Tag: 2022-2023

When I began my first term of AmeriCorps service on April 4th, I was given a desk and space outside of the Director of Student Success’s office. People would walk into the Multicultural Center (where his office is located) and assume I was his personal assistant. He or she would ask, “When will the director…

Sometimes I think I am too nostalgic for my own good. I have the tendency to lean heavily on the fact that moments are fleeting– that the moment they happen, they’ll never happen again in the exact same way. Slowly they’ll fade until they’re just vague outlines of a time and place you once were.…

I was born and raised in Montana, spending most of my life on the Flathead Reservation. I have always been interested in ecology and wildlife. I graduated from Salish Kootenai College with a degree in wildlife and fisheries and eventually received a master’s degree in resource conservation at the University of Montana. Before I even…

August, 2023 already! Thinking about this time last year highlights how far I’ve come and just how much this first year has changed me. In August of 2022, I was planning my move across the country to a state I’d never visited to work and live with complete strangers. I was really excited about my…

With this month being my last full month of service, I have had to face some daunting realities that I have put off reflecting on up until this point — primarily, what do I have to show for all the work that I have accomplished? Entering my mid-twenties, I have been taking more time to…

I was in the midst of a battle with the Jelly Monster. Side effects included staying in bed all day, playing Tetris, watching Twitch for the hours I was awake, and feeling complacent with where I was at the time. Why pursue my goals when the jelly was all-consuming—it didn’t matter what actions I took,…

As I read other members’ blogs, it occurs to me that my experience in AmeriCorps looks different than theirs. Principally, I’m close to home in Dillon, Montana. Furthermore, I began this term in April because the position was initially unfilled in the fall. Finally, I stayed in education, my field of interest. I enjoy mentoring,…

Two years serving as an AmeriCorps VISTA member in Butte, Montana, it has been a tough but rewarding experience. Moving from Orange County, California in Summer 2021, the opportunity to assist two different nonprofit organizations and learn from their talented and compassionate team members on how to grow capacity, raise awareness about what specific organization’s…

As I reflect on my eight and a half months of service as an AmeriCorps VISTA with Bozeman Public Schools, I have learned valuable lessons about mindset and the importance of finding balance. I grew up in Bend, Oregon before heading to Middlebury College in Vermont where I studied political science and Spanish. The COVID-19…

Serving as an AmeriCorps VISTA at The Women’s Entrepreneurial and Leadership Lab Women’s Business Center (WELL WBC), I am learning valuable lessons about seeking help and perseverance. I am a North Carolina native but spent time growing up in Portland, Oregon before making my way out to Missoula for college. I am a graduate of…

Right after I graduated college, I thought I knew exactly what career path I wanted to pursue. I had always been interested in politics both foreign and domestic, and I had always been interested in foreign languages and culture, so it seemed a natural and logical conclusion that I pursue a career in foreign policy.…

My first task as an AmeriCorps College Coach on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation was to get to know the students I would serve throughout my time at Poplar High School. To achieve this, I surveyed the junior and senior classes’ interests, skills, and experiences. Using the information collected from these surveys, I could search…

While conducting my research for this assignment, I remember thinking that acclimating to this new environment would be a breeze – that I would hit the ground running and adjust with a quickness, from the giddyup. After all, I have lived all over these united states, and through the years visited over a dozen nations.…

On August 10th, 2022, I packed my car to begin a 5 day solo journey from Boston, MA to Missoula, MT for pre-service orientation with Montana Campus Compact. Though I had never been to Montana, I eagerly accepted a position as a VISTA with Park County Environmental Council in Livingston. After a tumultuous college experience…

Reading through the archives of MTCC blog posts, there is a stark theme of loneliness/lack of community/feeling unmoored. While AmeriCorps advertises that its programs are community-based and discusses providing opportunities for members to serve in their own communities, every VISTA I know got a relocation stipend, and half of us are from the East Coast.…

When starting in an AmeriCorps position, and as we do our service, we get a lot of really good advice. It’s usually putting it into practice that can be hard – weather, location, resources, time, etc. All manner of things can work against us. And the projects are going to be frustrating. There are moments…

“Men start businesses because they have an idea or an opportunity, women start businesses because they have to.” This (or something close) was said at the first full staff meeting I attended for the Women’s Entrepreneurship and Leadership Lab. It’s a phrase that has stuck with me ever since. I’ve lived in Montana most of…

I was first introduced to AmeriCorps when a friend of mine decided to serve in Bellingham, Washington. She was serving at a middle school helping tutor students who had fallen behind in school. I can remember how excited she was when one or more of her students would begin to understand their coursework.

Let me set the scene for you. It is August 2022, and I was about to leave my Midwest home. With it, I would be leaving everything I knew behind. At first, I was thinking I was crazy, flying to a place I had never been before. I had so much anxiety doing it by…

It has been more than six weeks now since I started my service term as a Montana Campus Compact AmeriCorps College Coach, and I have learned a lot, although I have only just begun. It is my pleasure to be serving the community through Salish Kootenai College’s Upward Bound program, a nationwide initiative with the…