For Henry Hartzler, what started as a passion for both teaching and climate science eventually transformed into the opportunity of a lifetime. This August, he will be serving in the Peace Corps as an environmental education primary teacher in Nicaragua.

The Study Abroad Office, Peace Corps, the School of International Training (SIT), and International Fellowships will hold an upcoming informational session "Not Your Ordinary International Experience." This event is free and open to the public, and will take place from 6:30-8:00 p.m. on Tuesday, April 11, 2017, in 1117 University Capitol Centre. 

Today, Peace Corps announced that Iowa City, Iowa ranks No. 10 among metropolitan areas with the highest number of Peace Corps volunteers per 100,000 residents. There are 10 volunteers from Iowa City currently serving worldwide, and 2,388 Hawkeyes have served in the Peace Corps since the agency’s founding in 1961.

Competing in the Olympic Trials is a BIG deal, but it is not even the biggest event taking place this summer for Brian Donnatelli.  Brian is an elite sprint distance swimmer, and he will be going to Cambodia as a member of the Peace Corps for over two years right after competing in the Olympic Trials this coming July.

The Study Abroad Office, Peace Corps, the School of International Training (SIT), and the Blank Honors Center will hold two upcoming informational sessions - "Not Your Ordinary International Experience: SIT Study Abroad and the Peace Corps!" These events are free and open to the public, and will take place from 7-8 p.m. on Wednesday, April 13, 2016, in room 2390 of the University Capitol Centre, and 12:30-1:30 p.m. on Thursday, April 14, 2016, in room 350 of the Blank Honors Center.

Iowa City ranked seventh in the Peace Corps’ 2015 listing of the country’s top volunteer-producing metro areas per capita. This is the first time the Iowa City metro area (defined as Washington and Johnson counties) reached the top 10 on the list of currently-serving Peace Corps volunteers.

From Bangladesh to Tanzania, Rebecca Arnold has witnessed firsthand the power of education in improving public health around the world. She remembers the young Bangladeshi girl who delayed marriage to finish high school and pursue a degree in nursing. Then, there was the Tanzanian woman raising her children in poverty, who summoned the courage to leave an abusive relationship and become a public advocate for HIV patients in her community. Inspired by their transformations, Arnold has devoted her career to teaching life-saving health messages—from the importance of hydration to the dangers of smoking—to people in developing countries.

University of Iowa alumna Laura Semprini, 27, of Iowa City, IA and her husband Jason Semprini, 28, of Cedar Rapids, IA have been accepted into the Peace Corps and will depart for Fiji Aug. 31 to begin training as a youth development volunteers. The Semprinis will live and work at the community level to promote and develop healthy lifestyles and environmental awareness in conjunction with the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Youth and Sport.

Alec Bramel, 22, of Holy Cross, Iowa, has been accepted into the Peace Corps and will depart for Jamaica March 9 to begin training as an agriculture extension volunteer. Bramel will make a difference working with his community to identify resources and agriculture projects that can be developed and implemented to generate income. He will also facilitate training in farm management and work with schools to enhance and expand environmental education.

Nicky Fish, 23, of Oak Park, Ill., has been accepted into the Peace Corps and will depart for Indonesia March 14 to begin training as a secondary English education volunteer. Fish will make a difference teaching basic to intermediate English and providing enrichment learning opportunities through extracurricular and non-formal community activities.

Zadok Nampala, international student adviser at North Iowa Area Community College, can relate to those he's helping because he was once in their shoes. Nampala, or "Z," as he is known around campus, grew up in Kenya and attended Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids and the University of Iowa. Nampala, who has been at NIACC since August, speaks seven languages and frequently uses three of them — Spanish, Arabic and Swahili — when speaking to the international students at NIACC so "they feel at home," he said.

Brad Merryman will tell you he has the best job in the world. After 25 years in the IT industry, he hung up his hat and volunteered in Costa Rica through the Peace Corps. Just a few short months after returning to the U.S., Merryman was honored to accept the Midwest Regional Manager position with the Peace Corps, where he now oversees the recruitment of volunteers throughout a region spanning 11 states.