Peter Bradley '64
Where and when: Iran, 1965-67
Service: Taught English

BY SYLVIA CORNELIUSSEN

A dare from a friend inspired Peter Bradley '64 to apply for Peace Corps service during the final months of his senior year. Not knowing exactly what he was going to do after graduation, he thought he'd give it a shot.

"My friend had heard they were only taking the cream of the crop," recalls Bradley. "I didn't even think we'd get in."

But sure enough, shortly after filling out the application, Bradley received a letter inviting him to go to Iran to teach English.

For the most part, Bradley helped the country's teachers by going to classes of male students and speaking to them in English so they could hear the language. "Iran already had a lot of English teachers, but they weren't trained in modern teaching methods. We were trying to nudge them to try newer methods," recalls Bradley.

When Bradley returned from Iran in 1967, he earned a master's degree in Middle Eastern studies, spent a year in Washington, D.C., raising money to help Middle Eastern refugees, and then recruited for the Peace Corps in California. He eventually took a position teaching English as a second language -- a job he still holds today.

"It absolutely shaped my life," notes Bradley. "I had the experience -- in my mid-20s -- of living for two years in another country. It makes you realize the world is very different than you perceive it to be."

A history major at the College, Bradley counts one particular moment of realization among his most memorable Peace Corps experiences. At one point during his service, Bradley and a Peace Corps friend paid the driver of a kerosene truck to take them to India, the place they had decided to spend their vacation. As his friend had just gotten over being very ill, and as the vehicle only offered one passenger seat, Bradley rode on top of the truck. As he sat up there with the desert sun beating down on him, a thought struck him: "There was so much history there. I suddenly realized we were following the exact same route as Alexander the Great. That did it for me."

Even after nearly 40 years, Bradley is still firm in his belief that Peace Corps service will change your life. "When you go, you go with one set of attitudes, but you come back with very different ones," he remarks. "I came back thinking, 'Boy, I learned a lot more than I gave them.'"