Eight University of Nebraska–Lincoln students earned a certificate from the Peace Corps for successfully completing the Peace Corps Prep program during the 2025-26 school year.
The group brings the number of certificate recipients to 33 Huskers since the program launched in 2021. Nebraska’s Peace Corps Prep program integrates coursework, hands-on experience and professional development, preparing undergraduates for volunteer service globally, potentially with the Peace Corps, by building core competencies: sector-specific skills, foreign language proficiency, intercultural competence and professional leadership. Each student focuses on one Peace Corps sector: agriculture, community economic development, education, environment, health, or youth in development.
Students can take the Intercultural Development Inventory assessment upon acceptance and completion, receive a scholarship to study abroad in a Peace Corps country, and engage with peers and local returned Peace Corps volunteers. Certificate recipients gain a competitive edge when applying for Peace Corps service.
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The latest group of recipients represents three academic colleges and five Peace Corps sectors. Following graduation, one plans to serve in the Peace Corps in Mexico, one will serve with AmeriCorps, three will pursue master’s degrees and three will join the workforce.
Pluto Larson, a May graduate, will serve through AmeriCorps as a student success coach with City Year in Columbia, South Carolina.
“Through the (PC Prep) program, I became more aware of my own cultural biases and learned how to better educate myself to see the world in a more holistic way,” Larson said. “The classes I took increased my intercultural communication and language abilities, opened my eyes to the histories of people served by the Peace Corps and motivated me to serve in any capacity possible.”
Zanib Al Razaq, who plans to graduate in August, is spending the summer studying entrepreneurship in Mexico City and pursuing a federally funded Critical Language Scholarship to study intensive Portuguese in Brazil. She will then continue supporting immigrant and refugee women in their entrepreneurial journeys at ECHO Collective in Lincoln.
“I wanted a clearer understanding of the commitment and impact before applying (to the Peace Corps),” Al Razaq said. “I have recommended PC Prep to many of my friends and classmates because it provides strong preparation for anyone considering international service work. This experience has strengthened my goal of applying to the Peace Corps, ideally in Morocco, and pursuing a future career focused on economic development in developing countries.”
Following is a list of students who completed Peace Corps Prep in fall 2025 or spring 2026, listed alphabetically by hometown, with their academic major(s), college(s) and Peace Corps sector.
Nebraska
Hickman:
- Evvie Yendra, environmental studies and biological sciences, College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources and College of Arts and Sciences, environment
Kearney:
- Milli Ciprian, women’s and gender studies, College of Arts and Sciences, youth in development
Lincoln:
- Zanib Al Razaq, economics and Spanish, College of Arts and Sciences, community economic development
Omaha:
- Makenna Anderson, fisheries and wildlife, and grassland systems, College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, environment
- Lennon Harris, global studies, College of Arts and Sciences, education
- Pluto Larson, global studies and Spanish, College of Arts and Sciences, education
Elsewhere in the U.S.
Castle Pines, Colorado:
- Vanessa Hubing, biological sciences, College of Arts and Sciences, health
Nevada, Iowa:
- Marissa Lindemann, broadcasting, College of Journalism and Mass Communications, environment
The Global Experiences Office administers the Peace Corps Prep program in partnership with the School of Global Integrative Studies. The program is open to undergraduate students from any college. International students may complete the Peace Corps Prep program, but applicants to serve in the Peace Corps must be U.S. citizens. To learn more, click here or email rlbaskerville@unl.edu.
