[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] It was.

[Assistant] Can you tell me about getting ready for that first flight?

[User] The first days were pretty hectic actually. There was no written documentation, no paperwork, no procedures, no guidelines. We had to do everything from scratch. It was a long time; working 60 hours a week was not uncommon at all. We worked quite a bit. We even worked through Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays in 1980 to get STS-1 ready. STS-1, of course, launched April 12th, 1981. So leading up to that was pretty feverish.\n\n With the advent of no procedures, no guidelines, not only did we have to write the instructions but we had to develop our own procedures, our safety procedures, our hazardous material handling activities. Anything that you can think of that’s required that’s commonplace today wasn’t there. We had to do it all.

[Assistant] How’d you come up with those type of procedures? Did you ask people from the Apollo Program? Or did you do it as you were working with the first SRB?

[User] There were quite a few Apollo type folks that were still here. The word of the day was, “Well back in Apollo we did it this way” so there was quite a bit of that. We just literally took the drawings and developed the procedures from the drawings.\n\n The Apollo is one type of vehicle. The Space Shuttle was completely unique in the fact that it’s a reusable vehicle. We had to plan ahead to be able to reuse it again, where Apollo hardware is completely expendable. An interesting task, because no one had ever done it before.

[Assistant] Were you working in tandem with the Marshall Space Flight Center [Huntsville, Alabama] and Morton Thiokol and other [contractors]?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] There were quite a few Apollo type folks that were still here. The word of the day was, “Well back in Apollo we did it this way” so there was quite a bit of that. We just literally took the drawings and developed the procedures from the drawings.\n\n The Apollo is one type of vehicle. The Space Shuttle was completely unique in the fact that it’s a reusable vehicle. We had to plan ahead to be able to reuse it again, where Apollo hardware is completely expendable. An interesting task, because no one had ever done it before.

[Assistant] Were you working in tandem with the Marshall Space Flight Center [Huntsville, Alabama] and Morton Thiokol and other [contractors]?

[User] Marshall Space Flight Center was the design agency for SRB. Thiokol was the company that did the motor segments of the SRB, the RSRB [Reusable Solid Rocket Booster]. So they did their work out in Utah. They filled the motor segments with propellant and shipped them here. Our job at the time here was to do the subassembly work, the assembly and integration work, as well as the stacking. There were two contracts. There was an MBAC Contract (Marshall Booster Assembly Contract) and a KBAC Contract (Kennedy Booster Assembly Contract). United Technologies had both of those contracts in the beginning. Ultimately the KBAC Contract went a separate path, and we retained the MBAC Contract. The work that was done then by that contract is what USA [United Space Alliance] SRB still does today. This particular facility we’re in, [the Solid Rocket Booster Assembly and Refurbishment Facility], is designed for the SRB work. Once we moved out of the VAB and came here and up until today it’s all been just SRB and a Marshall Contract.

[Assistant] When did you move officially out of the VAB into this facility?

[User] Think this [facility] was dedicated in 1985.

[Assistant] So just before [the Space Shuttle] Challenger [accident, STS-51L]


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] Marshall Space Flight Center was the design agency for SRB. Thiokol was the company that did the motor segments of the SRB, the RSRB [Reusable Solid Rocket Booster]. So they did their work out in Utah. They filled the motor segments with propellant and shipped them here. Our job at the time here was to do the subassembly work, the assembly and integration work, as well as the stacking. There were two contracts. There was an MBAC Contract (Marshall Booster Assembly Contract) and a KBAC Contract (Kennedy Booster Assembly Contract). United Technologies had both of those contracts in the beginning. Ultimately the KBAC Contract went a separate path, and we retained the MBAC Contract. The work that was done then by that contract is what USA [United Space Alliance] SRB still does today. This particular facility we’re in, [the Solid Rocket Booster Assembly and Refurbishment Facility], is designed for the SRB work. Once we moved out of the VAB and came here and up until today it’s all been just SRB and a Marshall Contract.

[Assistant] When did you move officially out of the VAB into this facility?

[User] Think this [facility] was dedicated in 1985.

[Assistant] So just before [the Space Shuttle] Challenger [accident, STS-51L]

[User] Just before Challenger, yes.

[Assistant] Tell me about that first flight of STS-1. What are your recollections, besides the ramp-up for the mission? Did you get to see the launch?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] Think this [facility] was dedicated in 1985.

[Assistant] So just before [the Space Shuttle] Challenger [accident, STS-51L]

[User] Just before Challenger, yes.

[Assistant] Tell me about that first flight of STS-1. What are your recollections, besides the ramp-up for the mission? Did you get to see the launch?

[User] Absolutely. Like I said we worked pretty long hours getting ready. When we finished our first hardware, our STS-1 hardware, we transferred it across what we called the low bay at the time. Handed it off to the other contract, the KBAC Contract. We started building STS-2. We were building STS-2 and STS-3 as the other folks were prepping for the actual launch. We were here the day of the launch. We were in a support mode watching our systems, making sure everything that we had put together worked the way it was supposed to.\n\n It was a lot different, STS-1, than the way they launch today. Being the first launch, I don’t think anybody knew what to expect. We’d seen Apollo and Atlas, some of the other rockets. It was pretty fantastic to see the Space Shuttle take off for the first time.

[Assistant] What did you learn from that first mission that you applied [to future flights]? You said you were working on the STS-2 and STS-3 SRBs. Were there lessons that you learned from the orbital flight tests, STS-1 through 4, that you applied to future stacking efforts and processing?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] Just before Challenger, yes.

[Assistant] Tell me about that first flight of STS-1. What are your recollections, besides the ramp-up for the mission? Did you get to see the launch?

[User] Absolutely. Like I said we worked pretty long hours getting ready. When we finished our first hardware, our STS-1 hardware, we transferred it across what we called the low bay at the time. Handed it off to the other contract, the KBAC Contract. We started building STS-2. We were building STS-2 and STS-3 as the other folks were prepping for the actual launch. We were here the day of the launch. We were in a support mode watching our systems, making sure everything that we had put together worked the way it was supposed to.\n\n It was a lot different, STS-1, than the way they launch today. Being the first launch, I don’t think anybody knew what to expect. We’d seen Apollo and Atlas, some of the other rockets. It was pretty fantastic to see the Space Shuttle take off for the first time.

[Assistant] What did you learn from that first mission that you applied [to future flights]? You said you were working on the STS-2 and STS-3 SRBs. Were there lessons that you learned from the orbital flight tests, STS-1 through 4, that you applied to future stacking efforts and processing?

[User] Our job, being subassembly and integration activity, we developed learning curves and continuous improvement activities. So every single launch we learned something new. We played on that. As a matter of fact, when you’re building two SRBs, you build one ahead of the other. As you’re building, say the left side, you’re learning something and you can apply it to the right side. So we’re even learning lessons and applying them between the launches in other words. We build two things for every launch here. So we had twice the learning curve someone else might have.

[Assistant] Are there differences between the right and left booster?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] We did have an articulating arm robot in the VAB but it wasn’t like what we had here. These were the state-of-the-art type robots at the time. The facility was specifically designed to flow the hardware in a very efficient manner, where in the VAB we were just using cells that were available from Apollo. So we started from scratch where the hardware comes in the door here, goes to a different workstation, out the other side a completed assembly. So with that and the machine shop we built, it’s just exponentially more efficient in this building.

[Assistant] How many people were working on stacking and assembling an SRB in the beginning compared to today?

[User] I’ll say from when we started populating this building. SRB was a little over 800 people at its height in Florida. So it took 800 people to process at a rate of ten or 11 a year. After Challenger we actually increased the number of employees we had because we went through a design certification review. So the total company had around 1,800 to 1,900 between here and Huntsville. Here it takes 800 people 18 months to start from hitting the water to another launch.

[Assistant] That’s a very lengthy process.

[User] Consider you drop it in the ocean, you tow it back, you strip it, take every component out of it, inspect it, repaint it, repair it, send it over here, send it to this building, start the subassembly work, the TPS [Thermal Protection System] application, inspections along the way. The cables, the ordnance, the integration, the parachutes, and then we transfer it to the VAB six months ahead of schedule. It takes them six months to do their processing, stacking, and then rolling out to the pad. So it’s about an 18-month cycle for us.

[Assistant] Can you expand on those processes a little more? Walk me through—the SRB lands in the Atlantic. You go out and fish it out. Walk us through that.


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] I have a whole group that’s called Planning and Scheduling. That group integrates all these activities, puts out schedules every week. Now they’re put out on the computer so everybody can see the schedule and see exactly where you’re supposed to be no matter what building you’re in. Of course we telecon [teleconference] every day. We have regular meetings three times a week at 8:30 where we do a status of everybody that’s hooked into SRB at that meeting. If they have a problem then everybody knows about it. Put the resources against it. It’s computers and phones and stuff like that. We maintain our communication.\n\n This building is, like I said, the Engineering and Administration. So this floor, these are the directors and executives for SRB. They represent operations, safety, engineering, program. So we’re all here. Everybody works for somebody. My boss calls us all in here and gives us our marching orders in the morning. [We go out and] get business done.

[Assistant] Have things changed in terms of communication since you started out here in ’78?

