BRUNSWICK

Peace Corps announced that Bowdoin College is ranked No. 13 among small schools on Peace Corps’ 2017 Top Volunteer-Producing Colleges and Universities list. There are 10 Bowdoin alumni currently volunteering worldwide.

This is the third year that Bowdoin has ranked among the top small schools, moving up from the No. 14 spot in 2016. Since the Peace Corps’ founding in 1961, 271 alumni from Bowdoin have traveled abroad to serve as volunteers.

Daniel Lipkowitz — a 2014 Bowdoin graduate who is currently serving as an environmental volunteer in Panama — believes his alma mater played a significant role in fostering the knowledge and character that prepared him for Peace Corps service, according to a Peace Corps press release.

“I have often considered Bowdoin’s guiding obligation of promoting the ‘common good’ as a concept that both inspired my initial interest to join the Peace Corps and steered my thought process throughout my time as a volunteer,” Lipkowitz said.

“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.”

Service in the Peace Corps offers 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. In 2016, Maine ranked No. 8 nationwide for the highest number of Peace Corps Volunteers per capita, with 52 Pine Tree State residents serving overseas.

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