Profiles in Advocacy: Stephen Chapman

Stephen ChapmanAfter Stephen Chapman graduated from the University of Oregon, he realized he was in the same boat as many new alumni: he didn't know where to go next.

He doesn’t remember who suggested he apply for the Peace Corps, but that advice would prove to be invaluable. Teaching in Poland for two years with the Peace Corps would lead to his current full-time position as a recruiter at the organization -- which allows him to reach out to graduates in the position he was once in.

Initially, "I didn’t really have a sense of how many different projects Peace Corps was involved in,” said Chapman, now 37. “All throughout college, I thought of a Peace Corps experience as living in a hut in Africa or digging latrines, neither of which I was interested in doing.”

But now, Chapman helps promote the Peace Corps and look for individuals with hands-on skills they can share in other countries. He visits colleges and recruitment fairs in the Mid-Atlantic region and helps eight full-time recruiters in the office.

It was at a Peace Corps recruiting office years ago that Chapman learned about new opportunities for English teachers in eastern Europe and decided to apply. His application wasn’t accepted immediately: the recruiter suggested he volunteer locally first.

Tutoring through the group Refugee Transitions in San Francisco several hours a month gave Chapman the experience that qualified him for a Peace Corps assignment. He spent the next 27 months — from 1997 to 1999 plus three months of training — in Sosnowiec, Poland, a town so isolated the residents had never met an American before Chapman.

“When ... the country was independent, the Polish government suddenly wanted English teachers,” Chapman said. “The Polish people also felt a strong connection to the United States. Most are Roman Catholic, and Poland as a whole self-identified as a Western country.”

As he taught English in a high-school classroom, Chapman said he heard the misconceptions some students had about life in the United States, and he realized how person-to-person connection could educate people of different cultures about each other.

Once he returned, Chapman earned his master’s degree in journalism at the University of Maryland-College Park and wrote for small Washington, D.C.-based publications such as The Common Denominator, The Northwest Current and The Montgomery County Sentinel. But Chapman said the profession quickly burnt him out.

“The reporting was for a very small, very informed audience, and it lacked that broader, storytelling type of journalism,” Chapman said. “I guess I didn’t really feel passionate about it, so I started working [at Peace Corps] about four years ago.”