[User] We used to have what they called a war board. It was a big room with a piece of metal on [one wall] that was painted white. Planners and schedulers would cut magnetic strips out and print Forward Assembly 10 and stick it on the magnetic board with a certain bar. [It] had to have lines down for the months and the days. You put it up there. Then the other forward [assemblies and aft skirts]. Somebody would come in and take a picture. Once a week we’d get a copy of these pictures, eight-by-ten color glossies, and that would be our schedule.

[Assistant] Things have definitely changed. Now you’ve got BlackBerries.

[User] We called those guys X-Acto commandos because they would cut these strips out. Put it on the board and make these schedules. Now we have programs to do that [and Blackberries].

[Assistant] That’s funny. How many SRBs can you process or could you process at one time here at KSC?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] I was one of the people that helped design this facility, with the idea of being able to process many flight sets. We had redundancies here. We had multiple cells and multiple test [capabilities], like out back we had two hot-fire bays. We could do a flight set. That only took two weeks. We could put another flight set in.\n\n So we had designed this place right to be able to meet that demand. We could stay ahead of E tank or Morton Thiokol or the Orbiter people, because we got the opportunity to design and build this [facility] just for that. Everybody else—well, I guess the OPFs were designed of course to process Orbiters. But most of the other folks had to use facilities that were here [since Apollo]. Didn’t have the advantage that we had.

[Assistant] Would you tell me a little bit about building the facility? When did you start putting pencil to paper and say this is what we want? This is what we’re going to need.

[User] About I guess ’82 or ’83. ’83 we started. We were actually looking for a site off Kennedy Space Center, originally. Thought it would be better if we were off the Space Center. But ultimately this location was decided upon. We used to have a fence out front, inside was Marshall Space Flight Center, outside was Kennedy. Yes, we had a fence and gates and stuff like that at one time. You couldn’t come in like you could today. You had to have an escort even to get to here.

[Assistant] Interesting. It says a lot about inter-Center rivalry.

[User] I don’t think that has gone away yet, at least not during my shift of 35 years.

[Assistant] Interesting. Well, tell me about Challenger. Were you working that flight?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] About I guess ’82 or ’83. ’83 we started. We were actually looking for a site off Kennedy Space Center, originally. Thought it would be better if we were off the Space Center. But ultimately this location was decided upon. We used to have a fence out front, inside was Marshall Space Flight Center, outside was Kennedy. Yes, we had a fence and gates and stuff like that at one time. You couldn’t come in like you could today. You had to have an escort even to get to here.

[Assistant] Interesting. It says a lot about inter-Center rivalry.

[User] I don’t think that has gone away yet, at least not during my shift of 35 years.

[Assistant] Interesting. Well, tell me about Challenger. Were you working that flight?

[User] Yes. I was working Challenger. My crew had built the forward assemblies for Challenger. We had already run into a minor problem on STS-4, where we had a parachute failure and we lost two SRBs. After Challenger happened, we were very personally involved with it thinking that it might have been something that we had done wrong. I was standing out in the LCC [Launch Control Center] parking lot when that happened.\n\n I could tell immediately what happened. A lot of people were in awe and didn’t understand or couldn’t comprehend it. But when I saw the SRBs leave I knew exactly what happened. Subsequently to that I was asked to be the technical correspondent on the Johnson Sea Link submarine. I went out for six weeks and identified hardware in a submarine. Picked up pieces till we ultimately found the piece that was what they called the smoking gun. That was retrieved to verify. Challenger was a tough time. Of course the family was here and everything. It was pretty tough.

[Assistant] I see from your resume that you did some work with the Rogers Commission. You received a certificate.


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] I don’t think that has gone away yet, at least not during my shift of 35 years.

[Assistant] Interesting. Well, tell me about Challenger. Were you working that flight?

[User] Yes. I was working Challenger. My crew had built the forward assemblies for Challenger. We had already run into a minor problem on STS-4, where we had a parachute failure and we lost two SRBs. After Challenger happened, we were very personally involved with it thinking that it might have been something that we had done wrong. I was standing out in the LCC [Launch Control Center] parking lot when that happened.\n\n I could tell immediately what happened. A lot of people were in awe and didn’t understand or couldn’t comprehend it. But when I saw the SRBs leave I knew exactly what happened. Subsequently to that I was asked to be the technical correspondent on the Johnson Sea Link submarine. I went out for six weeks and identified hardware in a submarine. Picked up pieces till we ultimately found the piece that was what they called the smoking gun. That was retrieved to verify. Challenger was a tough time. Of course the family was here and everything. It was pretty tough.

[Assistant] I see from your resume that you did some work with the Rogers Commission. You received a certificate.

[User] That was partly for the work I did. A lot of folks, I’d say anybody that could do anything to help was doing that so that certificate is not really that big a deal, because everybody was trying to help. Probably my work on the submarine is what that was all about. I was in the service. I’m retired from the Marine Corps, but I was always on the ground, and I’m not a pilot. So going on a submarine was a pretty rare experience.

[Assistant] There were definitely some changes made to the solid rocket motor. Tell us about the changes that were made to the SRB and how that impacted ground processing here.


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] Yes, one of them. I sign for program. The engineer signs, the chief engineer; the director of manufacturing signs. I used to be the director of manufacturing, and then I would go through a complete review of all the paperwork prior to. Now I expect him to do that, and I do the program type review. We sit down. We have usually it’s a videocon [videoconference] with the customer. We go through all the stuff required for certification and what we call COFR, where we sign a certificate of flight readiness (COFR). We present that to the customer and tell them that we’re ready to go. Then if everybody concurs, we got no dissenting opinions, we all sign that piece of paper. Then go forward to the big flight readiness review up in OSB-2.

[Assistant] Any big issues since you’ve been project manager on the SRBs?

[User] There’s been a couple times when I’ve been pretty hesitant to sign the piece of paper, and I’ve made some people do some other work. But pretty much by that time everything’s been pretty much ironed out. We do it before we transfer the hardware. The COFR is already after the hardware transfers, as far as the customer and the rest of the community. Because we build so far ahead, we’re a year ahead of what’s going on. Like I said earlier, it takes 18 months. Well, at the end of a year, there’s still six months left for the activities up the road. We’re pretty much done. It’s fixed before we get to that [point in the launch schedule].

[Assistant] So you were ready to fly STS-135?

[User] September, last year. Yes, and I didn’t change my opinion from September till last week. We were ready to go. There were a couple issues that came up during that period from STS-134 that we had to work, but they were not big issues where I would go and say I’m taking my signature off. We can’t do it. They were things that we worked out.

[Assistant] Can you tell me what some of those issues were?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] I worked for USBI since ’78 to ’99. United Technologies, a wonderful company. I liked it a lot. They asked me if I wanted to be the base manager to keep a UTC flag here. I had an offer of staying with United Technologies and starting a little office here.\n\n USA offered me the job of director of manufacturing. Seeing as how I grew up with these guys, I was thinking probably stay with the project, the SRB Project. So when the opportunity came I took that and was able to more or less be one of the guiders or directors of what was going on, of the new SRB. Either good, bad, or indifferent, it’s probably part my responsibility, the way we ended up. I can’t blame any of my management, that’s for sure.

[Assistant] Do you want to take a look at your notes and see if we may have overlooked something? Or is there something that you think we might not have covered about the SRB and processing?

[User] Man, we’ve done a lot of talking.

[Assistant] Hope I haven’t tired you out too much.

[User] No, it’s all right.

[Assistant] Just want to make sure we gather those details before you retire, of course.


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] Man, we’ve done a lot of talking.

[Assistant] Hope I haven’t tired you out too much.

[User] No, it’s all right.

[Assistant] Just want to make sure we gather those details before you retire, of course.

[User] I’m going to retire, but I’m sort of not going to retire, so we’ll see what happens. I don’t know. I guess the bottom line of it all is I’ve done this for [as] long as I can remember. My father took me out in October of ’57 to see the Sputnik go over. Ever since then that’s pretty much all I wanted to do. So it’s been pretty good for me. I always say what more could you really ask for but to work on your dream. Great dream, with an even greater team, which I’ve had a great team. So basically that’s it in a nutshell. It’s been great.

[Assistant] Well, I thank you. Thank you very much for your time today.


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] As I recall, we didn’t make any changes as I recall when I came aboard. I don’t recall that there were any significant changes made as a result of that. We still had to use the same helicopters, because those are the helicopters that were available to us. As far as I know, there weren’t any procedures on his part, you know, on a crew part. But that one was a close call. That was a close call.

[Assistant] Yes. We’ve heard about that from a couple of people, I guess. Of course, just a few years ago, they dredged it up from the bottom of the ocean again.

[User] Right. I think, as we discussed, I don’t think they’ll ever be able to, in examining the spacecraft, determine what happened or what didn’t happen. I have my own feelings of what happened, but I would not want to put them on tape.

[Assistant] Well, maybe afterwards you can share those with us.

[User] Right.

