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Forty-four other GW alumni volunteered to be in the Peace Corps that year. In 2006, 68 alumni volunteered, making GW the top generator of Peace Corps volunteers among other mid-sized universities, according to an annual ranking done by the Peace Corps released this month.
Peace Corps recruitment unofficially began in 1960, at 2 a.m. on an October morning when then Sen. John F. Kennedy encouraged a crowd of 10,000 students at the University of Michigan to donate two years of their life to promoting peace abroad. A year later, President Kennedy signed an executive order establishing the Peace Corps. In 1962, GW awarded Kennedy an honorary degree and today the University sends more students to the Peace Corps than any other school with a student body of 5,000 to 15,000.
GW has changed a lot since 1961, and it wasn't until 2000 that GW broke into the top 25 of the annual Peace Corps rankings. GW was No. 4 in last year's rankings, but jumped to No. 1 this year, and in comparing 2001 to 2006, twice as many alumni volunteered for the Peace Corps.
As a freshman at GW, Chatellier, now 27, worked at Peace Corps' headquarters in the District. He met the people who worked there - most were former volunteers - and heard their stories.
"There is a lot of pressure coming out of GW, which is a career-driven school, to get a high-paying job. I did that, and then I left a high-paying job for the Peace Corps," Chatellier said last week. "I got antsy just working in an office (and working) on international issues. I wanted to go out there and really see what was happening firsthand."
But Chatellier said he understands why more of today's GW students would want to join the Peace Corps' ranks - more and more people at the University are interested in community service and international experiences, which are two things GW's admissions office heavily advertises and reasons Chatellier joined himself.
