Jason Van Nice was looking for an adventure when he graduated from Kansas University in 2000.

So he signed up for the Peace Corps and spent 27 months, from February 2001 to May 2003, helping a Paraguayan village of 600 people develop a water system.

“It’s such an opportunity to go and live somewhere else. You can’t just go on vacation and see this kind of stuff,” Van Nice said. “You get to know people and work with them to change their lives. It’s all worthwhile.”

Van Nice is part of a booming network of KU graduates who are participating in Peace Corps programs worldwide. According to data released recently by the Peace Corps, KU ranked 25th in the nation for alumni participating in the volunteer program. It was the first time KU cracked the top 25 in the rankings.

There were 41 KU alumni participating in the Peace Corps last year, up from 29 the previous year.

Betty Baron, Peace Corps coordinator at KU, credits the creation of her position in 2001 as part of the reason for KU’s success in recruiting Peace Corps volunteers. Baron speaks to KU classes and attends career and volunteer fairs to encourage participation in the program.

She also said she received support from the KU area studies centers and faculty.

“I think we have a lot of people at KU who are service-oriented, who just care about others and want a sense of adventure,” she said.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison led all universities in 2003 with 142 alumni Peace Corps volunteers. In addition to KU, Big 12 schools on the list were the University of Texas, which ranked second with 108 volunteers, and the University of Colorado, which ranked third with 98 volunteers.

There were 7,533 Peace Corps volunteers participating worldwide last year, the highest number since 1974.

Volunteers spend two years working in such areas as health, education, business and community development in exchange for pay and living expenses and student loan deferments.

Baron said Latin America remained a popular location for Peace Corps volunteers at KU, although she receives requests from students for placement throughout the world.

Baron expects the number of KU alumni volunteers to continue to grow over the next few years.

Van Nice said he’d recommend the experience to anyone, not only for the sense of accomplishment, but also for the chance to live in another culture.

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“I felt I was adopted by these families,” he said. “I was going to soccer games, playing volleyball, going to parties, going to functions at the school. You have to become part of the community for them to trust you and work with you.”