Noah Auckerman
AmeriCorps Leader, Montana Tech Helena
Jonathan Carter
AmeriCorps Leader, SpectrUM Discovery Center, University of Montana
George Lindbom
AmeriCorps Leader, International Rescue Committee , University of Montana
Omiah Mitchell
AmeriCorps Leader, Dawson’s Promise, Dawson Community College
Donna Stuccio
AmeriCorps Leader, Blackfeet Community College
Sabre Campbell
AmeriCorps Leader, Montana Tech Butte
Katey Funderburgh
AmeriCorps Leader, Upward Bound, Salish Kootenai College
David Mariani
AmeriCorps Leader, Great Falls College
Cindy Morales
AmeriCorps Leader, Poplar High School, Fort Peck Community College
Chase Campbell
AmeriCorps Leader, Broader Impacts Group, University of Montana
Alyx Chandler
AmeriCorps VISTA, Missoula Writing Collaborative, University of Montana
Sarah Grissom
AmeriCorps VISTA, Accelerate Montana, University of Montana
Rylie Yaeger
AmeriCorps VISTA, National Center of Appropriate Technology, Montana State University
Robyn Michalec
AmeriCorps VISTA, Great Falls LGBTQ Center, Great Falls College MSU
Emma Myers
AmeriCorps VISTA, Salish Kootenai College
Nathan Switchenko
AmeriCorps VISTA, UM Partner with Place, University of Montana
Amber Peretz
AmeriCorps VISTA, Montana State University Billings Native American Achievement Center, Montana State University Billings
Ethan Krenzer
AmeriCorps VISTA, Montana College Attainment Network, Montana Technological University
Hilary Rosa
AmeriCorps VISTA, University of Montana Food Pantry, University of Montana
Katrina Tillapaugh
AmeriCorps VISTA, Veteran’s Advocacy Clinic, University of Montana
Jade Begay
AmeriCorps VISTA, Moving Mountains Foundation, University of Montana
Fisher Ream
AmeriCorps VISTA, State of Montana Arboretum, University of Montana
Andrew Mades
AmeriCorps VISTA, National Center of Appropriate Technology, Montana State University
Courtney Bentz
AmeriCorps VISTA, International Rescue Committee, University of Montana
Member Monthly Highlights
Do What You Love, Love What You Do by Justin Allison | August 2, 2021
I’ve worked seasonally for quite awhile now and must say I do really enjoy the lifestyle. Getting to spend time in different places and constantly pursuing what I am passionate about are a few of the perks. Last summer however, due to the pandemic providing limited options I ended up working a seasonal job that paid the bills (quite well I might add) but wasn’t anything I was actually passionate about… Read more
Still Awkward by Alyx Chandler | September 30, 2021
So far, my service here at Montana State University has been a very rewarding experience. I’ve been a part of a few large projects already that have really excited me, and being able to directly help students find housing has also been very worthwhile. Despite all of this… Read more
Why Service in AmeriCorps Matters Now More Than Ever By Ethan Krenzer | October 13, 2021
Close to reaching my third month of service as an AmeriCorps VISTA with the Montana Campus Compact (MTCC), volunteering during the 2021/2022 year is a significant time to serve. I am so glad/grateful that federal programs and organizations like this one exist. With everything… Read more
Choose Humanity By George Lindbom | October 21, 2021
There is a bright yellow sign hanging in the middle of the offices of the International Rescue Committee (IRC) – Missoula branch. It reads: “NO HATE. NO FEAR. REFUGEES ARE WELCOME HERE. #ChooseHumanity.” This sign lays out the perfect structure for me to use for self-reflection on my first month of service as a Montana… Read more
Southwest Gal in Big Sky Country by Jade Begay | October 29, 2021
Have you ever had a feeling of uncertainty? Like you’re struggling to find who you are and what you are called to do? If so, I am right there with you. Society expects us from an early age to know who and what we want to be when we grow up, but I have come to find it is never too late to discover who you’re meant to be and… Read more
The Language of Dreamers by Katey Funderburgh | November 18, 2021
The inside of my wrist is tattooed with a pencil. Cliché, perhaps, for an English major, but more important to me now than it was when I got it in 2019. It was the start of my Junior year, and I was reeling from an Emily Dickinson poetry class that had shattered my world and proved to me that I had something to say. My tiny pencil tattoo commemorates the… Read more
Why Not?: A Journey of Autonomy by Omiah Mitchell | November 29, 2021
These past two years have been unlike anything I have ever experienced before. My mind would have never been able to conceive what has occurred in this world during these past two years. At first it was wonderful to rest and just be still. Then, life quickly became a mundane redundant routine. Wake up. Shower. Log in to zoom. Log off. Sleep. Repeat… Read more
Not Sewing Swimsuits by Fisher Ream | November 12, 2021
My first full week of VISTA service began with the State of Montana Arboretum (SMA) Committee Retreat in the Lubrecht Experimental Forest, roughly forty minutes from the University campus. The Committee of a dozen members spent the day working on a three year vision for the State of Montana Arboretum… Read more
