Colorado College has placed 13th this year among the Peace Corps top volunteer-producing colleges, with 11 CC alumni currently serving in countries around the world.

Since the agency's founding in 1961, nearly 390 Colorado College alumni have served abroad as Peace Corps volunteers.

CC is launching a new Peace Corps Prep program, one that will result in an undergraduate certificate that provides prospective volunteer applicants with sector-specific job skills, foreign language proficiency, intercultural competence, and professional leadership development skills.

"I'm excited to be a part of the Peace Corps Prep Program alongside the Collaborative for Community Engagement and the Center for Global Education and Field Study," says Gretchen Wardell, career coach at CC's Career Center. "This program will allow students to organize their activities and goals while at CC which in turn will enable them to tell their story in order to be the best Peace Corps applicant."

The Peace Corps ranks its top volunteer-producing colleges and universities annually according to the size of the student body. Small colleges are defined as those with fewer than 5,000 undergraduates; medium-size schools are those with between 5,000 and 15,000 undergraduates; and large institutions are those with more than 15,000 undergraduates.

Volunteers develop sustainable solutions to address challenges in education, health, community economic development, agriculture, the environment and youth development. Since President John F. Kennedy established the Peace Corps nearly 60 years ago, more than 240,000 Americans of all ages have served in 142 countries worldwide.