Viking_Yearbook_64

The first group bound for Turkey ar– r ived in mid -August to begin its pro– gram of concentrated language and area studies under Director John 0 . Dart, professor of geography. The group included specialists in nursing, soci al work , commercial education and home economics . Even with the incred– ible schedule of 660 hours in 11 weeks, the trainees found time for diversion. There were camping trips, trips up– river, a day at the State Fair, and local entertainment. They whizzed around corners on bicycles loaned them by the City Council. And they participated in a televised panel discussion of the Peace Corps training program . Nor were they neglected by state and gov– ernment officials . One of the keynote addresses was delivered by Oregon's Senator Wayne Morse. He told the trainees that "Peace Corps is the van– guard of what our foreign policy should b " e. At graduation services Nov. 1, PSC trained Turkey-bound Peace Corps members were awarded completion of training certificates . After a 10 day home leave, they left for Ankara, Tur– key, to begin 21 months of service. Iran was the destination for 37 more volunteers in the second PSC training program . The job facing those Peace Corps workers in Iran is to help bridge the language gap while at the same time teach improved agricultural meth– ods and self-help programs in the thousands of villages throughout the country. How to accomplish this goal in the shortest t ime with little monetary assistance was the object of the 10 week PSC training program. When queried as to the favorite part of their training most volunteers headed for Iran were quick to name technical studies . The Peace Corps has more than 6000 volunteers serving in 47 countries . Even as this is be ing written plans are underway for more Peace Corps train– ing programs at PSC. 41