Q&A with Mary Bilecki, UVM Peace Corps Recruiter & MPA Student

1. What drew you to UVM/CDAE Dept/MPA Program?

As an AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer in VT prior to entering the Peace Corps, Mary had reached out to Maggie Massey, the UVM Peace Corps Recruiter at that time. Maggie, who was a student in the MPA program, got Mary really excited about some of the research and activities that CDAE faculty were involved in, and Mary began to see how these aligned with her own passions and work.

2. How did your Peace Corps experience influence your decision to attend graduate school, and do you feel that your PC experience prepared you well for graduate school?

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Mary’s Peace Corps experience was cut short when she was evacuated from her post in the Cascade Community in Jamaica in March 2020. While she was serving in the Peace Corps, she saw systemic issues that impeded community development, such as a lack of unity, collaboration, and leadership. She has come to see that community development is not just an international issue. Understanding these systemic issues helped cement her interest in gaining more skills that could lead to sustainable, long term impacts on communities, rather than relying solely on short term, direct action solutions. Mary is learning about the Root vs. Branch theory of decision-making in her Foundations of Public Administration class, and can see how this theory could be directly applied to the on-the-ground experiences that she had while working on community-level challenges in Jamaica.

3. What does your day-to-day job entail as a PC Recruiter, and what is the most exciting aspect of your position?

Mary has hit the ground running through networking with campus resources, including student clubs, departments, diversity groups, non-traditional resources, and others. She is doing both virtual and in-person presentations. Mary emphasized that relationships are the foundation of getting things done, but that during the pandemic, we are all learning to engage in new ways and we must allow ourselves the grace to understand that we’re not operating at full capacity.

4. How has the pandemic altered the way in which you work with prospective Peace Corps applicants?

It’s challenging to communicate in a virtual setting. Students are experiencing anxiety, especially seniors. While Peace Corps is not currently placing applicants, there are plans to resume international posts by next summer. Mary emphasizes that Peace Corps is an incredible experience, and that now more than ever, it is important to engage in cross-cultural exchange as one way to foster a sense of humanity in the world. Students still need to know about the exciting opportunities that Peace Corps offers, and to be aware of what those opportunities could lead to in the future. Mary counsels students to engage in some sort of service, any community service, until Peace Corps becomes an option again.

5. How do you balance your time between the PC Recruiter job and your full time studies?

Mary says that breaking down her work into small, manageable pieces is a really helpful strategy. She finds balance by calling on her Returned Peace Corps Volunteer (RPCV) networks, as well as her networks within UVM and the CDAE department. Right now, she’s looking toward the future with a goal to connect students with more RPCVs, ideally with RPCVs that represent a diverse array of Peace Corps experiences.

6. Describe the volunteer work you are currently doing, and the ways in which that work relates to your MPA curriculum and community development in general.

RPCVs that are pursuing master’s degrees through CDAE are eligible to participate in the Paul D. Coverdell Fellowship. As a Coverdell Fellow, Mary is volunteering with a local organization, bringing the Peace Corps ethos home to her own community. Mary says that the most grounding aspect of her life is engaging with the community. This is a priority for her, and she puts this ideal into practice weekly through her work with “Food Not Bombs”. Burlington’s local chapter of FNB supplies volunteers with ingredient boxes which they turn into nutritious meals to share with community members. Mary enjoys preparing meals to be shared with her neighbors on Saturday mornings. Connecting with community members and fellow activists is her favorite part of the week. Mary embraces the theory of mutual aid and recognizes how she benefits from giving her time and energy, thereby receiving support as well as providing it.

7. What similarities and/or differences do you see between your Coverdell volunteer work locally and your Peace Corps volunteer work internationally?

Mary views food as an important lens with which to understand a community and how we’re all connected. During her Peace Corps service, she noticed that people were always gathering in places where the food was. It’s the same with her experience with Food Not Bombs here in Burlington. Additionally, she finds that relationships can be leveraged to enact meaningful change. Change can happen when people are in the same room, so to speak, and realize the powerful effect of relying on each other. She is seeing this concept play out in her local community, as well as in the connections she’s making to the concepts that she’s learning in the classroom.