For the second year in a row, the UW has topped the list as the number one supplier of Peace Corps volunteers overseas.

More than just coffee is fueling Washington volunteers, said Tom Edwardsen, the Peace Corps recruiter at UW. Edwardsen said the environment of the Pacific Northwest, and the UW in particular, has continued to be a driving force for many volunteers.

“There is a strong volunteer community in the Northwest and Seattle, which is a culture that helps produce Peace Corps volunteers,” Edwardsen said. “Seattle is an international city where people look beyond their own borders and have interest in the outside world.”

The state of Washington has consistently been a top producer of Peace Corps volunteers.

Other universities in the state that rank high on the list are Western Washington University, the University of Puget Sound and Gonzaga University.

Wayne Blackwelder, the regional manager of the Peace Corps’ Seattle Regional office, has his own theories about the success of the program in the Northwest.

“The state seems to pull people in who are … action orientated and interested in internationalism,” he said. “It’s the culture of the state.”

Specifically, Blackwelder believes the culture of the UW is one that has allowed the Peace Corps to succeed.

“The whole school supports this,” he said. “I’ve heard President Mark Emmert talk about it, and Susan Terry, the career director at UW, has been extremely helpful in making international careers more visible on campus.”

The Peace Corps was developed by President John F. Kennedy and Robert Sargent Shriver Jr., a politician and activist. Volunteers train for three months and serve for two years abroad in a variety of capacities ranging from public health and environment to business and economic development.

There are about 8,000 volunteers serving worldwide. As the number one volunteer university, UW has about 113 alumni volunteering.

The UW also supports Masters’ International, the Peace Corps masters’ program. Students spend one year at a graduate school and then two years serving abroad. The UW has three students in the program.

Volunteers are usually driven to enroll in the Peace Corps due to the opportunity to serve and make a difference globally.

Tom Edwardsen has found that most students applying “just have strong desire to do something good for someone else while having an adventure overseas.”

Blackwelder agreed.

“The students [here] are just global,” Blackwelder said. We don’t often talk to students who don’t have an opinion about events overseas. When you walk on campus, you just feel it.”

[Reach reporter Erika Cederlind at news@thedaily.washington.edu.]