[Assistant] That brings to mind some other things. What sort of dangers did the spacecraft itself pose once you got it aboard ship? What would you do with it?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] Yes, I did. I did for ten years after I left NASA, right. It was much the same work. It was the contractor. First, it was Krug Life Sciences, and now it’s Wyle [Laboratories]. They support the docs in the control center. They are the biomedical engineers that sit at the consoles and assist the doctors in monitoring the flights. So, operationally they’re involved. They operate the clinical laboratories. The contractors operate the clinical laboratories over on site.\n\n A large part, also, is the development of some of the devices, the exercise devices, and that kind of experiment equipment is designed and developed and supplied to NASA. So it was somewhat of a continuation of the same type of work that our group over in the Bioengineering Division at NASA performed.

[Assistant] How has the role of life sciences changed from the start of your involvement with it until you left, if it has at all?

[User] I’d say on the early missions I guess the right word to use, it was kind of an adjunct to space flight. It was care and feeding of the astronauts. Now one of the major justification for Space Station has been life sciences research, so it’s gone from care and feeding and making sure that we get them back in a healthy condition, to really a fundamental thrust of space flight, that is, being able to determine what it will take for long-duration missions in space.

[Assistant] That’s an excellent point, particularly now as the Station is getting into the stages where they’re able to do some work up there instead of just assembling and such.

[User] Right.

[Assistant] I wanted to give Carol and Tim a chance to ask some questions if they came up with any. Carol? Tim? Okay.\n\n That was all the questions I had up to this point, but I want to give you an opportunity to make any final remarks or if any other stories came to mind before we close since I know we’re almost out of time for you.


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] I’d say on the early missions I guess the right word to use, it was kind of an adjunct to space flight. It was care and feeding of the astronauts. Now one of the major justification for Space Station has been life sciences research, so it’s gone from care and feeding and making sure that we get them back in a healthy condition, to really a fundamental thrust of space flight, that is, being able to determine what it will take for long-duration missions in space.

[Assistant] That’s an excellent point, particularly now as the Station is getting into the stages where they’re able to do some work up there instead of just assembling and such.

[User] Right.

[Assistant] I wanted to give Carol and Tim a chance to ask some questions if they came up with any. Carol? Tim? Okay.\n\n That was all the questions I had up to this point, but I want to give you an opportunity to make any final remarks or if any other stories came to mind before we close since I know we’re almost out of time for you.

[User] I think I covered most of the things I could think about that. Everybody urges me to write a book and tell a lot of the behind-the-scenes stories, but I don’t care to do that.

[Assistant] Hopefully, as I think we talked about last time, the recovery story will get included in some of the books in the future, like it hasn’t been in the past.


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] Right.

[Assistant] I wanted to give Carol and Tim a chance to ask some questions if they came up with any. Carol? Tim? Okay.\n\n That was all the questions I had up to this point, but I want to give you an opportunity to make any final remarks or if any other stories came to mind before we close since I know we’re almost out of time for you.

[User] I think I covered most of the things I could think about that. Everybody urges me to write a book and tell a lot of the behind-the-scenes stories, but I don’t care to do that.

[Assistant] Hopefully, as I think we talked about last time, the recovery story will get included in some of the books in the future, like it hasn’t been in the past.

[User] Right.

[Assistant] Then I’d like to thank you once again for taking your time out, both this time and last time, to talk with us.


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] All right. I went to college in Minnesota, Northfield, Minnesota, and I got a small liberal arts school that was maybe three hundred and fifty miles away from where I grew up in southeastern Wisconsin. And I had an opportunity my sophomore year to go to Germany as part of a little work exchange program that maybe I have helped facilitate to Harvard in Germany. And that was my first experience going overseas. OK, first experience having a long plane ride. And I remember while I was over there, I read newspapers about the riots in Watts and some of the things that were going on back in the States. Right. And I thought that's unusual, just the position of my life and things that here am flying over the English Channel, let's say. Yeah. And then in the meantime, reading about this stuff going on in the United States, that was fairly heavy duty and significant.

[Assistant] Yeah. What was what was your major?

[User] I was I became an English major.

[Assistant] Well, let's go. Where had you grown up?

[User] I'd grown up in I was born in Milwaukee. Then my family moved to the country, western Milwaukee, around Wales and Dallas and Delafield. Yeah. Is a farming community. And my dad commuted to Milwaukee. He worked at Schultz Brewery and I commuted to the local watering school, which was two miles down the road.

[Assistant] Genuine one room school. Any siblings?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] I was I became an English major.

[Assistant] Well, let's go. Where had you grown up?

[User] I'd grown up in I was born in Milwaukee. Then my family moved to the country, western Milwaukee, around Wales and Dallas and Delafield. Yeah. Is a farming community. And my dad commuted to Milwaukee. He worked at Schultz Brewery and I commuted to the local watering school, which was two miles down the road.

[Assistant] Genuine one room school. Any siblings?

[User] I have a sister three years younger, OK. And so when we moved out, I was working in the sixth grade and she into third grade, but because she was the only student in the school in the school and that created the prompter up one grade, you automatically caught up with me.

[Assistant] So you, as you were growing up in a farm community?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] I'd grown up in I was born in Milwaukee. Then my family moved to the country, western Milwaukee, around Wales and Dallas and Delafield. Yeah. Is a farming community. And my dad commuted to Milwaukee. He worked at Schultz Brewery and I commuted to the local watering school, which was two miles down the road.

[Assistant] Genuine one room school. Any siblings?

[User] I have a sister three years younger, OK. And so when we moved out, I was working in the sixth grade and she into third grade, but because she was the only student in the school in the school and that created the prompter up one grade, you automatically caught up with me.

[Assistant] So you, as you were growing up in a farm community?

[User] Yes. Right.

[Assistant] Through high school or?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] I have a sister three years younger, OK. And so when we moved out, I was working in the sixth grade and she into third grade, but because she was the only student in the school in the school and that created the prompter up one grade, you automatically caught up with me.

[Assistant] So you, as you were growing up in a farm community?

[User] Yes. Right.

[Assistant] Through high school or?

[User] Yes.

[Assistant] And during those years, what kind of extracurricular activities did you do to any travel around?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] Yes. Right.

[Assistant] Through high school or?

[User] Yes.

[Assistant] And during those years, what kind of extracurricular activities did you do to any travel around?

[User] There wasn't too much travel. I guess our family as a group maybe drove to D.C. part of one summer and our travels through strictly in the Midwest. And it was probably a long history.

[Assistant] Did you do any volunteer work at all during school or while you were in high school or vacations?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] Yes.

[Assistant] And during those years, what kind of extracurricular activities did you do to any travel around?

[User] There wasn't too much travel. I guess our family as a group maybe drove to D.C. part of one summer and our travels through strictly in the Midwest. And it was probably a long history.

[Assistant] Did you do any volunteer work at all during school or while you were in high school or vacations?

[User] No, I do remember working at some of the local farms, as it turns out, to volunteer. But I was never a part of any organization I was volunteering.

[Assistant] It was just the community helping out within the community. So when you finished high school, your decision was to go right on to college at that point, yes? Did you have any kind of career goal at that point?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] There wasn't too much travel. I guess our family as a group maybe drove to D.C. part of one summer and our travels through strictly in the Midwest. And it was probably a long history.

[Assistant] Did you do any volunteer work at all during school or while you were in high school or vacations?

[User] No, I do remember working at some of the local farms, as it turns out, to volunteer. But I was never a part of any organization I was volunteering.

[Assistant] It was just the community helping out within the community. So when you finished high school, your decision was to go right on to college at that point, yes? Did you have any kind of career goal at that point?

[User] At that point, my only career goal goal was to figure out what my interests were and to get enough experiences to help guide myself there. And I felt I really needed some greater perspectives of things because it was fairly limited living where we did.

[Assistant] And you were aware of that also, I guess?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] No, I do remember working at some of the local farms, as it turns out, to volunteer. But I was never a part of any organization I was volunteering.

[Assistant] It was just the community helping out within the community. So when you finished high school, your decision was to go right on to college at that point, yes? Did you have any kind of career goal at that point?

[User] At that point, my only career goal goal was to figure out what my interests were and to get enough experiences to help guide myself there. And I felt I really needed some greater perspectives of things because it was fairly limited living where we did.

[Assistant] And you were aware of that also, I guess?

[User] Well, I would like to say that it was at the top of my mind but I don't think I was that wise at that point.

[Assistant] The family expectation was that you were going to go on to college?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] At that point, my only career goal goal was to figure out what my interests were and to get enough experiences to help guide myself there. And I felt I really needed some greater perspectives of things because it was fairly limited living where we did.

[Assistant] And you were aware of that also, I guess?

[User] Well, I would like to say that it was at the top of my mind but I don't think I was that wise at that point.

[Assistant] The family expectation was that you were going to go on to college?

[User] Yes.

[Assistant] OK, and how did you choose St. Olaf?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] Yes.

[Assistant] OK, and how did you choose St. Olaf?

[User] I think because it seemed to fit in a variety of ways for. Onwards, I guess what got me interested first and saying off is that there is I think this is true, that other people just are very small things occurred that put things on the map. But I was working at a church camp one summer and the guy is the most popular guy. There was a guy who was at Saint or college. He had all the finesse and all the experiences of a college guy and attracted all kinds of girls. So I thought, well, if I want to settle, maybe that would happen to me.

[Assistant] OK.

[User] But it was nice also because it was just from my home. However, I think I would have preferred to go into the University of Wisconsin where there was a little more of a variety show of things to choose from.

