GW student participation in the Peace Corps surged this year, recruiters for the organization said.

With 44 volunteers, the University ranked seventh this year among mid-size universities that have an undergraduate population between 5,000 and 15,000 students.

“It’s nice to see that a GW education is producing graduates who are going out and making a difference,” said Bob Ludwig, interim director of Media Relations.

Last year, GW ranked 12th for mid-sized universities with 31 volunteers, according to a Peace Corps press release.

The Peace Corps, a service organization started in 1960, sends people to more than 69 countries in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and Europe, among other locations. Volunteers work in developing countries in areas including education, HIV/AIDS work and business development.

More than 170,000 people have worked for the Peace Corps since its inception.

Lynn Kneedler, manager for the organization’s Mid-Atlantic region recruitment office, said the increase in volunteers is partly due to the work of Behzad Roohi, a GW alumnus and Peace Corps recruiter for the D.C.-Baltimore region.

“Having a recruiter that’s a GW grad gives us access that was not previously granted,” she said.

Roohi said there is a particularly large interest in community service at GW.

“I think GW has a lot of opportunity for students to volunteer … Service to others is really emphasized,” he said. “After school, students still have that spirit of helping others.”

GW’s jump from 12th to seventh place on the Peace Corps’ list can also be attributed to a national increase in interest in the organization, Roohi said.

“After Sept. 11th people became more aware of the preciousness of life,” he said.

Students who wish to volunteer for the Peace Corps undergo an extensive application process that includes an interview, a written motivational statement and questioning about cross-cultural experience.

“It’s a moderately overwhelming application process,” said senior Daniel Cwirka, a Peace Corps volunteer who will leave for Central Asia at the end of the summer.

“I feel like for 22 years I’ve had a pretty comfortable life, so I’d like to do something with myself,” he added.

Cwirka said he understands that his volunteer work may be challenging.

“They actually asked questions on the application like, ‘Can you squat without hurting yourself?'” he said.

The Peace Corps will hold a recruiting event Feb. 26 and a general information session March 3 at the GW Career Center, located at 1922 F St. Students must be at least 18 years old to apply, and most programs require candidates to have a college degree.

Cwirka said GW students are inclined toward the type of community service the Peace Corps offers.

“It’s something in the water … It’s a school of people who are willing to step out of their comfort zone a bit,” he said.

GW alumnus and former Peace Corps volunteer Doug Cohen described his experience working in Honduras in 2002 as “the most legitimate foreign experience one could have.”

Cohen said he became interested in the Peace Corps during his senior year at a career fair.

“I walked out of the career fair knowing exactly what I was going to do after graduation,” he said.

Cohen said some GW students’ interest in international affairs and a diverse student body makes the University an ideal recruiting location. “I think people who go to GW have an international scope on whatever level their career may be,” Cohen said.

“I don’t think I ever knew people from such diverse backgrounds as I did at GW, including the Peace Corps,” he added. “It’s a melting pot of cultures from the world.”

Cohen said the Peace Corps is geared toward young people.

“It’s good for young people because they still have a certain naivet? and that general positive outlook on the world that enables a person to go to a foreign country you’ve never been before,” he said.

The Peace Corps’ policy of putting student loans on hold during service is a significant incentive for student volunteers, Cohen said.

“In the end … no one regrets having done it,” he said. “Every single person’s Peace Corps (experience) is unique.”