Home for the Holidays with Peace Corps
December 17, 2025 | 6:30–7:30 PM EST | In-person
Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library, 901 G St NW
Washington, DC, 20001
5th Floor Auditorium
Join the Museum of the Peace Corps Experience for a special holiday Story Slam, part of the Peace by Design exhibit programming series at the Library.
This festive evening will feature returned Peace Corps volunteers sharing heartfelt, humorous, and unforgettable stories that capture the spirit of service and cross-cultural connection. From holiday celebrations in distant villages to moments of unexpected generosity, these stories remind us that peace is built in everyday acts of kindness and understanding.
Come view the exhibit at 6pm. The Story Slam begins at 6:30pm.
Museum Director Zack Klim is honored to co-host the event with Story Slam MC Meleia Rose, Advisor to the Board of the Museum of the Peace Corps Experience. Read more about the co-hosts and storytellers below.
Registration
This event is free and open to the public. A suggested donation of $25 will support the Museum of the Peace Corps Experience and make future events like this one possible.
A confirmation email will be sent with the event link and program details.
About the Exhibition
Peace by Design: Posters, Poems, and the Spirit of the Peace Corps reveals how peace takes shape—in bold recruitment posters of the 1960s and 70s, in small acts of service, and in the words of poets. The exhibition transports visitors into the early years of the Peace Corps, where idealism met design, citizen diplomacy, and the enduring power of art.
Learn more in our press release.
Story Slam Participants
Will Dreyer served in Madagascar, where he spent two years living on the outskirts of a protected rainforest. He now lives in Washington, DC with his family. In his free time—when he isn’t driving his children between sports practices—he enjoys exploring local running and hiking trails and finding inspiration in the region’s natural beauty.
Katie Hamann grew up in Ohio with a mother known as “the hostess with the mostess,” quietly training her in the art of making people feel at home. Her first leap into the wider world came through the Peace Corps, where she served in Mali and later completed a second assignment. Since then, she has traveled to more than twenty countries and built a career in hospitality and public service, including roles at FEMA and as a community house curator. Her work centers on creating spaces of belonging, ease, and transformation.
Josephine (Jody) Olsen served as Peace Corps Director from 2018 to 2021. A Peace Corps Volunteer in Tunisia from 1966 to 1968, she later held five additional senior roles within the agency. She is the author of A Million Miles, her memoir of Peace Corps service published by the University of Utah. Today she co-chairs Women of Peace Corps Legacy (WPCL), chairs the Peace Corps Park Advisory Committee and the University of Maryland College of Education Board of Visitors, and serves on the Maryland Governor’s Commission for Service and Volunteerism.
Peter Redmond brings decades of leadership in public diplomacy and international development. He currently serves as Director of the Center of Excellence in Foreign Affairs Resilience at the U.S. Department of State. He holds a Master of Public Administration from the Harvard Kennedy School, with concentrations in negotiation, conflict resolution, and public leadership. His Peace Corps career included several senior roles, including Senior Advisor for Global Operations, Deputy Associate Director, and Country Director in Panama.
Jim Rupert served in Morocco, where he taught mechanics and welding at a vocational school. His Peace Corps experience led him into a career as a foreign correspondent with The Washington Post, Bloomberg, and other media outlets before transitioning to peacebuilding work at the U.S. Institute of Peace. Jim says he cannot measure the gifts he received from his service—but he can tell the story of the biggest one, 45 years later.
Corey Quinlan Taylor served in Benin from 1997 to 1999 as a Small Business Development Volunteer with the Corps de la Paix. Originally from Cincinnati, he earned his bachelor’s degree in political science and his master’s degree in public administration from Ohio University. He now works as a writer and editor consultant. Outside of work, he enjoys adventures with friends and holds to the belief that the best stories are the inappropriate ones.
Ursula Wright served in Costa Rica from 2012 to 2014 as a Youth Development Volunteer. Working with counterparts Don José Luis and Doña Francia, she helped develop lessons for local schools on the environmental impact of food systems and supported the creation of two school gardens. Her work focused on nutrition education, youth development, and community engagement.
B.J. Whetstine is an organizational development consultant based in Alexandria, Virginia, where he lives with his wife and three children. He served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in China from 2006 to 2008, teaching English and promoting volunteerism at Bijie University in Guizhou Province. He later worked for the Peace Corps from 2008 to 2016 and remains a lifelong Peace Corps recruiter and Third Goal champion.
Event Co-Hosts
Meleia Rose is an Advisor to the Board of the Museum of the Peace Corps Experience. She started her Peace Corps journey as an education volunteer working in Malamo, Malawi. Following service, she joined the Peace Corps as a recruiter and later became a Third Goal Program Specialist. She developed and supported a wide range of cross-cultural programming including coordinating Peace Corps Week, alumni group activities and storytelling events. Since then she has worked as a program analyst and learning specialist in federal agencies. She is currently an HR specialist for the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM). She holds a B.A. in biology from Hartwick College and an M.A. in Geography from Michigan State University.
Zack Klim joined the Museum of the Peace Corps Experience as Executive Director and Chief Curator in January of 2023. He is a Sociologist by training and a scholar-practitioner in international education with over 20 years of experience in nonprofit leadership. Prior to the Museum, Zack served as Executive Director of Global Affairs at New York University’s school of education. There he collaborated with faculty to launch dozens of academic programs worldwide, and forged hundreds of partnerships with schools, healthcare providers, INGOs and other organizations to deliver internships and service learning. Zack was also a Peace Corps volunteer in Bangladesh, public school teacher in New York City, human rights educator in Burma/Myanmar, and a teacher trainer in Costa Rica and Honduras.