[Assistant] So, you know, it was basically a four year liberal arts college.


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] I think because it seemed to fit in a variety of ways for. Onwards, I guess what got me interested first and saying off is that there is I think this is true, that other people just are very small things occurred that put things on the map. But I was working at a church camp one summer and the guy is the most popular guy. There was a guy who was at Saint or college. He had all the finesse and all the experiences of a college guy and attracted all kinds of girls. So I thought, well, if I want to settle, maybe that would happen to me.

[Assistant] OK.

[User] But it was nice also because it was just from my home. However, I think I would have preferred to go into the University of Wisconsin where there was a little more of a variety show of things to choose from.

[Assistant] So, you know, it was basically a four year liberal arts college.

[User] Yes. And the idea was because I had my folks thought that because I didn't have much of a direction at that point, it would be better to be in the more insulated kind of environment, like saying or write slightly larger than my previous environment, but not as overwhelming as, you know, in the university town.

[Assistant]
And that was your first time living away from home also? ARCHER Yes. Yeah.

So you started saying off and decided somewhere in the four years that you were an English major and within that four years, it was also included a year or a semester was it in Germany?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] But it was nice also because it was just from my home. However, I think I would have preferred to go into the University of Wisconsin where there was a little more of a variety show of things to choose from.

[Assistant] So, you know, it was basically a four year liberal arts college.

[User] Yes. And the idea was because I had my folks thought that because I didn't have much of a direction at that point, it would be better to be in the more insulated kind of environment, like saying or write slightly larger than my previous environment, but not as overwhelming as, you know, in the university town.

[Assistant]
And that was your first time living away from home also? ARCHER Yes. Yeah.

So you started saying off and decided somewhere in the four years that you were an English major and within that four years, it was also included a year or a semester was it in Germany?

[User] Just the summer. Maybe eight weeks.

[Assistant] Ok, did you was German the foreign language then that you studied?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] Just the summer. Maybe eight weeks.

[Assistant] Ok, did you was German the foreign language then that you studied?

[User] I yes, I was studying German for a semester there. And my folks come from Germanic backgrounds.

[Assistant] Right.

[User] So they've always had a little interest in German. But beyond that, yeah, it was German that I studied the year before I went.

[Assistant] As, let's say, the time you entered college. Were you at all aware of the Peace Corps? Do you recall if anyone you knew was in it or if you read about it or heard about it?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] I yes, I was studying German for a semester there. And my folks come from Germanic backgrounds.

[Assistant] Right.

[User] So they've always had a little interest in German. But beyond that, yeah, it was German that I studied the year before I went.

[Assistant] As, let's say, the time you entered college. Were you at all aware of the Peace Corps? Do you recall if anyone you knew was in it or if you read about it or heard about it?

[User] I'd heard about it and remembered Sargent Shriver and Kennedy and some of the commotion back when it began. And so I had hidden deep background. I would say at that point, I don't think I had met with any volunteers

[Assistant] And no one had seen all of who you met had been in the Peace Corps.


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] So they've always had a little interest in German. But beyond that, yeah, it was German that I studied the year before I went.

[Assistant] As, let's say, the time you entered college. Were you at all aware of the Peace Corps? Do you recall if anyone you knew was in it or if you read about it or heard about it?

[User] I'd heard about it and remembered Sargent Shriver and Kennedy and some of the commotion back when it began. And so I had hidden deep background. I would say at that point, I don't think I had met with any volunteers

[Assistant] And no one had seen all of who you met had been in the Peace Corps.

[User] Not that I recall. Yeah, except for maybe a recruiter who came through. And I don't remember exactly when my first contact, the Peace Corps.

[Assistant] Ok, so you're you're moving on toward graduation would be ‘67. You're going to get a degree in English during the four years. The scene, along with other activities you got involved in.


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] I'd heard about it and remembered Sargent Shriver and Kennedy and some of the commotion back when it began. And so I had hidden deep background. I would say at that point, I don't think I had met with any volunteers

[Assistant] And no one had seen all of who you met had been in the Peace Corps.

[User] Not that I recall. Yeah, except for maybe a recruiter who came through. And I don't remember exactly when my first contact, the Peace Corps.

[Assistant] Ok, so you're you're moving on toward graduation would be ‘67. You're going to get a degree in English during the four years. The scene, along with other activities you got involved in.

[User] I was involved in a cross-country intramural sports. There was a big program there by which anybody, any member of the school could participate at a level in intramural that was really well organized. You know, I became a manager with my roommate as a team and we went for the whole year and managed this team and a variety of sports and participated in it. Right. And so I think that began as a sophomore. I participated freshman and then as a sophomore became more involved in it. So that was one thing that I was involved in throughout the year. And also I became a counselor my junior year as an attorney. What that means was the amount of freshman and floor and helping to try to make that transition with being students.

[Assistant] Is that a church based school?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] Not that I recall. Yeah, except for maybe a recruiter who came through. And I don't remember exactly when my first contact, the Peace Corps.

[Assistant] Ok, so you're you're moving on toward graduation would be ‘67. You're going to get a degree in English during the four years. The scene, along with other activities you got involved in.

[User] I was involved in a cross-country intramural sports. There was a big program there by which anybody, any member of the school could participate at a level in intramural that was really well organized. You know, I became a manager with my roommate as a team and we went for the whole year and managed this team and a variety of sports and participated in it. Right. And so I think that began as a sophomore. I participated freshman and then as a sophomore became more involved in it. So that was one thing that I was involved in throughout the year. And also I became a counselor my junior year as an attorney. What that means was the amount of freshman and floor and helping to try to make that transition with being students.

[Assistant] Is that a church based school?

[User] Yes.

[Assistant] And what's the church?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] I was involved in a cross-country intramural sports. There was a big program there by which anybody, any member of the school could participate at a level in intramural that was really well organized. You know, I became a manager with my roommate as a team and we went for the whole year and managed this team and a variety of sports and participated in it. Right. And so I think that began as a sophomore. I participated freshman and then as a sophomore became more involved in it. So that was one thing that I was involved in throughout the year. And also I became a counselor my junior year as an attorney. What that means was the amount of freshman and floor and helping to try to make that transition with being students.

[Assistant] Is that a church based school?

[User] Yes.

[Assistant] And what's the church?

[User] It's based on the Lutheran Church of America. OK, it has that background. Right. And religion is part of. Curriculum, the compulsory curriculum.

[Assistant] Ok, and what did you do on vacation, you know, during the year or between years of college years, one summer you went to Germany, right?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] Yes.

[Assistant] And what's the church?

[User] It's based on the Lutheran Church of America. OK, it has that background. Right. And religion is part of. Curriculum, the compulsory curriculum.

[Assistant] Ok, and what did you do on vacation, you know, during the year or between years of college years, one summer you went to Germany, right?

[User] Or the following summer, I was in Peace Corps. I was part of an early training program called the Advanced Training Program ATP, which I would. Why my junior year, OK? I was accepted for that program later in my junior year so that my junior summer suspension training already for Peace Corps, OK, at Notre Dame. And so I spent most of my summer in South during the Peace Corps program.

[Assistant] Let's go to the when at what point did you decide you were going to I gather the recruiter came and you then decided to apply for Peace Corps. Did the recruiter say that there's this program where you can begin your Peace Corps service while you're still in college? And are you aware of that?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] It's based on the Lutheran Church of America. OK, it has that background. Right. And religion is part of. Curriculum, the compulsory curriculum.

[Assistant] Ok, and what did you do on vacation, you know, during the year or between years of college years, one summer you went to Germany, right?

[User] Or the following summer, I was in Peace Corps. I was part of an early training program called the Advanced Training Program ATP, which I would. Why my junior year, OK? I was accepted for that program later in my junior year so that my junior summer suspension training already for Peace Corps, OK, at Notre Dame. And so I spent most of my summer in South during the Peace Corps program.

[Assistant] Let's go to the when at what point did you decide you were going to I gather the recruiter came and you then decided to apply for Peace Corps. Did the recruiter say that there's this program where you can begin your Peace Corps service while you're still in college? And are you aware of that?

[User] Yeah. Yeah.

[Assistant] And did you share it with your folks and what was their reaction?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] Or the following summer, I was in Peace Corps. I was part of an early training program called the Advanced Training Program ATP, which I would. Why my junior year, OK? I was accepted for that program later in my junior year so that my junior summer suspension training already for Peace Corps, OK, at Notre Dame. And so I spent most of my summer in South during the Peace Corps program.

[Assistant] Let's go to the when at what point did you decide you were going to I gather the recruiter came and you then decided to apply for Peace Corps. Did the recruiter say that there's this program where you can begin your Peace Corps service while you're still in college? And are you aware of that?

[User] Yeah. Yeah.

[Assistant] And did you share it with your folks and what was their reaction?

[User] I did share it and I think they were positive. I think they were relieved that I was interested in something that I was showing a little proactivity and kind of thing.

[Assistant] What about your peers that up?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] Yeah. Yeah.

[Assistant] And did you share it with your folks and what was their reaction?

[User] I did share it and I think they were positive. I think they were relieved that I was interested in something that I was showing a little proactivity and kind of thing.

[Assistant] What about your peers that up?

