Keeping the peace in Hood House
Amber Bocko
Issue date: 2/29/08 Section: News
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Edward Dalton, a UNH Peace Corps representative, is prompting UNH community members into Peace Corps service. Dalton lights up as he begins his story of creating the first yearbook for a small grade school in Belize, only one of the projects he accomplished during the 27 months he served with the Peace Corps.
"I could go on and on and on. When people start asking me about it my wife says she can't shut me up," Dalton says with a chuckle. Dalton and his wife, Sharon, spent 2005 and 2006 in Belize. They worked in a small village and lived among the villagers.
Dalton planned to meet with the nervous mother of a recruit. This is not part of the required interview for Peace Corps recruits, but Dalton has volunteered to help ease the fear many parents feel as their son or daughter decides to venture off to the other side of the world.
"Having Ed Dalton as an older recruiter definitely has its benefits," wrote Susanne Delaney, the recruitment coordinator at the New England Regional Peace Corps office, in an e-mail. "Although this recruitment office is located on the UNH college campus and Ed's focus audience are the young college students, Ed also attracts mid-career professionals and 50-plus candidates into applying to the Peace Corps."
Dalton became the Peace Corps representative at UNH in September 2007, nearly a year and a half after he and his wife returned from their service with the Peace Corps in Belize.
After Dalton and his wife returned home, he hoped to continue his help in some way or another. Dalton attended send-off gatherings and talked with future volunteers. He remembered being intrigued by the position of recruiter at his own Peace Corps interview.
"I thought, 'gee, that'd be a great job to have,'" said Dalton.
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