Former Peace Corps volunteers speak to High Point students

Wantage — Alan and Mary Spector, former Peace Corps volunteers, were invited to speak at Christine Henry’s American Studies II history class at High Point Regional High School about their work with the organization during the 1960s. The couple lives in Lafayette and have had children who attend High Point High. In their March 12 presentation, the Spectors showed the students what the Peace Corps does and told about their own experiences. They showed a Power Point presentation from the Peace Corps telling its history and then they showed their own Power Point offering scenes from the areas they lived in during their time in the Peace Corps. Alan Spector served in the Peace Corps from 1966 through 1968 in Sousse and Sbeitla, Tunisia. He was first sent to Sousse as an architect and city planner to convert a bombed-out mosque into a kindergarten, he told the High Point children. After he was done with that project, he was sent to Sbeitla to build a school for draftsmen. Mary Spector joined in 1964 and served through 1966. She was sent to Pamplona, Colombia, because she could speak Spanish. She told the High Point students that while working there, she helped get supplies to build a chapel that would be used as a school. She also was involved in food and water for people. The Peace Corps was started in 1961 by President John F. Kennedy to send American college students “to serve their country in the cause of peace by living and working in developing countries,” according to the Peace Corps Web site. Today, it is a federal agency “devoted to world peace and friendship.” Today, the program is open to others as well, including married couples. Since the organization started in 1961, nearly 200,000 students have served in 139 different countries. To learn more, visit www.peacecorps.gov.