The Value in my Authenticity by Robyn Michalec | December 6, 2021
I came out of the closet when I was 16 in a Wisconsin town that did not embrace its LGBTQ+ community. In many instances, it outright rejected those who came out of the closet. Fortunately, I have an overwhelmingly supportive family, and I only lost a couple of friends as I embraced my identity as a queer woman for the first time in my life… Read more
The Kindness of Strangers by Donna Stuccio | December 10, 2021
I grew up on a quiet little street in the coal mine region of northeast Pennsylvania that dead ended at railroad tracks. The coal cars would wobble and rock as they shook the ground below me. I would rush to collect coal that toppled from the overflowing cars. The deep black anthracite would come in handy for hopscotch… Read more
The Unfrettables by David Mariani | December 16, 2021
MTCC AmeriCorps at Great Falls College MSU operates out of the Office of Student Engagement and oversees the Great Falls College MSU Food Pantry. Students are welcome to find me for food, hygiene products, and meaningful human interaction… Read more
Unexpected Gifts In An Unexpected Place By Cindy Morales | January 21, 2022
I made hard decisions and big leaps in 2021 that led me to an unexpected call to serve. I wasn’t sure what I would do next, until this opportunity presented itself. Even though I was scared, even though it was out of my comfort zone, I ventured out to Poplar, Montana to serve for a year. The big sky and wide open spaces of … Read more
Collective Action Is Key For Climate Justice By Andrew Mades | January 31, 2022
My name is Andrew Mades. I began serving as a VISTA member at the National Center for Appropriate Technologies (NCAT) in November 2021 and will serve until November 2022. A historian by training, I studied in Massachusetts before moving to in Berlin, Germany in 2018. There I … Read more
Paying It Forward By Hilary Rosa | January 19, 2022
This is my second year of service at the University of Montana Food Pantry. This is also the second year of the Covid-19 pandemic, and things are not looking up for the majority of people- not even close. Everywhere I look, people are struggling to make ends meet. Homelessness is on the rise, people are… Read more
Chicago To Montana: A Bona Fide Experience Of Trust By Demetrius Sudduth-Peterson | February 4, 2022
Before AmeriCorps, I was a high school substitute teacher with interest of gaining more professional development and career readiness within higher education. The education benefits and network provided by AmeriCorps was … Read more
The Power Of Empathy: Reflections On MLKRead For Peace By Jonathan Carter | February 14, 2022
The recent wave of school boards nationwide removing books from curricula (and even from libraries themselves) has prompted me to reflect further on the significance of MLK Read for Peace. This service project connects community volunteers with kindergarten through fifth-grade … Read more
Combatting Climate Deterioration In Butte Montana By Rylie Yaeger | February 17, 2022
When I lived in Beijing, people would always ask me how the pollution was. I told them two things: The Communist Party planted trees to stop sandstorms from entering the capital. They also moved factories away from the city, but didn’t shut them down. Despite all this, the Chinese… Read more
Learning, Healing, And Other Two-Way Streets By Noah Aukerman | February 25, 2022
As I enter the penultimate month of my service year, I would like to take a moment to pause and reflect on my experience so far. I’ve found my community impact can be a bit more challenging to measure than that of my fellow cohort members. While their high school and college students are working hard on grades and applications, my zero- to ten-year-old audience is concerned with simply having fun… Read more
Reflections On Becoming Through Life & Service By Amber Christina Peretz | February 28, 2022
My name is Amber Christina Peretz. I type these thoughts while sitting on the carpeted floor of my cozy Montana home; music playing softly, a candle burning its gentle light. I’ve come a long way to arrive here at this particular moment. Physically (I moved here from Florida), emotionally (2020 was hard for everyone), and spiritually (a story for a different time).… Read more
Food Sovereignty: Life At Missoula Food Bank And Community Center By Taylor Hill | March 3, 2022
I’ve only been at Missoula Food Bank for a little over a month, but I could tell on my very first day that the people who work here care deeply about their community. It doesn’t matter how much money you make, where you live, or how many kids you have, no one leaves here hungry… Read more
Help Yourself Help Others By Sabre Campbell | March 8, 2022
Has there ever been a time in your life when you felt stuck? Like maybe you knew what your big dreams were, but you didn’t know how to start chasing them? That is exactly how I felt after graduating college last year. Just like everyone else in the world, my path in life had taken a turn due to the … Read more
