Jakon H.

1. What inspired you to serve online with the Peace Corps?

Peace Corps service in Romania was a defining experience in my life. It played a pivotal role in shaping my worldview during and following my service.

Following service, I worked to promote the Peace Corps' goals, and when the opportunity to serve as a Virtual Service Participant (VSP) Participant arose, I felt I was at a stage in my life where I could contribute to this program, raise awareness, and support a new Peace Corps initiative. I am a remote worker and am very comfortable in the virtual classroom.

Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, I saw a social media advertisement seeking Participants for the VSP to supplement English-language instruction for middle and high school students. I knew I could find the time to coordinate, prepare, and deliver virtual sessions, assisting educators and students with their instruction and study. I have been a VSP Participant for over three years now, and I find value in the program each week.

2. What projects are you working on?

I assist two educators in a school in southwestern Ukraine. I coordinate instruction for a weekly English-language speaking club for middle and high school students. I support the school's mission to cultivate well-educated young people with well-developed soft skills, including problem-solving, critical thinking, leadership, and social skills. In addition to language instruction, I engage the students in presenting the different aspects of American culture and traditions.

3. What is a highlight of your VSP engagement so far?

Each week, I look forward to meeting with the students. I constantly admire their dedication to our sessions. The citizens of their city face a lack of electricity and heat due to infrastructure bombings, and they face interruptions to their daily routines and instruction as they are forced into bomb shelters during school hours or in the evening and early morning hours. I am certain they face additional hardships that they do not discuss with me, and through it all, we meet, and I am greeted at the beginning of each session by their smiling faces.

4. How do you work with your partner to create an engaging virtual collaboration?

We have regular virtual meetings to lay out longer-term plans and then text across applications to fine-tune lessons to support classroom instruction. The instructors have a well-developed, well-supported English language instruction program, and we work together to create sessions that supplement their in-class lessons. Additionally, we have created an atmosphere of respect and inquiry, and we always try to set aside some time either at the beginning or end of the session for the students to ask questions or discuss topics that are important to them.

5. What’s something new you’ve learned about your work sector in your host country?

I am impressed with the level of foreign-language instruction and the technology provided to students to facilitate instruction. I am also impressed with the school’s use of social media to promote its students’ activities and achievements.

6. How has your previous Peace Corps experience enriched your VSP engagement?

I have always enjoyed collaborating in instruction. Peace Corps/Romania taught me patience, perspective, understanding, empathy, and flexibility. I have found these skills serve me well in everyday life and my line of work. These also need to be employed in the digital environment and, in some cases, are even more important there, where in-person signals are absent. The Peace Corps emphasizes the human element and human connection in service, and I think we are working to discover ways to maintain that critical component in the VSP, especially in cases where partners face challenging environments, such as in Ukraine.

7. What will you bring away from your VSP engagement?

I have so much admiration for the strength, motivation, and commitment of the educators, students, Peace Corps support staff, and the people of Ukraine.

8. What would you say to someone considering virtual service?

If you are a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer (RPCV), the reward and value you personally gained plus the impact you made as an in-person, on-site Volunteer are in many ways similar to what you may experience through virtual service. You get out of it what you put into it. Even though you are not physically present at the site, you will still find opportunities to develop relationships.

Learn more about virtual service in Ukraine.