[User] I mean, some of them part of the screen and others thought it was just another thing that Archer's being interested in. See how long it sticks

[Assistant] At that point, the draft wasn't a concern?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] I did share it and I think they were positive. I think they were relieved that I was interested in something that I was showing a little proactivity and kind of thing.

[Assistant] What about your peers that up?

[User] I mean, some of them part of the screen and others thought it was just another thing that Archer's being interested in. See how long it sticks

[Assistant] At that point, the draft wasn't a concern?

[User] I got that right. But I saw at the end of the tunnel upon graduation because, yeah, I think I would have done kind of an interest in my draft board.

[Assistant] Yeah. OK, so peers of yours had been drafted from the community where you


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] I mean, some of them part of the screen and others thought it was just another thing that Archer's being interested in. See how long it sticks

[Assistant] At that point, the draft wasn't a concern?

[User] I got that right. But I saw at the end of the tunnel upon graduation because, yeah, I think I would have done kind of an interest in my draft board.

[Assistant] Yeah. OK, so peers of yours had been drafted from the community where you

[User] Not that I knew of. Of course I remember. I just knew Vietnam was there and I was there.

[Assistant] And any other travel also right now. So between junior and senior years, you're now what they call you a trainee?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] I got that right. But I saw at the end of the tunnel upon graduation because, yeah, I think I would have done kind of an interest in my draft board.

[Assistant] Yeah. OK, so peers of yours had been drafted from the community where you

[User] Not that I knew of. Of course I remember. I just knew Vietnam was there and I was there.

[Assistant] And any other travel also right now. So between junior and senior years, you're now what they call you a trainee?

[User] Yes.

[Assistant] When you applied for the Peace Corps, I think even in those days, you you used to be able to, one, indicate whether you had any language facility, foreign language, the other if you had a preference for assignment. You know, I'd like to. Do you recall that at all?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] Not that I knew of. Of course I remember. I just knew Vietnam was there and I was there.

[Assistant] And any other travel also right now. So between junior and senior years, you're now what they call you a trainee?

[User] Yes.

[Assistant] When you applied for the Peace Corps, I think even in those days, you you used to be able to, one, indicate whether you had any language facility, foreign language, the other if you had a preference for assignment. You know, I'd like to. Do you recall that at all?

[User] I did. My preference for us to learn a language and the culture that I could I could relate to for as much as my life as I could. OK, so I thought Spanish would be a great way to go. And I think that was my preference to go over to Latin America or Spanish speaking country.

[Assistant] Ok, and now when you went into when you were accepted, when you were accepted into a project overseas or simply into this advanced training?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] I did. My preference for us to learn a language and the culture that I could I could relate to for as much as my life as I could. OK, so I thought Spanish would be a great way to go. And I think that was my preference to go over to Latin America or Spanish speaking country.

[Assistant] Ok, and now when you went into when you were accepted, when you were accepted into a project overseas or simply into this advanced training?

[User] We were, the country had already been designated.

[Assistant] Oh, OK.

[User] And and that's where my invitation arose to be part of the A.P. program, going to Bolivia after my senior year. Oh, and so it was already pretty specific. I think it probably was already marked as a rural community development program.

[Assistant] So you reported to Notre Dame. Do you recall your reaction? I mean, a couple. I mean, you now you're coming from St. Olaf to a known school. And not only that, you're not putting yourself in the midst of a bunch of other people who've joined who are joining the Peace Corps. You recall your.


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] We were, the country had already been designated.

[Assistant] Oh, OK.

[User] And and that's where my invitation arose to be part of the A.P. program, going to Bolivia after my senior year. Oh, and so it was already pretty specific. I think it probably was already marked as a rural community development program.

[Assistant] So you reported to Notre Dame. Do you recall your reaction? I mean, a couple. I mean, you now you're coming from St. Olaf to a known school. And not only that, you're not putting yourself in the midst of a bunch of other people who've joined who are joining the Peace Corps. You recall your.

[User] Ah, yeah. I was really something the first to go to Notre Dame and Big University. You know, it seemed like you could walk for miles and still be on campus. Yeah. But more importantly, the people that I was suddenly with were of all different sizes, shapes, colors, backgrounds, the training, the trainees. Yes, it was incredible.

[Assistant] And so I gather that's a contrast to say.


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] And and that's where my invitation arose to be part of the A.P. program, going to Bolivia after my senior year. Oh, and so it was already pretty specific. I think it probably was already marked as a rural community development program.

[Assistant] So you reported to Notre Dame. Do you recall your reaction? I mean, a couple. I mean, you now you're coming from St. Olaf to a known school. And not only that, you're not putting yourself in the midst of a bunch of other people who've joined who are joining the Peace Corps. You recall your.

[User] Ah, yeah. I was really something the first to go to Notre Dame and Big University. You know, it seemed like you could walk for miles and still be on campus. Yeah. But more importantly, the people that I was suddenly with were of all different sizes, shapes, colors, backgrounds, the training, the trainees. Yes, it was incredible.

[Assistant] And so I gather that's a contrast to say.

[User] Yes, OK. And so I was I was suddenly in a pool of people who had a whole variety of experiences. I'd never been there. Yeah. And it just opened up a wonderful, sometimes scary part of life. To me it was.

[Assistant] What did you find most shocking about other behaviors?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] Ah, yeah. I was really something the first to go to Notre Dame and Big University. You know, it seemed like you could walk for miles and still be on campus. Yeah. But more importantly, the people that I was suddenly with were of all different sizes, shapes, colors, backgrounds, the training, the trainees. Yes, it was incredible.

[Assistant] And so I gather that's a contrast to say.

[User] Yes, OK. And so I was I was suddenly in a pool of people who had a whole variety of experiences. I'd never been there. Yeah. And it just opened up a wonderful, sometimes scary part of life. To me it was.

[Assistant] What did you find most shocking about other behaviors?

[User] Oh. Oh, I was I was with people of other ethnic backgrounds that I hadn't done before. And I sat down here. This feels pretty good. These folks and then people from different traditions around the United States, for example, are Jewish folks, some from the East Coast, some from other places at a Lutheran school, just not much of the Jewish tradition here are much other than studying Jews is honor and people who were raised here as well.

[Assistant] See, and were most of the group is finishing up between junior and senior year at college.


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] Yes, OK. And so I was I was suddenly in a pool of people who had a whole variety of experiences. I'd never been there. Yeah. And it just opened up a wonderful, sometimes scary part of life. To me it was.

[Assistant] What did you find most shocking about other behaviors?

[User] Oh. Oh, I was I was with people of other ethnic backgrounds that I hadn't done before. And I sat down here. This feels pretty good. These folks and then people from different traditions around the United States, for example, are Jewish folks, some from the East Coast, some from other places at a Lutheran school, just not much of the Jewish tradition here are much other than studying Jews is honor and people who were raised here as well.

[Assistant] See, and were most of the group is finishing up between junior and senior year at college.

[User] And everybody was the same age, same stage of education.

[Assistant] About how many were in the group?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] Oh. Oh, I was I was with people of other ethnic backgrounds that I hadn't done before. And I sat down here. This feels pretty good. These folks and then people from different traditions around the United States, for example, are Jewish folks, some from the East Coast, some from other places at a Lutheran school, just not much of the Jewish tradition here are much other than studying Jews is honor and people who were raised here as well.

[Assistant] See, and were most of the group is finishing up between junior and senior year at college.

[User] And everybody was the same age, same stage of education.

[Assistant] About how many were in the group?

[User] About 60, I think.

[Assistant] And male female?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] And everybody was the same age, same stage of education.

[Assistant] About how many were in the group?

[User] About 60, I think.

[Assistant] And male female?

[User] Pretty equally dispersed.

[Assistant] OK, and what do you think? How did the group perceive you? I mean, is the Midwest Lutheran or.


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] About 60, I think.

[Assistant] And male female?

[User] Pretty equally dispersed.

[Assistant] OK, and what do you think? How did the group perceive you? I mean, is the Midwest Lutheran or.

[User] The most unique thing was to get this little publication, this pamphlet, not a pamphlet, but a booklet of everybody's bios and remarkable book. Yes. And so reading that thing was there. And at just beginning, the whole story with there was just a wonderful way to get started. I forget what your question was or how they perceive you. Yeah, they read my Bible. And I do remember some people thought, in fact, the woman that I was stationed with, she said that at first she thought I was some kind of a mindless jock from the Midwest who didn't really know diddley. I don't know all the other folks thought.

[Assistant] So what was the content of the training, the Notre Dame summit?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] Pretty equally dispersed.

[Assistant] OK, and what do you think? How did the group perceive you? I mean, is the Midwest Lutheran or.

[User] The most unique thing was to get this little publication, this pamphlet, not a pamphlet, but a booklet of everybody's bios and remarkable book. Yes. And so reading that thing was there. And at just beginning, the whole story with there was just a wonderful way to get started. I forget what your question was or how they perceive you. Yeah, they read my Bible. And I do remember some people thought, in fact, the woman that I was stationed with, she said that at first she thought I was some kind of a mindless jock from the Midwest who didn't really know diddley. I don't know all the other folks thought.

[Assistant] So what was the content of the training, the Notre Dame summit?

[User] Oh, it was pretty. It focused on Spanish because the concept of rule, the philosophy of rural development.

