PC - Application Process, Part 1

Once upon a time.... I think the idea of the PC really hit me in the Summer of 2005 when having one of many conversations about post-graduation plans with my then-gf Debby. She was actually talking about it more seriously than I was. Sometime later that summer, I want to say August before heading back to Wooster, after talking again with my now ex-gf Debby about next summer, it really hit me that I could do the Peace Corps, and immediately I began taking it more seriously than Debby. After having one of my insomnia-lite nights, I hastily began the PC application online.

When I got back to Wooster for my senior year, the PC went to the backburner. Two years?? I have an IS to do?!? Maybe, if anything, one year in the Americorps would be better. Well, fast forward to the beginning of spring semester. After a winter break of life reassessment, a successful IS so far, and being able to see the light at the end of the tunnel, the question of WTF am I going to do after May 15th started to resurface (Obviously, I was going to take a summer class at Georgia State after being jerked around by those bastards at Wooster, but that's another story for another time.). Either a poster in Lowry caught my eye or an announcement in a WHN, but a Peace Corps recruiter was going to be on campus in early February 2006 for interviews with potential candidates. Well, shoot, that sounds like a good idea! I scrambled to finish my application I started five months ago.

The interview took two parts because of time constraints at Wooster due to the number of interviewees. The first part was in person on 06 February 2006, and the second by phone a couple week later on 23 February 2006. Because I was dating Emma at the time, I also had to fill out a Romantic Involvement Questionnaire, which is basically trying to figure out if I was going to wimp out of a potential assignment because of a girl (It happens more than you'd think.). Here are some of the questions:

** How significant do you consider your relationship?
** Have you discussed the decision to serve as a Volunteer with your significant other? Does your significant other support your decision to serve in the Peace Corps? If no, why not?
** What are your future expectations for this relationship? What impact do you think Peace Corps service might have on your relationship?

There are only a few more additional questions along the same line. Honestly, I should of just told my intervieweer that I wasn't dating anyone. It was also fun to act like this whole PC thing wasn't a big deal with Emma. Good times all around. I finished that form 17 February 2006.

I also had to get three personal recommendations (See why this process takes so long... there's always something more to fill out). I chose my boss from the summer before, Billy Jones, at Woodfinisher's Supply (thanks for the job Dad!), Jessi (some girl I know), and my IS advisor, Boubacar N'Diaye. Those were all completed by 21 February 2006.

I'm getting tired just writing about all this stuff. I had to give permission for a background check, and also had to get my fingerprints, which was really cool. I had to wait until I went home for spring break to get my prints done because the guy in charge at the Wayne County sheriff's office was sick and he was the only one that could do it. In the movie of my life, I will use the set of Mayberry from the Andy Griffith Show to portray Wooster. Anyways, I got the fingerprints done in Kennesaw, where the lady that did them waved the $20 fee for me because I was doing good deeds. Karma, people, karma. Thanks, ma'am! That was March 13.

Yada yada yada... I was officially nominated by my recruiter Hazel Domangue, a nice woman from the Chicago PC office, 05 April 2006. A nomination is a good step, but it is not an actual invitation to a program. It's merely a recommendation to the Washington office. I won't officially know what I'm doing or where I'm going until the invitation arrives in my mailbox. Meanwhile, more forms are needed.