There are two kinds of college freedom: one experienced by many freshmen as they live on their own for the first time, and the other, scarier freedom that comes when students try to figure out what happens after graduation.

While some search for careers or temporary post-college jobs, others are called to service. One way to be a part of change is to enroll in programs such as the Peace Corps or Teach For America.

The Peace Corps was established in 1961 under the leadership of President John F. Kennedy and Robert Sargent Shriver Jr., a politician and activist. Since then, more than 182,000 volunteers have served in 138 countries through teaching, health care, businesses and mentoring. Recently the program has focused on meeting the challenges of HIV and AIDS in several nations.

Tom Edwardsen is the Peace Corps’ campus representative and recruiter for the UW as well as a graduate student at the Daniel J. Evans School of Public Affairs.

“The most important element of the Peace Corps is promoting peace and friendship in the world,” he said. “It’s a politically neutral program to put socially ambitious Americans to work in the developing world to befriend and assist individuals that may not know America or Americans beyond media attention and rumors.”

Volunteers spend two years and three months in a developing country, serving in a specific capacity that can range from public health and environmental service to business and economic development. Through the application process, the Peace Corps works with individuals to place them in locations best suited to their interests and abilities.

The UW has always been actively involved with the Peace Corps. Earlier this month, Peace Corps college rankings placed the UW as its No. 1 volunteer-producing university, with 113 volunteers serving worldwide.

Sinae Hong is a pre-med senior at the UW majoring in economics with a minor in public health. Next year, she will be a Peace Corps volunteer in Africa, where she hopes to work with an HIV/AIDS program. She has been interested in the Peace Corps since high school and decided to apply last year.

“[As a public health minor], I learned a lot about global health, [and] I knew I was going to take a year off before I applied to med school,” Hong said. “I told [the Peace Corps] that I wanted to do something with health and AIDS/HIV. They put me where I can be used.”

While Hong is nervous, she is also excited for the possibilities of making a difference.

“I want to get a new global perspective on my surroundings, she said. “People say they want to help, and I’m really going to do that.”

Another program that allows individuals to serve is Teach For America, which was established in 1990 by a student at Princeton University. A result of the student’s proposed thesis, Teach For America has become the nation’s No. 1 resource for providing teachers for low-income communities.

According to the program’s Web site, most 9-year-olds growing up in low-income areas are already three grade levels behind. By the time these students are 18, half of them won’t graduate from high school. Teach for America serves to eliminate this inequality by sending college graduates to places throughout the country, where they teach and mentor students.

“Teach For America offers our corps members the opportunities to no longer just think about solutions to our country’s biggest problems, but to actually get up and do something about them,” said Michael Moran, the UW’s Teach For America recruitment director. “Too often in college, we’re having all of these intellectual conversations about how to change the world, but rarely does this ever lead to action. Teach For America is an opportunity to get up and take action.”

Not only is Teach For America a good opportunity to serve, but it also recruits America’s future leaders.

“Currently, the alumni in our program are leading businesses, opening public health care clinics, practicing law at top corporations and heading up entire school districts,” Moran said. “We also have tons of partnerships with top graduate schools and businesses.”

Melissa Aar, a senior communication and comparative literature major, was recently accepted into the program. She first heard about Teach For America her sophomore year from a friend serving in Los Angeles.

“I was weighing a couple of other options, like grad school, the Peace Corps and teaching [English] abroad, but I finally decided on this,” Aar said. “Teach For America’s ideals most closely match my own. I wanted to get a good start on a teaching career, but I wanted to do it at a place where I would be helping people who needed it most.”

Aar will be going to New York City, where she will teach English to students in grades seven through 12. It was her first choice for area, grade level and subject.

Like Hong, Aar is looking forward to her volunteering experience.

“I have been talking to as many people as I can that are in Teach For America, and one thing is clear — that I need to be prepared to work more than I have ever worked in my life,” she said. “That is exciting, but scary at the same time.”

But working for a program like the Peace Corps or Teach for America isn’t for everyone, Edwardsen said.

“It is difficult and a long commitment,” he said. “It is also one of the most interesting, unique and personally rewarding opportunities a person can participate in.”