[Assistant] Were there any Bolivians teaching?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] The most unique thing was to get this little publication, this pamphlet, not a pamphlet, but a booklet of everybody's bios and remarkable book. Yes. And so reading that thing was there. And at just beginning, the whole story with there was just a wonderful way to get started. I forget what your question was or how they perceive you. Yeah, they read my Bible. And I do remember some people thought, in fact, the woman that I was stationed with, she said that at first she thought I was some kind of a mindless jock from the Midwest who didn't really know diddley. I don't know all the other folks thought.

[Assistant] So what was the content of the training, the Notre Dame summit?

[User] Oh, it was pretty. It focused on Spanish because the concept of rule, the philosophy of rural development.

[Assistant] Were there any Bolivians teaching?

[User] Yes, there was a considerable staff of the Spanish people who were Spanish as well as cultural experts.

[Assistant] And in I guess the language lasted an intense four or five hours a day. Yes. Yes. Was there any implication that you had to get to a certain level by the end of the summer in order to continue with the program?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] Oh, it was pretty. It focused on Spanish because the concept of rule, the philosophy of rural development.

[Assistant] Were there any Bolivians teaching?

[User] Yes, there was a considerable staff of the Spanish people who were Spanish as well as cultural experts.

[Assistant] And in I guess the language lasted an intense four or five hours a day. Yes. Yes. Was there any implication that you had to get to a certain level by the end of the summer in order to continue with the program?

[User] I think it was I don't think the selection was part of that formula. It seemed like there was a fair amount of understanding that these maybe people with the first exposure to foreign language that might not bloom at the end of eight by the end of the week. So I think there was some flexibility given the people. How did you do it? I was one of the slower groups and each group was designated by Bolivian city manager and Cochabamba was mine. And it happened to be slower learners. Yeah, one of my friends right next to me, you had an accent that was just a killer accent. He went on to become one of the most successful of the volunteers over the years. But you never would have known that for a week.

[Assistant] Ok, so, I mean, it was somewhat daunting to challenge. Must be you must have felt pressure to be learning the language. And it was being taught by native speakers, I assume. Were there any within the group who who came with the facility in Spanish?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] Yes, there was a considerable staff of the Spanish people who were Spanish as well as cultural experts.

[Assistant] And in I guess the language lasted an intense four or five hours a day. Yes. Yes. Was there any implication that you had to get to a certain level by the end of the summer in order to continue with the program?

[User] I think it was I don't think the selection was part of that formula. It seemed like there was a fair amount of understanding that these maybe people with the first exposure to foreign language that might not bloom at the end of eight by the end of the week. So I think there was some flexibility given the people. How did you do it? I was one of the slower groups and each group was designated by Bolivian city manager and Cochabamba was mine. And it happened to be slower learners. Yeah, one of my friends right next to me, you had an accent that was just a killer accent. He went on to become one of the most successful of the volunteers over the years. But you never would have known that for a week.

[Assistant] Ok, so, I mean, it was somewhat daunting to challenge. Must be you must have felt pressure to be learning the language. And it was being taught by native speakers, I assume. Were there any within the group who who came with the facility in Spanish?

[User] Yes, yes. Some people were way advanced.

[Assistant] And what was their background?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] I think it was I don't think the selection was part of that formula. It seemed like there was a fair amount of understanding that these maybe people with the first exposure to foreign language that might not bloom at the end of eight by the end of the week. So I think there was some flexibility given the people. How did you do it? I was one of the slower groups and each group was designated by Bolivian city manager and Cochabamba was mine. And it happened to be slower learners. Yeah, one of my friends right next to me, you had an accent that was just a killer accent. He went on to become one of the most successful of the volunteers over the years. But you never would have known that for a week.

[Assistant] Ok, so, I mean, it was somewhat daunting to challenge. Must be you must have felt pressure to be learning the language. And it was being taught by native speakers, I assume. Were there any within the group who who came with the facility in Spanish?

[User] Yes, yes. Some people were way advanced.

[Assistant] And what was their background?

[User] Some people were native speakers. And one guy was from El Salvador, his family was from El Salvador. And he had spoken Spanish in his home. And was bilingual perfectly. And there were people who were studying to be Spanish Spanish speakers as part of their next career. And so they were way out there, you know, so we had some native speakers. You know,

[Assistant] It was all the work academic or you have a chance to do any kind of field work or other activity while you were at Notre Dame?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] Yes, yes. Some people were way advanced.

[Assistant] And what was their background?

[User] Some people were native speakers. And one guy was from El Salvador, his family was from El Salvador. And he had spoken Spanish in his home. And was bilingual perfectly. And there were people who were studying to be Spanish Spanish speakers as part of their next career. And so they were way out there, you know, so we had some native speakers. You know,

[Assistant] It was all the work academic or you have a chance to do any kind of field work or other activity while you were at Notre Dame?

[User] Ah, we had field work in a variety of ways, sometimes on several weekends, members of one of the prominent gangs in Chicago spent the weekend at Notre Dame with us and we were organizing activities and panels and whatnot as part of their experience at a campus. Right. And then we spent, I think it was two weeks in Chicago and the Pilson neighborhood, which is primarily was primarily Spanish speaking. And we would go door to door I with the more proficient speaker as part of our cooperative movement, a credit card shop in the Chicago credit co-op that focused on Spanish speaking people. We helped to promote their mission. Door to door in

[Assistant] What was the living arrangement during that two weeks? Dormitory?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] Some people were native speakers. And one guy was from El Salvador, his family was from El Salvador. And he had spoken Spanish in his home. And was bilingual perfectly. And there were people who were studying to be Spanish Spanish speakers as part of their next career. And so they were way out there, you know, so we had some native speakers. You know,

[Assistant] It was all the work academic or you have a chance to do any kind of field work or other activity while you were at Notre Dame?

[User] Ah, we had field work in a variety of ways, sometimes on several weekends, members of one of the prominent gangs in Chicago spent the weekend at Notre Dame with us and we were organizing activities and panels and whatnot as part of their experience at a campus. Right. And then we spent, I think it was two weeks in Chicago and the Pilson neighborhood, which is primarily was primarily Spanish speaking. And we would go door to door I with the more proficient speaker as part of our cooperative movement, a credit card shop in the Chicago credit co-op that focused on Spanish speaking people. We helped to promote their mission. Door to door in

[Assistant] What was the living arrangement during that two weeks? Dormitory?

[User] I don't think we had roommates in Chicago or in Chicago.

[Assistant] Yeah. Oh, man. Did they put you up in a hotel or you didn't stay with the family?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] Ah, we had field work in a variety of ways, sometimes on several weekends, members of one of the prominent gangs in Chicago spent the weekend at Notre Dame with us and we were organizing activities and panels and whatnot as part of their experience at a campus. Right. And then we spent, I think it was two weeks in Chicago and the Pilson neighborhood, which is primarily was primarily Spanish speaking. And we would go door to door I with the more proficient speaker as part of our cooperative movement, a credit card shop in the Chicago credit co-op that focused on Spanish speaking people. We helped to promote their mission. Door to door in

[Assistant] What was the living arrangement during that two weeks? Dormitory?

[User] I don't think we had roommates in Chicago or in Chicago.

[Assistant] Yeah. Oh, man. Did they put you up in a hotel or you didn't stay with the family?

[User] I don't think so. OK, no, that would have been a great idea. Yeah, that's right. That's something that certainly is. Yeah.

[Assistant] So say at least you had some cool field work. Was there and was there also a selection process going on during the eight weeks, psychological testing, interviews with shrinks or anything like that?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] I don't think we had roommates in Chicago or in Chicago.

[Assistant] Yeah. Oh, man. Did they put you up in a hotel or you didn't stay with the family?

[User] I don't think so. OK, no, that would have been a great idea. Yeah, that's right. That's something that certainly is. Yeah.

[Assistant] So say at least you had some cool field work. Was there and was there also a selection process going on during the eight weeks, psychological testing, interviews with shrinks or anything like that?

[User] We were getting feedback from the staff along the way. And I remember I, I played volleyball once. We had a variety of extracurricular activities going on. Yeah. And this one staff member was noticing how I was playing. And he also knew from my experience there and he told me at one point that I would need to be showing more proactivity if I wanted to be a successful volunteer.

[Assistant] Based on your volleyball game?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] I don't think so. OK, no, that would have been a great idea. Yeah, that's right. That's something that certainly is. Yeah.

[Assistant] So say at least you had some cool field work. Was there and was there also a selection process going on during the eight weeks, psychological testing, interviews with shrinks or anything like that?

[User] We were getting feedback from the staff along the way. And I remember I, I played volleyball once. We had a variety of extracurricular activities going on. Yeah. And this one staff member was noticing how I was playing. And he also knew from my experience there and he told me at one point that I would need to be showing more proactivity if I wanted to be a successful volunteer.

[Assistant] Based on your volleyball game?

[User] Based on volleyball and other things. Oh, OK. But it seemed like that was the culminating activity that brought this to the surface somehow.

[Assistant] Yeah, it must have been the area and the staff sort of eyeballing everybody.


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] We were getting feedback from the staff along the way. And I remember I, I played volleyball once. We had a variety of extracurricular activities going on. Yeah. And this one staff member was noticing how I was playing. And he also knew from my experience there and he told me at one point that I would need to be showing more proactivity if I wanted to be a successful volunteer.

