2025 Peace Corps Week: UH Hilo hosted several events featuring former Peace Corps volunteers with ties to Hawaiʻi Island

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Hawaiʻi Island was chosen as a primary training location for thousands of Peace Corps volunteers in the 1960s and UH Hilo’s precursor — UH-Hilo Branch — contributed greatly to the training program.

Group stands for photo in presentation venue with PowerPoint above on screen. The table has a banner reading Uh Hilo Political Science.
Group stands for photo following talk-story panel event, Feb. 26, 2025 Peace Corps Week at UH Hilo. From left, returned Peace Corps volunteer Bill Sakovich, political science major Jasmin Camacho, business administration and accounting major Basil Tavake, and returned Peace Corps volunteers Sarah Juran, Josef Donnelly, Joseph Genz, Artem Sergeyev, and Jon Countess. (Photo: Dept. of Political Science/UH Hilo)

By Susan Enright.

Red white and blue Peace Corps logo with a white dove.The Department of Political Science at the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo organized several events and publications during 2025 Peace Corps Week, Feb. 24-28, to commemorate the establishment of the Peace Corps.

The annual commemoration is significant to UH Hilo because Hawaiʻi Island was chosen as a primary training location for thousands of Peace Corps volunteers in the 1960s and the university’s precursor — UH-Hilo Branch — contributed greatly to the training program. And many of those Peace Corps volunteers, who spent years forming connections abroad during their Peace Corps work, returned to Hawaiʻi Island, enriching local communities with their professional lives and service.

Su-Mi Lee pictured
Su-Mi Lee

The events are headed by Su-Mi-Lee, a professor of political science who has spent several years collecting biographical stories of Peace Corps volunteers who have ties to Hawaiʻi Island.

“The Peace Corps serves as a form of public diplomacy that emphasizes the goodness in people,” says Lee. “This reminds me of Nelson Mandela’s quote: ‘No one is born hating another person because of the colour of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.'”

“Unfortunately, some individuals, usually politicians, politicize and exaggerate differences among people, fostering fears about ‘others’ and pitting groups against one another,” she adds. “The Peace Corps counters this by providing opportunities for us to learn about people in other countries and their way of life firsthand, while allowing them to learn about ours. Through this exchange, we realize that we are all human, sharing similar needs, wants, dreams, and hopes. Ultimately, the Peace Corps helps us find ways to live together harmoniously.”

Josef holds up a very large tuna. In the background is a two-story building, a fenced-in area, and greenery.
Josef Donnelly, in his 20s, with a tuna catch while serving as a Peace Corps volunteer on the Mortlock Islands of Chuuk, Micronesia, 2006-2009. “On weekends, I went fishing and all its different permutations: spearfishing (both night and day), deep-sea trolling, pole fishing, raising locally made fish traps, and fishing with nets.” Donnelly is now an assistant professor of education at UH Hilo. (Courtesy photo/Josef Donnelly)

Lee says the Hilo community and UH Hilo Branch played a crucial role in the early years of the Peace Corps program, serving as a primary training site for thousands of volunteers. Although Hawaiʻi Island was chosen to replicate the climate of the countries where Peace Corps volunteers were assigned, the kindness of people on the island inspired many Peace Corps volunteers to relocate to the island after their assignments.

“I want UH Hilo students to learn about this significant piece of U.S. history, highlighting the island’s important contributions,” says Lee. “I also hope they understand that despite the turmoil in the world, there are good people out there who are like us and share our desire for peace.”

2025 Peace Corps Week at UH Hilo

This year, for 2025 Peace Corps week, Lee produced five feature stories, one a day honoring a returned Peace Corp volunteer who has Hawaiʻi Island ties. The stories are posted here at UH Hilo Stories.

Mid-week, on Feb. 26, the political science department hosted several events including a documentary film on the Peace Corps program on Hawaiʻi Island, a tabling event on the Campus Center plaza with informational materials and a fun quiz activity to test people’s knowledge of the Peace Corps, and a talk-story event with a panel of returned Peace Corps volunteers who shared their life-changing experiences.

The film, Peace Corps Training on the Big Island, produced by returned Peace Corps volunteers on Hawaiʻi Island, focuses on the island’s connection to the early years of the Peace Corps, documenting the history of Peace Corp training on the Big Island from 1962 to 1971 through slides, photos, and stories from the former Peace Corp volunteers and staff.

At the tabling event on the Campus Center Plaza, the political science department distributed information materials about the Peace Corps as well as promotional items and challenged passersby with questions about the Peace Corps program. Tables were staffed by members of the Political Science Club, including Amaya Hirata, Jasmin Camacho, Echo Hirata, and Makayla Cramer (a political science student assistant who wrote three of the featured Peace Corps stories this year posted here at UH Hilo Stories), and Professor Lee.

Group of four at table on the plaza, holding up informational materials.
At tabling event held at the UH Hilo Campus Center Plaza on Feb. 26, 2025, tables are staffed by (from left) Professor Su-Mi Lee and students Echo Hirata, Jasmin Camacho, and Amaya Hirata. (Photo: Dept. of Political Science/UH Hilo)

Several former Peace Corps volunteers from the Hawaiʻi Island community dropped by the events, including David Ikeda, Bill Sakovich, Nick Cera, Harold Murai, Jon Countess, Julie Countess, Linda Murai, as well as Charlene Iboshi, a member of Big Island Rotary Clubs Peace Group, who presented proclamations from the County Mayor declaring February as Rotary Peace Month and March as Peace Corps Week.

Group stands next to tall white pole with the words carved on the pole, May Peace Prevail on Earth. Some people in the photo are holding County documents proclaiming Peace Corps Week on Hawaiʻi Island.
Standing around the Peace Pole located near UH Hilo Mookini Library lanai, holding Mayor’s Proclamations on Peace Corps Week, are (from left) Charlene Iboshi, Jon Countess, Su-Mi Lee, David Ikeda, Nick Cera, Linda Murai, Julie Countess, and Harold Murai. (Photo: Dept. of Political Science/UH Hilo)

Also on Feb. 26, the Department of Political Science hosted a talk story session where four returned Peace Corps volunteers with close ties to UH Hilo shared their life-changing experiences. The panel included:

  • Joseph Genz, UH Hilo Associate Professor of Anthropology (Samoa)
  • Josef Donnelly, UH Hilo Assistant Professor of Education (Micronesia)
  • Artem Sergeyev, UH Hilo alumnus (Macedonia)
  • Sarah Juran, former Academic Advisor, UH Hilo (The Solomon Islands)

Jasmin Camacho, vice president of the Political Science Club, moderated the talk-story session, which was attended by approximately 40 students and community members. At the end of the session, the department held a raffle that offered prizes such as T-shirts and eco-friendly tote bags.

In presentation venue, a group seated on chairs listen to panel of five at the front table. Above are PowerPoint images on two screens.
At a talk-story panel discussion on Feb. 26, 2025, (from left) Artem Sergeyev, Josef Donnelly, Sarah Juran, and Joseph Genz. At far right is Jasmin Camacho, vice president of the Political Science Club who moderated the discussion. (Photo: Dept. of Political Science/UH Hilo)

Campus and community support

2025 Peace Corps Week events were organized by UH Hilo’s Department of Political Science in collaboration with the campus’s Office of International Student Services and the student Political Science Club. Local community groups Big Island Returned Peace Corps Volunteers and East Hawaiʻi Rotary Peace Group also contributed.

Story by Susan Enright, a public information specialist for the Office of the Chancellor and editor of UH Hilo Stories.

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