College grads seek volunteer work

WASHINGTON, July 7 (UPI) -- Instead of joining political campaigns, this year's crop of college graduates is channeling its activism into service organizations.

Applications to Teach for America, the Peace Corps and AmeriCorps VISTA are all up this year, USA Today reports.

Cited as a possible reason for the increase are such events as the bombing of the World Trade Center, Hurricane Katrina and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the newspaper says.

Teach for America, which recruits college graduates for underserved urban and rural schools, received 19,000 applications this year, nearly triple the number in 2000.

Peace Corps applications are up 20 percent over 2000 with 7,810 volunteers accepted this year from more than 11,000 applicants.

AmeriCorps VISTA, which pairs recruits with non-profit organizations, has had a record 50-percent jump in applications since 2004.

"I do think that recent world events have heightened awareness among college students and their desire to do good," Elissa Clapp, vice president of recruitment for Teach for America, tells USA Today.

The desire to do service work, which in most cases offers only a modest salary, is striking considering that job prospects for this year's graduates are up 14.5 percent over 2005, the newspaper reports.