[Assistant] Based on your volleyball game?

[User] Based on volleyball and other things. Oh, OK. But it seemed like that was the culminating activity that brought this to the surface somehow.

[Assistant] Yeah, it must have been the area and the staff sort of eyeballing everybody.

[User] Yeah. Yeah. And I think there was a character deselection, maybe mid-term, you know, maybe after four weeks.

[Assistant] Did people disappear?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] Based on volleyball and other things. Oh, OK. But it seemed like that was the culminating activity that brought this to the surface somehow.

[Assistant] Yeah, it must have been the area and the staff sort of eyeballing everybody.

[User] Yeah. Yeah. And I think there was a character deselection, maybe mid-term, you know, maybe after four weeks.

[Assistant] Did people disappear?

[User] Yeah, yeah.

[Assistant] Do you recall how the group dealt with that?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] Yeah. Yeah. And I think there was a character deselection, maybe mid-term, you know, maybe after four weeks.

[Assistant] Did people disappear?

[User] Yeah, yeah.

[Assistant] Do you recall how the group dealt with that?

[User] Are generally we accepted it but we scratched our heads because we could see the creativity and just about everybody there, you know, potential for them. And we were sad when that happened.

[Assistant] We knew that as part of that process, we asked to do peer ratings. I'd like to be assigned with X, but not Y.


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] Yeah, yeah.

[Assistant] Do you recall how the group dealt with that?

[User] Are generally we accepted it but we scratched our heads because we could see the creativity and just about everybody there, you know, potential for them. And we were sad when that happened.

[Assistant] We knew that as part of that process, we asked to do peer ratings. I'd like to be assigned with X, but not Y.

[User] Oh, I don't, I don't remember the game.

[Assistant] And who was it who ran the training was at Notre Dame or was it a special group?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] Are generally we accepted it but we scratched our heads because we could see the creativity and just about everybody there, you know, potential for them. And we were sad when that happened.

[Assistant] We knew that as part of that process, we asked to do peer ratings. I'd like to be assigned with X, but not Y.

[User] Oh, I don't, I don't remember the game.

[Assistant] And who was it who ran the training was at Notre Dame or was it a special group?

[User] It was Peace Corps. His name was William Langford. OK, and I think he was hired by Peace Corps to do that. I don't think he was arrested. So he pulled together the faculty and everything.

[Assistant] So did anyone from Bolivia, Peace Corps or Bolivia itself come and say to you, this is the job you're going to do when you get to Bolivia, when you're a volunteer?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] Oh, I don't, I don't remember the game.

[Assistant] And who was it who ran the training was at Notre Dame or was it a special group?

[User] It was Peace Corps. His name was William Langford. OK, and I think he was hired by Peace Corps to do that. I don't think he was arrested. So he pulled together the faculty and everything.

[Assistant] So did anyone from Bolivia, Peace Corps or Bolivia itself come and say to you, this is the job you're going to do when you get to Bolivia, when you're a volunteer?

[User] I think only in general terms. I don't think I think this program was new and they didn't have a lot of experience already with them.

[Assistant] So at the end of the summer, some people have been selected, you know, during the summer. Were you nervous that that might include you?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] I think only in general terms. I don't think I think this program was new and they didn't have a lot of experience already with them.

[Assistant] So at the end of the summer, some people have been selected, you know, during the summer. Were you nervous that that might include you?

[User] Yes, I do that. I tried to be more proactive. I tried to show my leadership qualities, and so I tried to be a good practice.

[Assistant] More volleyball?

[User] Yes. I try to be socially, just things like that.

[Assistant] What wasn't all training? I mean, the groups generally, they break into some kind of cliques or subgroups and there is some free time. Do you recall that process at play?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] Yes, I do that. I tried to be more proactive. I tried to show my leadership qualities, and so I tried to be a good practice.

[Assistant] More volleyball?

[User] Yes. I try to be socially, just things like that.

[Assistant] What wasn't all training? I mean, the groups generally, they break into some kind of cliques or subgroups and there is some free time. Do you recall that process at play?

[User] Yes, yes, I remember I was not part of the drinker's at that point, and people were turning or getting close to the age 21 and going out to some of the local bars. We never had much. I've never been in that kind of group and say no. And so it's kind of a wide open field. Right. And part of the participants in this program were really good drinkers and very social. And they kind of knew what to do. Right. So I was a wannabe, but I never made that

[Assistant] Good people begin to pair off with in any marriages that came out of the yes. At the time or, you know, down the pipe.


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] Yes. I try to be socially, just things like that.

[Assistant] What wasn't all training? I mean, the groups generally, they break into some kind of cliques or subgroups and there is some free time. Do you recall that process at play?

[User] Yes, yes, I remember I was not part of the drinker's at that point, and people were turning or getting close to the age 21 and going out to some of the local bars. We never had much. I've never been in that kind of group and say no. And so it's kind of a wide open field. Right. And part of the participants in this program were really good drinkers and very social. And they kind of knew what to do. Right. So I was a wannabe, but I never made that

[Assistant] Good people begin to pair off with in any marriages that came out of the yes. At the time or, you know, down the pipe.

[User] Some relationships grew and marriage didn't happen. Yeah, yeah. I think yeah. I think we had two marriages before going into it. Yes.

[Assistant] Ok, let's wrap up the summer. You are selected so you're not deselected. The group is now smaller than 60. What's the next step?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] Yes, yes, I remember I was not part of the drinker's at that point, and people were turning or getting close to the age 21 and going out to some of the local bars. We never had much. I've never been in that kind of group and say no. And so it's kind of a wide open field. Right. And part of the participants in this program were really good drinkers and very social. And they kind of knew what to do. Right. So I was a wannabe, but I never made that

[Assistant] Good people begin to pair off with in any marriages that came out of the yes. At the time or, you know, down the pipe.

[User] Some relationships grew and marriage didn't happen. Yeah, yeah. I think yeah. I think we had two marriages before going into it. Yes.

[Assistant] Ok, let's wrap up the summer. You are selected so you're not deselected. The group is now smaller than 60. What's the next step?

[User] Next step is to keep on moving through senior year in preparation for growing soon after graduation to Bolivia.

[Assistant] And what what what would that entail while you're at St. Olaf now you're finishing your degree.


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] Some relationships grew and marriage didn't happen. Yeah, yeah. I think yeah. I think we had two marriages before going into it. Yes.

[Assistant] Ok, let's wrap up the summer. You are selected so you're not deselected. The group is now smaller than 60. What's the next step?

[User] Next step is to keep on moving through senior year in preparation for growing soon after graduation to Bolivia.

[Assistant] And what what what would that entail while you're at St. Olaf now you're finishing your degree.

[User] Right. So I wanted to show my leadership. So I get involved with some things that could give me that forum. And I switched my language direction, certainly to Spanish. Yeah. And I started to think seriously about living on my own. And what I needed is Peace Corps volunteer, OK? And then that senior year around holiday time, we had a reunion, everybody, an official piece by piece growing in here at O'Hare Airport just in order to get a few more classes in order to get a little more cohesive at O'Hare. Yeah, at the hotel right nearby.

[Assistant] So was during the Christmas break. Yeah. You were there for, what, five days, six days?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] Next step is to keep on moving through senior year in preparation for growing soon after graduation to Bolivia.

[Assistant] And what what what would that entail while you're at St. Olaf now you're finishing your degree.

[User] Right. So I wanted to show my leadership. So I get involved with some things that could give me that forum. And I switched my language direction, certainly to Spanish. Yeah. And I started to think seriously about living on my own. And what I needed is Peace Corps volunteer, OK? And then that senior year around holiday time, we had a reunion, everybody, an official piece by piece growing in here at O'Hare Airport just in order to get a few more classes in order to get a little more cohesive at O'Hare. Yeah, at the hotel right nearby.

[Assistant] So was during the Christmas break. Yeah. You were there for, what, five days, six days?

[User] Something like that.

[Assistant] And what what went on then?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] Right. So I wanted to show my leadership. So I get involved with some things that could give me that forum. And I switched my language direction, certainly to Spanish. Yeah. And I started to think seriously about living on my own. And what I needed is Peace Corps volunteer, OK? And then that senior year around holiday time, we had a reunion, everybody, an official piece by piece growing in here at O'Hare Airport just in order to get a few more classes in order to get a little more cohesive at O'Hare. Yeah, at the hotel right nearby.

[Assistant] So was during the Christmas break. Yeah. You were there for, what, five days, six days?

[User] Something like that.

[Assistant] And what what went on then?

[User] Oh, I don't remember the exact best of advice, but certainly a large part of it was just reestablishing friendships with other volunteers and with members of our staff. And there was a nice feeling of how are you doing and what do you need? Congratulations on what you've done. It was a very supportive field.

[Assistant] We see you sort of we're expected to report on what you had done back at your school to prepare yourself. And your answer would have been?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] Something like that.

[Assistant] And what what went on then?

[User] Oh, I don't remember the exact best of advice, but certainly a large part of it was just reestablishing friendships with other volunteers and with members of our staff. And there was a nice feeling of how are you doing and what do you need? Congratulations on what you've done. It was a very supportive field.

