50 years ago today, on an early rainy morning, the Peace Corps was conceived.

…and that location, and my location today, The University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.  John F. Kennedy, just weeks before his election to President, greeted a crowd of 10,000 students at 2 AM on the steps of the Student Union asking the crowd if he created an opportunity to help mankind by serving abroad, would they go.  The response was an overwhelming yes.  Fast forward, and today many of those who helped start the Peace Corps and leaders of the international service movement came together for a daylong symposium.  The day was launched by a greeting from Senator Harris Wofford.  Harris was the architect of the Corps then working for its first director Sergeant Shriver.  At that time, Harris was soon dispatched to Africa as one of the Corps first regional directors.    One of the most compelling talks today and proof of the power of the Peace Corps came from the former President of Peru, Alejandro Toledo.  He said if it wasn’t for two Corp members working in his village and one of them living in his house, he would never have had an opportunity to leave the village, go to school including the Universities of San Francisco and Stanford and ultimately return to his country and enter politics. An amazing story for a boy of very humble beginnings demonstrating that given the right opportunity he achieved his full potential.  The day was filled with both stories of the past but more importantly a discussion on the next 50 years.  There were representatives of many organizations that do similar work to the Corps but with many different variable.   Mary Sue Coleman, the President of the Universality of Michigan made the case that every college student should complete either a service or educational experience abroad in order to graduate.  In this every shrinking world it is more and more important that our future leaders, and that of our citizens in general have a good understand of the world that we live and the dynamics on which it operates.  Other speakers included Sonal Shah from The White House, John Bridgeland from Civic Enterprises, Stan Litow of IMB and Alan Guskin, a  graduate student who along with his then wife Judy Guskin, presented the idea of this international program earlier in the presidential campaign and saw their idea take root on that rainy morning.  Both are Returned Peace Corps Volunteers and are still actively involved in promoting the Corps all these years later.   http://peacecorps.umich.edu/natl-details.html