A Reflection on The Beneficial Learning Experience at The Peace Corps Fiftieth Anniversary Conference

I attended the Peace Corps 5Oth Anniversary conference on September 8, 2O11 at 4:00 p.m. in the Cornelius Henderson Student Center. This was a beneficial learning experience to me about the Peace Corps, Boys and Girls Club of America, and the Urban League of Greater Atlanta. The Peace Corps was established in 1961 to help promote world peace and friendship. Some of their many duties include to help limit the spread of AIDS and Malaria and represent the faces of America with the help of a selected diverse group of well-trained men and women. The Boys and Girls Club of America was designed specifically to keep young individuals off of the streets by establishing a positive alternative that young people can turn to. These clubs can be found in public housing, public schools, and military bases. These clubs serve roughly four million kids with 50,000 professionals and and 200,000 volunteers. The Urban League of Greater Atlanta is an organization targeted to empower African Americans and others to rise above misfortune, attain economic security, and achieve the highest human potential as possible. I was honored to be included in the discussion with our nation's service leaders, Roxanne Spillett, the President and CEO of Boys and Girls Club of American, Aaron S. Williams, Director of the peace Corps, and Nancy Flake Johnson, President and CEO of the Urban League of Greater Atlanta. Significant points were made in each of the leaders speeches about their organization's and their service opportunities. Each speaker spoke in high regards of their companies and persuaded me to get involved and give back.

Durning the event, each speaker gave a broad explanation about their organization and service opportunities. The most interesting part of the event for me was Nancy Flake Johnson's speech. The study that she mentioned, posted by the National Urban League at a conference, about the African American community losing one-third of their middle class to poverty really stood out to me. I was surprised that so many people allowed themselves to fall into a statistic. It is very important for the African American community to get back on track. Her speech really opened my eyes and persuaded me to join her company. One point that stood out to me in Roxanne Spillett speech was when she described her experience in New Orleans. When she visited one of the Boys and Girls Club in New Orleans, she spoke about how she saw that children had a thermometer hung up on the wall as if they were raising money for the families affected by Katrina, but was surprised when she found out that it had nothing to do with raising money but had everything to do with saving lives from Malaria. One ten dollar bed net can save one life in Africa. Their goal was to be able to send out five hundred bed nets to save fifty lives. It touched my heart to hear how she connected with the children and learned from them at the same time. Aaron S. Williams speech informed me the most on exactly what his organization's mission was. Most of us are not to fond of the idea of joining the Peace Corps because we are constantly reminded of danger and safety risks that may occur. He assured me that the men and women who are chosen to participate in such an activity are in safe hands and are not thrown into a hazardous area that will put them in serious danger. He also spoke about the benefits of the organization, for example, learning a new language and coming back well trained for a field that you would like to peruse in the future. He made me feel comfortable with the idea of joining the Peace Corps and I would be ecstatic for anyone who would think about signing up. I found the event very interesting and I enjoyed each one of the leaders speeches.

Ultimately, I found that attending the conference for the 5Oth anniversary of the Peace Corps was a very beneficial learning experience. Each of the leaders speeches told a truthful story about how their organization can benefit individuals like myself and mankind. They showed dedication and perseverance in their speeches which also helped me to connect with them on many levels of understanding. I gained knowledge while listening to the leaders because some of the points that they mentioned I did not know. I did not know that Malaria was one of the leading causes of death among children in Africa and that one bed net could save a life. I especially loved how each speech connected to one another by the term service. Each organization had a main goal of providing community service to others. Each of the leaders represented strength, dignity, and power and visited our school on a mission, to persuade us to make a difference in others lives.