Costa Rica welcomes new Peace Corps volunteers

A group of 21 volunteers were sworn Friday as new members of the U.S. Peace Corps in a ceremony held at the residence of U.S. Ambassador Anne S. Andrew.

The volunteers, five men and 16 women aged 22-50, come from various U.S. states and will be teaching English in public schools.

Under the program, volunteers will work for 24 months with English teachers from the Education Ministry in schools across Costa Rica.

New Peace Corps members are graduates in the fields of education, international relations, political science and anthropology, among others. They have spent the past 10 weeks training to prepare for their assignment.

The Peace Corps volunteer program has operated in Costa Rica since January 1963, with more than 3,300 volunteers serving the country in the last 50 years.