0 0 0 2B The Statement // Wednesday, October 13, 2010 Wednesday, October 13 2010 // The Statement 7B the statement Magazine Editor: Trevor Calero Editor inChief: Jacob Smilovitz Managing Editor: Matt Aaronson Deputy Editor: Jenna Skoller Designers: Sara Boboltz Corey DeFever Photo Editor: Jed Moch Copy Editors: Erin Flannery Danqing Tang The Statement is The Michigan Daily's news magazine, distributed every Wednesday during the academic year. To contact The Statement e-mail calero@michi- gandaily.com THFJUNKDRAWFR R dinner and passionately discussed the impact that student participa- tion abroad could have in developing countries. On a whim, they wrote a note on a napkin to then editor in chief of The Michigan Daily, Tom Hayden, emphasizingthe importance of student participation abroad. The Guskins dropped the note off at the newsroom, and the Daily pub- lished it on October 19th, 1960. The note asked students to send letters to the Daily or the Guskins articulating support for an international aid pro- gram that they would in turn send to Kennedy and Bowles. "If it is at all possible, we would like students to start asking others in their classes, dorms, sororities, fraternities, houses, etc. to send let- ters expressing their desire to work toward these goals," the letter read. "With this request we express our faith that those of us who have been fortunate enough to receive an edu- cation will want to apply their knowl- edge through direct participation in the under developed communities of the world." Almost instantaneously, the Guskins were flooded with letters and telephone calls from students voicing support for such a program. In response to such widespread sup- port, the Guskins drafted petitions and urged students and faculty mem- bers around campus to sign them. "It just took off like wildfire," Al Guskin said. Shortly after, the Guskins received a call from Kennedy's campaign manager telling them that the sena- tor wanted to meet with them at the Toledo Airport on Nov. 3. The next day, the Guskins were off to Toledo to discuss the project. "I gave him the petitions and he looked into my eyes," Judy Guskin said excitedly in a recent interview with the Daily. "He was a big guy, this big tall man that came to me, and with very large hands. That's what I remember. And he listened, he really was attentive." "I was really impressed with the fact that all he wanted to do was say hello to us and meet us," Al Guskin said. "He wasn't interested in mak- ing any big deal for the press about it, and it was kind of fun. We talked for a little bit, he teased us a little bit. He asked us if he could take the peti- tions." The Guskins were hesitant about what would happen next. They were worried that Kennedy wasn't truly interested in developing the pro- gram, or even if it would be feasible. In response, Kennedy assuredly told them that after Election Day, the Peace Corps would be his main focus. "Until Tuesday, the election. After that, the world," Al Guskin remem- bers Kennedy told them. Kennedy was elected president on November 8,1960. In December, Uni- English to undergraduate Thai stu- versity students held a conference in dents and Al developed the firstsocial which faculty and students discussed psychology program for a university how to best launch an international in Thailand. aid program. They held workshops The Guskins developed close rela- where they outlined what members tionships with their colleagues and of the program would do abroad, the the Thai students they worked with. needs of various countries and other Five of the 45 Peace Corps volunteers issues relevant to the group. in their group ended up marrying In the summer of 1961, the Guskins Thai citizens they met during their came to Washington D.C. to work on experience with the Peace Corps, something .Judy "I'll meet a returned Peace Corps Guskin says is "not so unusual in the volunteer who's 30 years and we start world of Peace Corps." Another talking about our experience. It's a one of her col- leagues adopted a powerful experience that changes Thai child. , ,,ie.While in Thai- people's lives." land, Judy received a letter stating developing the Peace Corps program. that she needed to help develop the By that time, a national student group domestic Peace Corps. So, instead of had been formed and a conference returning to Ann Arbor, she and Al was held at American University that were once again off to Washington. featured over 400 different campus There they set up the first 13 train- representatives. The Guskins and ing programs for future Peace Corps other Peace Corps supporters lobbied trips, which were being developed on the Hill for increased support, simultaneously with many other attracting national attention. blooming Peace Corps programs. "The Washington Post followed The Guskins worked briefly with us around all day and we didn't even migrant workers in Florida before know how important it was to be in finally returning to Ann Arbor, where the Sunday paper of The Washington Al finished his doctorate degree and Post, that's how naive we were," Judy Judy changed careers and pursued a Guskin said. "But we finally let him degree in educational psychology. interview us." While in Washington, the Guskins worked on the Peace Corps selection Though Guild ultimately reached division and helped develop criteria the level of intimacy within her Gua- for student applications and choos- temalan village that the Guskins ing countries. Judy Guskin said she reminisced about, it took her time to remembers working late into the get used to the indigenous Guatema- night. lan way of living. Various restrictions "We had a lot to do, " Judy Guskin were placed on women, including said. "It was very, very exciting. We the prohibition of a beloved college worked long hours. We would stop pastime - drinking. Women were when it got dark and we got too hun- barred from local cantinas and Guild gry and we'd go out to eat, and then said any recreational drinking was we'd come back and...people were still "frowned upon." working up there, so we went back to Moreover, Guild had to get used to a work." lifestyle that was much different from After guidelines were set, the hers in the United States. Bathing and Guskins took charge of the "Thai- other water-related activities were land Project." Judy began doing carried out in a stone basin. At times, research on the country and talked because of drought, water would be with the Thai embassy to determine limited for extended periods of time, how volunteers could help in Thai- so she had tobe diligent about saving land. Somewhere along the way, Judy surplus amounts. Electricity was also became infatuated with the country. a bit haphazard, she said, but overall "I fell in love with Thailand, that's worked pretty efficiently. as simple as it is," she said. "I got a Despite the lifestyle differences, National Geographic magazine. I Guild said a crucial part of the Peace read about Thailand. I knew very Corps is living like the locals and little about it. I went to eat at the one realizing that the Peace Corps isn't restaurant - "Jenny's Pan Asian" in supposed to be lavish. Washington, D.C. - that had some "You don't go to the Peace Corps Thai food on the menu, and I fell in expecting to have a luxurious life- love with Thai food." style," Guild said. "That's not the "I decided I didn't want to go back point of Peace Corps. The point of to graduate school, I wanted to go to it is to go into a community and live Thailand," she added with a laugh. the standard of the community. 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