Growth Through Adversity By George Lindbom | April 8, 2022
When President Biden decided to withdraw military forces from Afghanistan in August 2021, many Afghans chose to or were forced to flee their homeland. President Biden directed the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to lead the federal government’s initiative to resettle these … Read more
A Day In The Life Of An AmeriCorps Leader: Alternative Spring Break By Demetrius Sudduth-Peterson | April 15, 2022
As my second blog 4 months into my first term as an AmeriCorps Leader, I have happy adventures to share after climbing Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs pyramid; Survival, Safety, Belonging, Esteem, and Self-Actualization. My first blog post revolved around adjusting and relocating from… Read more
Defining Success In Service By Robyn Michalec | April 21, 2022
The Great Falls LGBTQ+ Center is a beautiful mess of color, filled with mismatched furniture, shelves of books and board games, and always an abundance of goldfish crackers and fruit snacks. We are located in a building with a lot of history; built in 1899, the space has seen thousands of… Read more
The Beauty Of Evolution: The Learning Curve By Omiah Mitchell | April 21, 2022
There is so much to be said about my experience thus far I honestly do not really know where to begin. So I guess I will begin here, Montana as a whole is the 17th State with the largest homeless population. 9.2% of that population (the population I serve), are between the ages of 18-25. While… Read more
The “Else” Word By David Mariani | May 6, 2022
Some questions in life are better left unasked. “Where are you from?” makes me bristle with its (hopefully) unintended micro-aggressive questioning of my origins and American-ness. “What do you do for work?” forces me to do a sidelong glance for insinuating my worth goes… Read more
Perspective By Alyx Chandler | May 9, 2022
When I was a kid, I was obsessed with labeling everything as either right or wrong, truth or lies, and had a hard time understanding what was between those two, that concept of a gray area. Looking back, I have a lot of respect for my parents. I realize I was probably a hard kid to parent at times: highly sensitive, … Read more
Remember Our Past… Build Our Future By Donna Stuccio | May 9, 2022
Five months have passed since my previous blog. I couldn’t remember so I had to look through the archives to remind myself how much time passed since I wrote it. My feet feel so firmly planted in Browning, that I was certain it was much longer ago. In my first couple of months here, I couldn’t foresee how … Read more
The Meaning Of Success By Cindy Morales | June 10, 2022
Every community is different. Oftentimes people are measured by a standard level used for all, that completely disregards the outliers and minoritized individuals. These standards are based on communities or groups of people who do not encompass everyone. Serving on the Fort Peck Reservation with… Read more
Service With Snqweylmistn By Emma Myers | June 16, 2022
After having completed my first service year at a family shelter, I knew I wanted to continue serving parents and children. That left a lot of room for me to explore and search, but when I saw the opportunity to work with indigenous foster families in rural Montana, everything about it excited me… Read more
Investing in a More Hopeful Future by Noah Aukerman | June 17, 2022
“My parents kept me out of school today because of shooting and bomb threats,” a student explained to me. Their absence from school prevented them from attending their weekly meeting to receive the academic mentorship and college readiness services my service site offers. However, this student’s worries were well founded. The day prior… Read more
Witnessing Inspiration Bloom By Jonathan Carter | July 8, 2022
As I enter the penultimate month of my service year, I would like to take a moment to pause and reflect on my experience so far. I’ve found my community impact can be a bit more challenging to measure than that of my fellow cohort members. While their high school and college students are working hard on grades and applications, my zero- to ten-year-old audience is concerned with simply having fun… Read more
Do Good, Try Your Best by Emily McMath | August 1, 2022
Excitement, learning, hesitation, perseverance, grief, burnout, growth, frustration, resolve. My AmeriCorps experience can and will be described in a multitude of ways. After two years, one might think the ability to talk about what you have experienced would be familiar… Read more
Sacrifice and Service by Nathan Switchenko | August 22, 2022
“What’s it going to be then, eh?” was a question I often asked myself after I graduated college-though I had a rather less poetic retort. This uncertainty, during the height of Covid lockdowns, soon reached a head, and pushed me into moving a thousand miles to a state I had hitherto never set foot to serve as an underpaid AmeriCorps VISTA member… Read more