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 Spring break in Central Park. Lesle Creech Rea ’55 (third from left) and daughter Lesle Rea Williams ’88 (second from left) were strolling to the sweet strains of a capella and watching all the festivities when, much to their delight, they spied the Men’s Octet in concert (left to right: Robin Kong ’05, Glenn Steinbaum ’08, John Shumway ’08, Zachary Bernstein ’07, Jonathan Yee ’06, Jaime Pinedo ’07).
 Alums in West Africa
The Islamic Republic of Mauritania is a place that even adven-turous types consider the middle of nowhere. Nomadic herdsmen sip sweet mint tea under tents, camels stretch their necks to pluck thorns from scrubby trees, and pickup trucks bump and rattle past donkey carts. And incongruously, within the same 50-mile radius, three Cal grads work together.
It’s not Timbuktu, but in some respects Mauritania is even more remote, and Adrianna Publico ’02, Luke Filose ’99, and Annika Dubrall ’03 (left to right) were surprised to meet, each working for the Peace Corps. “We never met in Berkeley,” says Filose. “But I discovered that Annika and I share common friends, and Adriana and I were born in the same hospital in Los Angeles.”
In addition to fulfilling the Peace Corps’ major goal of sharing cultures, these Cal grads focus on transferring skills. Dubrall and Publico teach high school English. Filose works with a local micro-finance bank while also teaching English. Publico also runs an after-school mentoring center for high school girls.
The three Peace Corps volunteers lived different lives while at Berkeley. Dubrall directed the Cal-in-the-Capitol program and gave campus tours. Filose edited the Heuristic Squelch, the student satire magazine. And Publico participated in the Rally Committee and Cercle Français.
But despite the different backgrounds, there’s a common thread among Peace Corps volunteers. “Everyone joins the Peace Corps with their own goals,” says Filose, which can range from joining the front lines of the fight against HIV/AIDS to maybe just leaving one’s hometown for the first time. “And once you arrive,” he adds, “you are constantly re-evaluating those goals as you realize how different life is from anything you could have expected.” But it is exactly those differences that most people seek in the Peace Corps, experiences that will open new doors and stay with the person forever.
More than 3,000 Berkeley graduates have served in the Peace Corps since the organization was founded in 1961. To date, that’s the most volunteers from any single university. In the opinion of these three Bears, however, the Peace Corps is not sufficiently recognized as a way to multiply your life options. But it has much to offer Americans of any age, such as new language skills and a place on the leading edge of globalization.
Then there are the more intangible and often surreal moments that make most volunteers happy they accepted the challenge. “Where else can you travel in the back of a pickup truck with 20 people and a goat?” Dubrall asks. “You can learn a foreign language that’s not only difficult, but unusable back home,” offers Publico. And Filose makes a final suggestion. “How do you know you wouldn’t look good riding a camel?”
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