2007 LHS valedictorian joins Peace Corps; assigned to teach in Jordan

LACONIA — Conor McGuire, 23, has been accepted into the Peace Corps and will depart for Jordan on October 29 to begin training as an Education Peace Corps volunteer. He will live and work in a community to teach English language classes in a rural Jordanian school and promote extracurricular activities.

“I was motivated (to join) by the Peace Corps’ Master’s International Program,” he said. “Volunteering in the Peace Corps while getting a Master’s degree in teaching English as a second language will be the ideal intersection of my post-graduate interests, combining the opportunity to serve the global community with the chance to earn an M.A. enriched by experience teaching abroad.”

McGuire is the son of Sean and Gina McGuire of Laconia and a 2007 graduate of Laconia High School. He then attended The University of New Hampshire, where he earned a degree in Linguistics and English in 2011.

Established in 1987, Master’s International is a Peace Corps program in collaboration with over 50 academic institutions that offers Peace Corps Volunteers the opportunity to complement a master's degree with overseas service. Master's International students study on campus for approximately one year before departing for their Peace Corps assignment and are awarded credit for their overseas experience.

During the first three months of his service, McGuire will live with a host family in Jordan to become fully immersed in the country’s language and culture. After acquiring the language and cultural skills necessary to assist his community, McGuire will be sworn into service and be assigned to a community in Jordan, where he will live and work for two years with the local people.

“Exposure to many different languages and cultures has excited in me a desire to engage with a host of diverse people in a spirit of mutuality — teaching one another and learning from one another.” he said. “As a linguist, I am fascinated by language and am prepared to be engulfed in a new language and culture for 27 months while working to promote global peace.”

McGuire joins the 88 New Hampshire residents currently serving in the Peace Corps. More than 1,569 New Hampshire residents who have served in the Peace Corps since 1961.

The University of New Hampshire is nationally ranked on the 2012 top Peace Corps volunteer-producing colleges and universities in the medium size category. There are currently 25 undergraduate alumni serving overseas. Since the agency was founded in 1961, 670 UNH alumni have served in the Peace Corps.