UCSD alumni Nemo Curiel and Sarah Termondt will join the 49 UCSD alumni currently serving overseas in the Peace Corps, which has named the campus 18th on the Peace Corps ‘Top Colleges’ rankings among large universities.
Curiel, who graduated with a math degree in 2005, will begin service in Kenya in late January while Termondt, who graduated last spring with an environmental systems degree, will start Peace Corps work in the Dominican Republic in March.
Last November, Curiel began a three-month training process in Kenya and is expected to officially swear in as an education Peace Corps volunteer later this month. Curiel said in a statement that he was attracted to the Peace Corps because of ‘the opportunity to live abroad and meet new people.’
Spending the majority of her UCSD years participating in green campus programs, Termondt will continue with her focus on sustainability in the Peace Corps as a community and environmental educator by teaching activities she learned at UCSD, including solar cooking and organized gardening.
‘The Peace Corps ‘Top Colleges’ rankings are a friendly competition among many schools with a strong legacy of service,’ Peace Corps Director Ron Tschetter said in a statement. ‘Currently, there are more than 3,000 colleges and universities with alumni serving as Peace Corps volunteers in 76 countries worldwide.’
With more than 550 volunteers since 2002, UCSD currently has alumni serving in 29 of the 76 countries where the Peace Corps operates. Most of the volunteers from UCSD serve in Guartemala, Honduras and Namibia and work in health or education.
‘California has always been a top producer of Peace Corps volunteers,’ Tschetter said. ‘More Californians have served in the Peace Corps than any other state. Historically, UC Berkeley maintains the number one rank, with 3,371 graduates who have served as Peace Corps volunteers since 1961.’