direction, and I now want to return to Central Asia to work in a humanitarian capacity," he said.\nNalley feels the experience and challenge of Teach For America is an opportunity for growth.\n"Teach For America is a good chance to work for long-term career goals, and it challenges you on a regular basis," she said. "You must try to motivate a group of students who are motivated by the WWF or Little Bow Wow. It's trying to identify with what interests students. It's an exciting challenge with a high value of experience. There are even tuition reduction and credits for the time (spent) teaching for Corps members."\nBonnenfant said he joined the Peace Corps because of the multitude of opportunities offered in the program.\n"I did Peace Corps because I didn't want to go directly to graduate school and because I knew that it would be very adventurous," he said. "I believe that opportunities with the Peace Corps are special because it can give a recent graduate work, language and travel experience all in one package."\nStudents seeking information about volunteer organizations and other career alternatives will find resources in the Career Development Center, Van Dyke said. \nThe center has a section of applications for the Peace Corps, Teach For America and Americorps. The CDC also has a space on its Web site devoted solely to alternatives after graduation. For more information, log onto www.indiana.edu/~career.\n-- Contact staff writer Colleen \nCarroll at cncarrol@indiana.edu.