The Peace Corps’ slogan calls service through it “the toughest job you’ll ever love.” That challenge appeals to 2024 alum Katherine Mazzer, who now serves in Cambodia.

Mazzer and Spiders like her contributed to the University of Richmond’s No. 10 ranking among small-sized schools on the Peace Corps’ 2026 Volunteer-Producing Colleges and Universities list.

“We are grateful to partner with colleges and universities across the nation who instill the value of national service in their students, inspiring them to pursue their purpose post-graduation,” said Peace Corps acting director Richard E. Swarttz. 

During the past fiscal year, eight Spiders served in seven countries: Cambodia, the Dominican Republic, Eastern Caribbean, Indonesia, Peru, Tanzania, and Zambia.

“Through the Peace Corps, I felt that I would be able to build meaningful relationships in a community,” Mazzer said. “Because of the long-term commitment, it felt like a collaborative and sustainable way to do the work I was interested in.”

An English major with a minor in secondary education, Mazzer arrived in Cambodia in August 2024 and is now in her second year there. She teaches English for grades 7-12 at a rural high school, where she instructs alongside Khmer teachers. Beyond the classroom, she runs an art club and serves on the Peace Corps Cambodia Media Committee, which produces a magazine called Mango Dreams.

With the help of her school colleagues, she wrote a grant to build a greenhouse and garden beds at the school — creating a food source for the school and a place for hands-on agricultural education for the students.

Mazzer’s path to service began at Richmond, where she tutored local students in the community “before my ambitions became more global,” she said. She later tutored high school students while studying abroad at the University of Cape Town in South Africa and co-taught English to adult learners in Indonesia.

“In Cambodia, I have been extremely lucky to have made friends who are forever from my cohort of volunteers and my community,” Mazzer said. “My days with my volunteer friends in the city and in their villages are the best days of my life.”

She has embraced local traditions, including Khmer New Year, celebrated with shared dinners, traditional games, storytelling, and dancing. She even served as a bridesmaid in a fellow teacher’s wedding, which she described as a multi-day, multi-outfit affair filled with lots of love. Mazzer now speaks Khmer.

“I come from New York, and a lot of my life has been go-go-go,” Mazzer said. “Cambodia has truly shown me that life is too short to not slow down and enjoy it.”