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Essex Junction man, Johnson State College alum among first post-pandemic Peace Corps volunteers to return overseas

A man wearing mirrored sunglasses and a gray tank top looks down into the camera beside a light-furred and smiling dog.
Ben Nelson, courtesy
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Ben Nelson will be among the first Peace Corps volunteers to return overseas after thousands of volunteers were brought home in March 2020 due to the pandemic.

In March of 2020, the world was just beginning to understand the life-altering scale of the COVID-19 pandemic. That month the Peace Corps suspended its operations across the globe and recalled nearly 7,000 volunteers in more than 60 countries. Now, a Vermonter will be among the first volunteers heading back overseas.

The Peace Corps announced this month its once again sending volunteers abroad for two years of international service. Essex Junction resident Benjamin Nelson will be among the first volunteers returning to service when he heads to Kenya as a health volunteer.

Nelson is a Johnson State College alum—a school that's now part of Vermont State University—and he joins the ranks of the more than 1,600 Vermonters who have joined the Peace Corps since it was founded in 1961.

Vermont Edition host Connor Cyrus spoke with him about his path to the Peace Corps.

Broadcast at noon on Thursday, Sept. 28, 2022; rebroadcast at 7 p.m.

Have questions, comments or tips? Send us a message or tweet us @vermontedition.

Connor Cyrus joined Vermont Public as host and senior producer in March 2021. He was a morning reporter at WJAR in Providence, Rhode Island. A graduate of Lyndon State College (now Northern Vermont University), he started his reporting career as an intern at WPTZ, later working for WAGM in Presque Isle, Maine, and WCAX Channel 3, where he covered a broad range of stories from Vermont’s dairy industry to the nurses’ strikes at UVM Medical Center. He’s passionate about journalism’s ability to shed light on complex or difficult topics, as well as giving voice to underrepresented communities.
Matt Smith worked for Vermont Public from 2017 to 2023 as managing editor and senior producer of Vermont Edition.