University of Colorado Boulder Peace Corps coordinator Alea Richmond, pictured on the right in white, volunteered for the Peace Corps in Ecuador from 2008 until 2010.
What do 112 CU-Boulder alums have in common? They are all Peace Corps volunteers who helped CU-Boulder become first in the nation for the second consecutive year in Peace Corps participation.
What’s more, CU-Boulder is ranked the No. 5 all-time school for Peace Corps volunteers with 2,317 alumni who have served since the corps was established by President John F. Kennedy in 1961. Each year since 2004, CU-Boulder has ranked among the top three schools in the nation for Peace Corps volunteers.
“It will teach you a lot about yourself and the world,” says Eli Weber (MechEngr’08), who served as an environmental health volunteer in Panama from August 2008 to October 2010. “You will get 10 times as much out of it than you put in. You will be exhausted, lonely, sick and angry some of the time. You will also learn an incredible amount and have stories you would not believe.”
To commemorate the university’s No. 1 ranking, Peace Corps director Aaron Williams visited campus in January.
“CU fosters civic engagement and participation, and students graduate from CU with the language and cross-cultural skills necessary to make them successful during their 27 months of Peace Corps service,” Williams said.
The University of Washington ranked No. 2 for large schools this year with 110 undergraduate alumni serving. Also in the top five, in descending order, are University of Wisconsin-Madison, University of Florida and University of Michigan.
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