[Assistant] We see you sort of we're expected to report on what you had done back at your school to prepare yourself. And your answer would have been?

[User] They are making good progress.

[Assistant] Yeah, you're learning. You're taking Spanish classes. Are you doing anything in the community?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] Oh, I don't remember the exact best of advice, but certainly a large part of it was just reestablishing friendships with other volunteers and with members of our staff. And there was a nice feeling of how are you doing and what do you need? Congratulations on what you've done. It was a very supportive field.

[Assistant] We see you sort of we're expected to report on what you had done back at your school to prepare yourself. And your answer would have been?

[User] They are making good progress.

[Assistant] Yeah, you're learning. You're taking Spanish classes. Are you doing anything in the community?

[User] Yeah, I was tutoring a student who needed some tutoring as kind of an outreach. Yeah, I became the head of the recreational program at the union. And so I, I wanted to show some leadership. Yeah. And so I helped to organize staff through your various tournaments, various activities that would appeal to people. I, I decided to start a fundraising program, and so I established, you know, the promotion for the ad and spoke in front of the student body and collected money with some other people and sent it off to here.

[Assistant] And I'm interested. Do you think you would have gone in that direction had you not decided to become part of the Peace Corps?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] They are making good progress.

[Assistant] Yeah, you're learning. You're taking Spanish classes. Are you doing anything in the community?

[User] Yeah, I was tutoring a student who needed some tutoring as kind of an outreach. Yeah, I became the head of the recreational program at the union. And so I, I wanted to show some leadership. Yeah. And so I helped to organize staff through your various tournaments, various activities that would appeal to people. I, I decided to start a fundraising program, and so I established, you know, the promotion for the ad and spoke in front of the student body and collected money with some other people and sent it off to here.

[Assistant] And I'm interested. Do you think you would have gone in that direction had you not decided to become part of the Peace Corps?

[User] I don't think so. Or possibly that direction? Yeah, those specific activities I probably would not have been involved in then as a leader

[Assistant] During that year, you begin to have a feeling that, hey, I'm a Peace Corps volunteer. I'm doing these. Oh, okay.


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] Yeah, I was tutoring a student who needed some tutoring as kind of an outreach. Yeah, I became the head of the recreational program at the union. And so I, I wanted to show some leadership. Yeah. And so I helped to organize staff through your various tournaments, various activities that would appeal to people. I, I decided to start a fundraising program, and so I established, you know, the promotion for the ad and spoke in front of the student body and collected money with some other people and sent it off to here.

[Assistant] And I'm interested. Do you think you would have gone in that direction had you not decided to become part of the Peace Corps?

[User] I don't think so. Or possibly that direction? Yeah, those specific activities I probably would not have been involved in then as a leader

[Assistant] During that year, you begin to have a feeling that, hey, I'm a Peace Corps volunteer. I'm doing these. Oh, okay.

[User] Yeah. I was surprised to myself with a little push so much and a little expectations out there.

[Assistant] So you're you're getting close to graduation. Do you have any second thoughts about this is a crazy decision. Should I just go back to the farm or anything?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] I don't think so. Or possibly that direction? Yeah, those specific activities I probably would not have been involved in then as a leader

[Assistant] During that year, you begin to have a feeling that, hey, I'm a Peace Corps volunteer. I'm doing these. Oh, okay.

[User] Yeah. I was surprised to myself with a little push so much and a little expectations out there.

[Assistant] So you're you're getting close to graduation. Do you have any second thoughts about this is a crazy decision. Should I just go back to the farm or anything?

[User] You know, I felt really happy I was doing and. And I felt really special, I felt I was lion with a whole lot of people that were going to take me into a new direction in life. And it really gave me what I was needing at that point as far as hope for the future and direction in my life and some kind of structure against which to work.

[Assistant] Yes. And your family?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] Yeah. I was surprised to myself with a little push so much and a little expectations out there.

[Assistant] So you're you're getting close to graduation. Do you have any second thoughts about this is a crazy decision. Should I just go back to the farm or anything?

[User] You know, I felt really happy I was doing and. And I felt really special, I felt I was lion with a whole lot of people that were going to take me into a new direction in life. And it really gave me what I was needing at that point as far as hope for the future and direction in my life and some kind of structure against which to work.

[Assistant] Yes. And your family?

[User] They were supportive all the time.

[Assistant] And your friends are saying all along, did they kid you or did they just simply feel it was a good thing you were doing?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] You know, I felt really happy I was doing and. And I felt really special, I felt I was lion with a whole lot of people that were going to take me into a new direction in life. And it really gave me what I was needing at that point as far as hope for the future and direction in my life and some kind of structure against which to work.

[Assistant] Yes. And your family?

[User] They were supportive all the time.

[Assistant] And your friends are saying all along, did they kid you or did they just simply feel it was a good thing you were doing?

[User] Yeah, I thought I think they thought it was a good thing that the Peace Corps had such a feeling. I just got a little.

[Assistant] So we're sort of wrapping up this summer and your final year at St. Olaf. All of you, you felt the Peace Corps, he challenged you to do more and you had begun to do that. And I gather it felt good. I mean, you felt and you felt yourself part of this bigger thing, which was called, quote, the Peace Corps. Did you ever consider that? Well, suppose I decide not to go what my alternative is or was the whole focus on going Peace Corps?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] They were supportive all the time.

[Assistant] And your friends are saying all along, did they kid you or did they just simply feel it was a good thing you were doing?

[User] Yeah, I thought I think they thought it was a good thing that the Peace Corps had such a feeling. I just got a little.

[Assistant] So we're sort of wrapping up this summer and your final year at St. Olaf. All of you, you felt the Peace Corps, he challenged you to do more and you had begun to do that. And I gather it felt good. I mean, you felt and you felt yourself part of this bigger thing, which was called, quote, the Peace Corps. Did you ever consider that? Well, suppose I decide not to go what my alternative is or was the whole focus on going Peace Corps?

[User] I felt really proactively going toward Peace Corps. I really felt I wanted to be a part of that. And I knew in my mind that it was going to give me some wonderful experiences and returns and opportunities. So I didn't think much of what other areas to go to. I had the luxury of focusing on one particular project.

[Assistant] And how did you draft board look at all this?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] Yeah, I thought I think they thought it was a good thing that the Peace Corps had such a feeling. I just got a little.

[Assistant] So we're sort of wrapping up this summer and your final year at St. Olaf. All of you, you felt the Peace Corps, he challenged you to do more and you had begun to do that. And I gather it felt good. I mean, you felt and you felt yourself part of this bigger thing, which was called, quote, the Peace Corps. Did you ever consider that? Well, suppose I decide not to go what my alternative is or was the whole focus on going Peace Corps?

[User] I felt really proactively going toward Peace Corps. I really felt I wanted to be a part of that. And I knew in my mind that it was going to give me some wonderful experiences and returns and opportunities. So I didn't think much of what other areas to go to. I had the luxury of focusing on one particular project.

[Assistant] And how did you draft board look at all this?

[User] Oh, I got a I didn't speak personally with anyone, but I was supported in that. I got to determine and it was encouraged.

[Assistant] I mean, it was not automatic that most boards tended to. So you graduated, you enjoyed celebrated your degree. What was the next step?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] I felt really proactively going toward Peace Corps. I really felt I wanted to be a part of that. And I knew in my mind that it was going to give me some wonderful experiences and returns and opportunities. So I didn't think much of what other areas to go to. I had the luxury of focusing on one particular project.

[Assistant] And how did you draft board look at all this?

[User] Oh, I got a I didn't speak personally with anyone, but I was supported in that. I got to determine and it was encouraged.

[Assistant] I mean, it was not automatic that most boards tended to. So you graduated, you enjoyed celebrated your degree. What was the next step?

[User] The next step was to pack my bags, basically. And I had proof of it. Yeah, I said my goodbyes, I imagine.

[Assistant] And no further training. Not in the States. OK, so the summit the previous summer had been enough for you to be considered part of part of the program and be sent to Bolivia.


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] Oh, I got a I didn't speak personally with anyone, but I was supported in that. I got to determine and it was encouraged.

[Assistant] I mean, it was not automatic that most boards tended to. So you graduated, you enjoyed celebrated your degree. What was the next step?

[User] The next step was to pack my bags, basically. And I had proof of it. Yeah, I said my goodbyes, I imagine.

[Assistant] And no further training. Not in the States. OK, so the summit the previous summer had been enough for you to be considered part of part of the program and be sent to Bolivia.

[User] There was a further deselection moment at the end of our senior years before we actually left. And so that senior year was all part of a task for us. Yeah, that was monitored.

[Assistant] And how was it?


[System] Act as an information elicitation agent for oral history.

[User] The next step was to pack my bags, basically. And I had proof of it. Yeah, I said my goodbyes, I imagine.

[Assistant] And no further training. Not in the States. OK, so the summit the previous summer had been enough for you to be considered part of part of the program and be sent to Bolivia.

[User] There was a further deselection moment at the end of our senior years before we actually left. And so that senior year was all part of a task for us. Yeah, that was monitored.

[Assistant] And how was it?

[User] A good question that we had to do reports to people who were on the staff?

[Assistant] We had the Peace Corps training staff. That's interesting there.