Several Gettysburg College graduates from the Class of 2010 are making their mark on the world by serving with the Peace Corps, AmeriCorps, and Teach for America.

Both Kurt Hagemann, from Baldwin, N.Y., who majored in psychology and globalization studies and minored in music, and Nathan Storey, from Phoenix, Md., who majored in anthropology, plan on serving with the Peace Corps this fall.

Gettysburg College has a strong and enduring connection to the Peace Corps. Since its inception in 1961, 154 Gettysburg graduates have been involved, including 50 graduates in the last five years. Carol Bellamy, Class of 1963, was tapped by President Bill Clinton to serve as director, becoming the first former volunteer to head the organization in 1993. She later became executive director of UNICEF.

The Peace Corps traces its roots and mission to 1960, when then Senator John F. Kennedy challenged students at the University of Michigan to serve their country in the cause of peace by living and working in developing countries. From that inspiration grew an agency of the federal government devoted to world peace and friendship. Since then nearly 200,000 Peace Corps Volunteers have served in 139 host countries to work on issues ranging from AIDS education to information technology and environmental preservation.

Three graduates will serve with AmeriCorps, an organization that creates partnerships and networks with local and national nonprofit groups to fulfill employment needs for programs that range from health and human services to environmental work.

• Emma Snellings, from Needham, Mass., who majored in environmental studies and history and minored in Italian studies, will work on an environmental project in Cape Cod, Mass.

• Kate Sweetland-Lambird, from Lake Oswego, Ore., who majored in Spanish and Latin American studies, will work in Washington State with kids in an after-school program.

• Geoff Horsfield, from Long Valley, N.J., who majored in management and minored in religion, will work with the Center for Health Policy through the National Aids Fund in North Carolina.

Four students have received an opportunity to participate in Teach for America. The organization aims to end educational inequity by recruiting college graduates from all backgrounds and career interests and then asking them to teach for two years in urban and rural public schools. Teach for America provides training and ongoing support to ensure the success of their teachers in low-income communities. The teachers are challenged to significantly improve the academic achievement of their students, despite the challenges of poverty and the limited capacity of the school system.

• Andrew Arenge, from Bordentown, N.J., who majored in political science and minored in theatre arts and film studies, has been assigned to Mississippi.

• Linda Donatoni, from West Chester, Pa., who majored in psychology and minored in Spanish, has been assigned to Philadelphia.

• Amanda Nolte, from Laurel, Md., who majored in English and philosophy, has been assigned to Jacksonville, Fla.

• Adam Ortiz, from Valatie, N.Y., who majored in political science and minored in Italian studies, has been assigned to San Antonio, Texas.

Founded in 1832, Gettysburg College is a highly selective four-year residential college of liberal arts and sciences with a strong academic tradition that includes Rhodes Scholars, a Nobel laureate and other distinguished scholars among its alumni. The college enrolls 2,600 undergraduate students and is located on a 200-acre campus adjacent to the Gettysburg National Military Park in Pennsylvania.

Contact: Kendra Martin, director of media relations