For Volunteers, a Piece of History

Related Links Live From D.C., It's NATO-TV

By Philip P. Pan
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, April 21, 1999; Page B8

Brent Yacobucci, a student at George Washington University, has three term papers due Monday. Another needs to be turned in Tuesday, and the deadline for his master's thesis is a few weeks away. But instead of buckling down at the campus library, he spent yesterday afternoon double-checking invitation lists for various NATO summit receptions.

He has been helping summit organizers for nearly two months, volunteering up to 40 hours each week. But ask the 24-year-old public policy student about his schoolwork, and he just shrugs: "It's been hectic at times, but it's definitely worth it."

Yacobucci is one of hundreds of local university students who have set aside their studies for a bit to help put on the 50th anniversary meeting of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization that begins Friday. About 700 volunteers, many of whom speak a foreign language, have been recruited to stuff envelopes, answer telephones and otherwise serve as unpaid gofers.

For these self-described international political junkies, the NATO summit represents a chance to take part in history, even if it's only giving directions to a foreign dignitary or helping out in some other small way. It's exactly the kind of opportunity that attracted them to Washington area universities in the first place, so they don't intend to let a few term papers and final exams get in the way.

"I just do whatever it takes," said Mariana Iturralde, 19, of La Paz, Bolivia, a GWU sophomore who has a term paper due Tuesday and finals the next week. She spends five hours a day at the summit offices, staying up past 3 a.m. on some nights to finish her schoolwork and then waking a few hours later for classes.

"It's a lot," she said, "but I have good time-management skills."

The awe-struck students say they also get a "thrill" stuffing Sam Donaldson's press packet, mailing an invitation to British Prime Minister Tony Blair or joking to friends that they are speaking on a "secure line."

"They go wild about that stuff," said Stephen Sokol, 43, one of the volunteer coordinators and a volunteer himself. "When they address something and it's to a world leader they recognize, they get all excited and tell the others."

But the students insist they are also learning about how NATO and various governments work, as well as about the planning that goes into a major event such as the summit. And they say they have been entrusted with some significant responsibilities.

"If you're not afraid of taking on more work, they're not afraid of assigning it," said Henrik Hoffman-Fischer, 22, of Denmark, a senior at Georgetown University who has helped sort out the summit's communications systems. "It's not just walking around making coffee."

Franz Kuo, 21, of Panama City, Fla., a senior at GWU, has two final exams Tuesday, one in a public policy course and another in international trade. He also has a paper – to be written in Chinese – due that day.

But Kuo has been putting in long hours at the NATO offices, where his Spanish and French skills have been helpful. He plans to spend the entire weekend helping with the summit's television operations.

"I haven't had very much time to study the past two weeks, but I'm still managing to do okay," he said during a break yesterday. "The summit is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, so I think it's worth it."

Anisha Lal, 22, of Ladysmith, Wis., another senior at GWU, said juggling schoolwork and volunteer work at NATO has left her without a social life.

"I have a final coming up on Tuesday and a Spanish presentation that week. The week after that are all my other finals," she said. "Basically, it means giving up social time for NATO and concentrating the rest of the time on school."

Nathan Brown, associate dean at GWU's Elliott School of International Affairs, said some students take on too much and let their grades suffer. But he said most undergraduates who are active off campus actually do better in classes.

"To be honest, we do have concerns sometimes [about] . . . students doing labor that really doesn't have educational value," he said. "But this is different. We think it's something positive. The summit is the type of thing they can write home about, and my guess is they'll learn an awful lot.

"Our only concern is the timing, but we can't ask NATO to schedule around our finals."