Gus O’Brien ’20 Finds Direction Through Peace Corps Service
By the Alumni and Communications Team, UWCSEA
9 July 2026
The way of life has no perfect answer: Gus O’Brien ’20 shares his journey of uncertainty, discovery, and growth during his Peace Corps service in Samoa.
For many alumni, the UWCSEA experience is defined by a healthy desire to look at the world not just as it is, but as it could be. After studying design at the Rochester Institute of Technology, Gus O’Brien took a path far from the familiar.
Leaning into the passion for sustainability and service first sparked at UWCSEA East, he is now serving as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Samoa, where daily life offers a very different kind of classroom. Follow Gus as he embraces uncertainty, learning from the rhythms of island life and discovering direction in unexpected places.
And suddenly—just like that—I’m standing on a stage, looking out over thousands of bright-eyed university graduates in identical caps and gowns. There was a sense of completion to it, yet the moment carried a quiet inevitability, as if everything up to that point had been quietly guiding me there. I had gone to the Rochester Institute of Technology to study design, something I truly loved; a field concerned with systems, constraints, and the careful balance between creativity and craftsmanship. I was trained to sketch solutions, refine ideas, and make sense of complexity. Yet I was faced with a problem I could not figure out. What should I do next? I know it sounds cliché, but when you’re standing there, looking out into the vast ocean of possibilities, the words feel heavier than they should. Every option seems equally right and equally wrong. Continue my education? Launch a career? Travel aimlessly and hope clarity finds me along the way?
A Direction, Not a Destination
Amid all that uncertainty, I realised something important: I didn’t need a perfect answer. I just needed a direction. I wanted a path that didn’t force me to sacrifice curiosity for practicality, or adventure for responsibility. The desire to explore, to make a difference, to challenge myself, it pulled me toward something I hadn’t expected: the Peace Corps. It wasn’t a detour or a stopgap; it was a chance to embrace the unknown while committing to a purpose larger than myself.
The Peace Corps is a two-year government-sponsored U.S. programme in which volunteers have the opportunity to live and work alongside communities around the world, supporting grassroots projects in areas such as education, health, and environmental sustainability. It wasn’t simply volunteering; it was integrating into a new culture. The more I learned about it, the more familiar it felt, an extension of values I already held. It offered a way to continue the thread of service and curiosity that had guided me since my time at UWCSEA.
Nearly a year after the idea first took shape, after an extensive application process, interviews, and months of medical clearances, I found myself in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, three months into training and preparing for my swearing-in as a Peace Corps Volunteer with the inaugural cohort of Samoa’s Environmental Reef-to-Ridge programme. Those months were dense in a way that’s hard to summarise. Together with my cohort, I helped plan mangrove planting projects with village leaders, completed water safety courses and cooking classes, and worked steadily through the challenge of learning Samoan: preparing for oral exams, practising Siva Samoa, and slowly beginning to understand fa‘asamoa not as a concept, but as a way of life.
Outside the classroom, training unfolded through everyday moments: long evenings playing cards with my host family, cultural ceremonies that stretched late into the night, bucket showers, shared meals, and even the unexpected experience of finding myself in a game of pickup rugby alongside professional Samoan players. It was far from easy or comfortable; it was a sustained exercise in adaptability, presence, and humility.
A Future of Possibilities
UWCSEA graduation had marked the end of something familiar, but the Peace Corps swearing-in was different. When I finally raised my right hand alongside fellow volunteers wearing our Samoan patterns, it didn’t feel like the end, but instead it felt like a beginning shaped by uncertainty; the same uncertainty that had once felt paralysing on that graduation stage, now reframed as a possibility to really create a story and really make a difference.
In the few months since swearing in, I’ve focused on integrating into my host community: building relationships that matter both socially and in the work itself. And while some days are slow and challenging, I’ve leaned on my background in design to listen first, to identify challenges alongside community members, and to think through solutions that are collaborative rather than imposed. Recently, that approach led to the approval of a UNDP grant to support improved waste management in my village, a project rooted in local priorities and long-term care for the environment.
Looking ahead, my hope for the next two years is not defined by any single outcome, but by my intention to stay true to my story, even as it unfolds without a clear ending. Some days that looks like progress; other days it looks like patience. What matters is continuing to show up, to learn, and to take on the challenge with an open mind, open heart, and a thirst for adventure.
