The growing participation of graduating Bowdoin seniors in the Peace Corps has not gone unnoticed. This year, the College entered the top 25 list for small schools generating the most Peace Corps volunteers. Bowdoin is ranked 20th.
Currently, there are 17 Bowdoin alumni serving overseas as Peace Corps volunteers. These men and women are working in Bolivia, Guinea, Guyana, Kyrgyz Republic, Mali, Mongolia, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Romania, Samoa, Thailand and Togo, and are engaging in a variety of environmental, educational, business, and urban-planning projects.
Peace Corps Regional Recruiter Christopher Lins said that Bowdoin's movement up the list is not a surprise since the College has always graduated highly qualified candidates.
"Bowdoin is usually in the top 20?it's always been right up there," Lins said. He also noted that if the rankings were done on a per capita basis, Bowdoin would fall in the top five of all of the schools in the country.
Lins links Bowdoin students' desire to join the Peace Corps to their experiences abroad.
"Most Bowdoin Peace Corps applicants studied abroad. This got them interested in studying more overseas," Lins said.
Individual reasons for joining the Peace Corps vary, and Lins notes that there is a generational component to student interest.
"Many applicants know someone who has done it before. We're at that second generation where so many applicants have parents that went overseas," he said.
This generational effect is exemplified by Ryan Helminiak '06 who is considering joining the Peace Corps.
"I first started thinking about it because my mom said she had considered it when she was younger," Helminiak said.
As a biology and history double major, Helminiak has finished his degree work at Bowdoin and is now residing in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, for the semester. Helminiak will graduate in May.
Helminiak is contemplating traveling to a part of Southern Africa to engage in medical assistance.
"I'm in the health extension program. I would like to help with AIDS prevention," he said.
Helminiak hopes to work in the medical field in the future, and notes that the Peace Corps experience would be "a good way to get my foot in the door."
According to Lins, Bowdoin students are certainly right for the demands of the Peace Corps. Lins claims that the Maine environment has a lot to do with the success of Bowdoin students abroad.
"Mainers are my favorite, and there are a lot of Mainers at Bowdoin," Lins said.
"Mainers tend to do better overseas. They have a great sense of community. They're more creative," he said.
Lins also acknowledged that most Bowdoin alumni do well abroad because of their keen sense of the outdoors.
"There's definitely an adventure spirit here. You have to have that to work overseas," he said.