AmeriCorps Members Take Part in MLK National Day of Service
On January 16, 2023, AmeriCorps members across the nation participated in the MLK National Day of Service to honor the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. Our cohort of 29 members serving with Campus Compact’s VISTA Program participated in service projects to give back to their communities. Campus Compact AmeriCorps members volunteered with a variety of organizations throughout the United States. They served at organizations such as the Library of Congress, House of Hope, Mary Ellen Brandell Volunteer Center, Letters Against Isolation, Marymount University, and Manchester Community College. Read more about AmeriCorps and MLK National Day of Service here!
Rainbows: Societal change and safe spaces
By Andrew Taylor: GEAR UP NH Alliance AmeriCorps MemberThroughout this AmeriCorps year, I often had new experiences and learned from my mistakes. Capacity building is something that is new to me, but throughout my service, I was able to learn from my failures and revel in my triumphs. My time working with GEAR UP, Campus Compact for New Hampshire, and my site, Hillside Middle School, allowed me to build stronger connections with the LGBTQIA+ part of my identity. As an extension of my previous AmeriCorps year, I continued to spread positivity and inclusion at my site. Normalizing queer identities and…
Reflecting on a Year of Service: Some Thoughts and Advice
By Miranda Orcutt – AmeriCorps member at Champlain College, Office of Diversity and InclusionThe week this blog post goes live, it will be just about a year since I applied for my current AmeriCorps position. In July 2021, I had recently sat down in my supervisor’s office and broken down while I submitted my resignation for a job that physically and mentally drained me and pushed my tolerance level over the edge. When I applied for this AmeriCorps role, I was scrambling to train others who would cover me after I left the department and mentally preparing myself for backlash…
(Re)Building an Engaged Community
By Rachel Bartholomew – AmeriCorps Member at Middlebury CollegeIt’s hard to discuss the state of higher education without acknowledging the impact of COVID-19 on. Even with many schools finishing their 2021-2022 school year in person, institutions are still grappling with the question: “What will our campus community look like now?” There are students who have been enrolled for two years and are just stepping foot onto campus for the first time. Some student groups, including many multicultural groups, have gone dormant because of low membership. More students are experiencing increased financial need, food and housing insecurity, and mental health crises….
Service with a Smile: Using Names to Unlock Community
By Tian Robinson – AmeriCorps Member at Manchester Community CollegeHow many people can you picture whose names you don’t know? Maybe each morning you share the bus station with a familiar stranger who dressed in an exceptional fashion last week, presumably for a special occasion you declined to ask about. Maybe your regular barista has perfected your order, but on Thursdays your afternoon coffee tastes a little too sweet because they have the day off. Don’t forget the coworker whom you exchange unceremoniously microwave-related remarks on your overlapping lunch breaks. How many more of these nameless faces in your life…
Putting Things in Perspective
By Madalyn ShircliffWhen I went to college to study journalism and political science, my dreams were almost Herculean. I had a clear image in my mind of the path I would follow, the career I would have, the impact I would make. What I didn’t expect was the cynicism that followed, a feeling of inefficacy, that nothing I did really mattered. I believe this is something we are experiencing on a much larger scale these days. The world we live in is overwhelming; we are inundated daily with more news, more events, more stories that make us feel helpless. There…
Forming Connections on the Playground
By Austin Dumont – AmeriCorps Member at Bates CollegeComing into my year with AmeriCorps VISTA, one of the greatest external pressures was the lingering COVID pandemic. As we all know too well, the reality of the pandemic has required that much of our lives take place behind a computer screen. While the shift to remote work, and a remote lifestyle, have impacted all of us in unique ways, adverse effects have been especially profound on children. Being at home and away from school has meant many children have gone without peer interactions and socialization. As a new school year started…
Bagel Fridays
By Ciera Miller – AmeriCorps member at Champlain CollegeAlmost every Friday this year, the Women’s and Gender Center at Champlain College has held a ‘Bagel Friday,’ which means that once a week, we offer free bagels to everyone who goes to Champlain. This is in an effort to bring students into the space and to also feed them, since we know the average college student is always on the search for food. We really take the tradition of “breaking bread” to the next level. (Are bagels considered bread? They should be.) At first, my supervisor and I were taking home…
AmeriCorps Service: A Life-Long Lesson
By: Arria Hauldin – 21-22 AmeriCorps VISTA Leader August 2022 marks my second anniversary with AmeriCorps! As I get closer to this anniversary, I wanted to take the time to reflect on these two years with Americorps and Campus Compact for New Hampshire (CCNH). In August 2020, I started as a COVID-19 Recovery AmeriCorps Member for CCNH. As a South Florida native, my first time in New England (let alone New Hampshire) was when I moved here to start my service. I was fresh out of college and entered a world plagued with uncertainty due to the pandemic. As a…