Most world travelers come back with souvenirs and great experiences that last a lifetime.

After traveling to the Republic of Guinea with the Peace Corps from 1998 to 2000, Danielle Monty-Mara came back with more than the great experiences and the souvenirs. She came back with a husband.

While many Peace Corps volunteers do not come back with a spouse, they do come back to Lawrence with an appreciation for different cultures and satisfaction that they made a difference in the world.

For the second year in a row, the University of Kansas has ranked among the top 25 schools for graduates serving in the Peace Corps.

The Peace Corps ranked the University 23rd — up from 25th last year — among more than 200 universities with an enrollment of more than 15,000 undergraduate students.

Monty-Mara, lecturer in French and Italian, said meeting her future husband was part of the best thing about her two-year experience. Her husband’s family still resides in Guinea.

“Unlike a lot of volunteers’ experience that ends when you come back, I have a permanent connection through my husband,” she said.

The University currently has 47 graduates serving in 24 countries, which is an increase of six graduates from last year, said Betty Baron, Peace Corps coordinator for the University and the Lawrence community.

“I have been really impressed by the commitment and caliber of the KU students, as well as the community,” Baron said.

The Peace Corps has been on the KU campus since 2001.

Alden Kline, a 2002 University of Virginia graduate from Hutchinson, wanted to see the world and meet new people. She volunteered in the west African country of Mauritania.

“I wanted to see what it was like to live outside of the U.S. and to see what people thought of us,” said Kline, who returned this September.

Kline taught English as a foreign language to high school students.

Volunteers had a variety of motives to join the Peace Corps, Baron said.

Those motives varied from seeing the world, helping and meeting other people or even just to take time off before getting a real-world job, she said. Kline was sent to Mauritania because she was open to going to anywhere, she said.

Baron, who served the Peace Corps from 1966 to 1968 in Ethiopia, said volunteers often continue traveling after completing their service.

Monty-Mara has not been back Guinea since she left in 2000, but she said she hoped to go there soon. She said she would like to take her her two-year-old son there who has yet to visit the country where his parents met.

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News to know about the peace corps

Time Frame

All Peace Corps volunteers serve 27 months.

Each volunteer lives with a native family for three months to learn the country’s language, culture and develop the technical skills needed for the following 24-month job.

Age Restrictions

Applicants must be at least 18 years old to volunteer, but there is no age limit. Currently, the oldest volunteer is 78.

“All expenses paid, international adventure”

Passport

Travel arrangements to and from the designated country

Training

Two vacation days per month, in addition to weekends off

Volunteers receive a stipend comparable to what their country’s native counterpart would earn.

Volunteers also receive a lump sum of $6,075 at the end of two-year job

Source: Betty Baron,

Peace Corps coordinator for the University and the Lawrence community