STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — Penn State student Julia Burton, in the College of Agricultural Sciences, is among the first Peace Corps volunteers to return to overseas service since the agency’s unprecedented global evacuation in March 2020. The Peace Corps suspended global operations and evacuated nearly 7,000 volunteers from more than 60 countries at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The Peace Corps is such a unique experience that you don't get anywhere else. Being able to fully immerse yourself in a different culture and to have the opportunity to make a difference is what it is all about for me,” said Burton. “Growing up, my mother taught me to give back in ways that I can, and I know that if she were here, she would be volunteering with me.”

Burton will graduate with a bachelor’s degree in environmental resource management this spring. She will serve as an environment volunteer in Guyana.

The volunteer cohorts are made up of both first-time volunteers and volunteers who were evacuated in early 2020. Upon finishing a three-month training, volunteers will collaborate with their host communities on locally prioritized projects in one of Peace Corps’ six sectors — agriculture, community economic development, education, environment, health or youth in development — and all will engage in COVID-19 response and recovery work.

Currently, the agency is recruiting volunteers to serve in 58 countries around the world at the request of host country governments, to connect through the Peace Corps’ grassroots approach across communities and cultures. Volunteers have already returned to a total of 53 countries around the world. The Peace Corps continues to monitor COVID-19 trends in all of its host countries and will send volunteers to serve as conditions permit. Americans interested in transformative service and lifelong connections should apply to Peace Corps service at www.peacecorps.gov/apply.

About the Peace Corps

The Peace Corps is an international service network of volunteers, community members, host country partners and staff who are driven by the agency’s mission of world peace and friendship. At the invitation of governments around the world, Peace Corps volunteers work alongside community members on locally prioritized projects in the areas of education, health, environment, agriculture, community economic development and youth development. Through service, members of the Peace Corps network develop transferable skills and hone intercultural competencies that position them to be the next generation of global leaders. Since President John F. Kennedy established the Peace Corps in 1961, more than 240,000 Americans have served in 143 countries worldwide.

For more information, contact Erin Curran, Public Affairs Specialist, at ecurran@peacecorps.gov.