Moraine Valley employee piloting virtual Peace Corps

The Moraine Valley Community College dean of Learning Enrichment and College Readiness is helping pilot a virtual option for participating in the Peace Corps. Michael Morsches was chosen for this project because of his vast experience with the corps over the last three decades.

In the late ’80s, Morsches began his Peace Corps experience teaching in Jamaica. Since then, he has been involved in various projects overseas and decided to apply to this new virtual program. After a competitive process, he was accepted.

“I am very honored to have been chosen for participation in this project. Opening the Peace Corps mission to new generations and Americans who cannot participate in the traditional manner of service is an incredible opportunity,” Morsches said. “This program exemplifies the three goals of Peace Corps service envisioned by John Kennedy: To help the people of interested countries in meeting their need for trained men and women. To help promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the peoples served. To help promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of Americans.”

For more than 60 years, participants had only two in-person ways to join the Peace Corps, which requires a two-year commitment overseas and a short-term assignment to provide high-impact responses to global emergencies.

The Virtual Service Pilot allows previous Peace Corps volunteers to donate their time virtually helping others around the world in some capacity. Participants spend five to 15 hours per week for 12 to 27 weeks collaborating with a host country counterpart on tasks to advance the philanthropic mission of the Peace Corps and lend their expertise in environmental issues, educational programming, technology, youth development, literacy, English teacher training and more.

Since June 2, Morsches has been working with a rural community center, the Association Center Noyau for Excellence, in El Mers, a small town in Morocco. His counterpart, Abdelmajid Tiloulout, is the English Club facilitator/president of the center, which has a club for English, math and extra activities. The two meet a few times per week to discuss pedagogy and strategies to start and sustain an engaging student group. Together, they are working to expand the existing English Club to more members and helping students improve their English skills to get better placement into more competitive university programs. For now, Tiloulout is meeting with the students, who voluntarily participate, to establish the group before Morsches meets them. They ultimately want to create an English language cohort in the school with a four-year program for younger learners.

“This collaboration with Michael will surely help improve the way I am personally working with my students thanks to his experience in the field of teaching and monitoring teachers, especially because I am a beginner teacher and still need to know many things related to teaching,” Tiloulout said. “This program will help students improve their linguistic abilities and prepare them for their university studies, especially because most of the references related to science are written in English.”

Currently, the program is limited to returning Peace Corps volunteers but eventually will open to all qualified U.S. citizens.

PHOTO CAPTION: Moraine Valley Community College dean of Learning Enrichment and College Readiness, Michael Morsches, is virtually working with students and a teacher in Morocco as part of the Peace Corps Virtual Service Pilot.

For news media inquiries, contact Maura Vizza, Moraine Valley communications specialist/sport information coordinator, at (708) 974-5742 or [email protected].