College Named Top Producer of Peace Corps Volunteers

The College of Charleston is one of the top schools in the nation when it comes to producing Peace Corps volunteers.

The College ranked No. 12 among medium-size schools on the agency’s 2017 Top Volunteer-Producing Colleges and Universities list. The College has 20 alumni currently volunteering worldwide.

“Peace Corps service is an unparalleled leadership opportunity that enables college and university alumni to use the creative-thinking skills they developed in school to make an impact in communities around the world,” Acting Peace Corps Director Sheila Crowley said. “Many college graduates view Peace Corps as a launching pad for their careers because volunteers return home with the cultural competency and entrepreneurial spirit sought after in most fields.”

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Service in the Peace Corps is a life-defining, hands-on leadership experience that offers volunteers the opportunity to travel to a community overseas and make a lasting difference in the lives of others.

Since the Peace Corps’ founding in 1961, 256 alumni from College of Charleston have traveled abroad to serve as volunteers. Among recent corps members was Tyler Hassig ’16 (pictured above), who served in the Philippines while researching his master’s thesis on protecting marine sanctuaries for his Masters of Science in Environmental Studies degree from the College. Hassig was one of the final volunteers to serve under the Peace Corps’ Masters International program, which allowed graduate students to pair their studies with service. The program was discontinued in 2016.

Another recent volunteer, Sarah Bryce, won the corps’ annual “Blog It Home” contest in 2015.

The College is the sole South Carolina school to appear in the 2017 national rankings.