A Month Full of Americorps Work!!!

This month has been a really busy work month for me. I have had several different projects in the works. For one I am still working on completing the workforce development binder however several new projects have come up. One ongoing project that I have been busy with is a series of post-high school readiness workshops. I am developing a curriculum that is a series of workshops aimed at getting high school seniors thinking about and working on their academic and work plans post-graduation. The goal of the workshops is to give individuals the guidance and skills needed to successfully enter college or the workforce post graduation. Although the curriculum overall is geared towards high school seniors, individual workshops could be used by anyone who wants to work on building skills needed to enter college or the workforce. Currently, I am piloting the workshops once a week in a one hour class for high school seniors. Although I am directly running the course with this class of high school seniors, I am still keeping in mind that my work as a VISTA ultimately has to be about capacity building. My reason for directly running the workshops the first time is so that I can personally see the problems and kinks and find solutions. To tie in the capacity building needed in VISTA work, I am writing a curriculum that is almost scripted so that anyone can easily run the workshops. In addition, I have teachers aiding in running the workshops so that in the future they will be able to facilitate them without me. Right now I am doing a three part workshop on building a resume. The goal is that by the end of the workshop each student will have created their own personal resume. I really enjoy working with the young people. I try to spend a few minutes every class with each students. It is really neat to hear their dreams and aspirations; I hope that the time I spend with them will encourage them to pursue those dreams.

Along with working on developing the workshop curriculum I am starting down the path of writing my first ever grant! The Scholarship and Employment Training Program here in Pinehill is working on applying for grant for a Youthbuild Program. Youthbuild is a character development program for high school drop outs ages 16-24. The program is 10% leadership development, 50% GED work, and 40% construction skills development. I have been asked to be part of the team that will work on the draft proposal.

Along with my VISTA project work, as VISTA I am requested to plan and run a variety of community service projects. For Veterans’ Day the Corporation For National and Community Service asked that VISTAs create service projects that would help people in the military. I created and ran a two week stuffed animal drive. The cuddlely critters are going to a program that puts together care packages for children who parents overseas. The drive was a huge success! The community came together and donated over 125 stuffed animals. Now I just have to wash the 80 odd lightly loved ones OY!

Finally I am keeping my days busy by doing volunteer work in the dorms. I have been at the dorm for over a month now and have almost all of the 40 kids names down. I really enjoy getting to plan events and programming with them. Right now I am working on a dormitory newspaper for the mid-school and high-school kids. I thought that newspaper would be a great activity for them because it would give them a chance to work on the writing skills and for the kids applying to college it will be an activity to put on their resume. Overall I am having a great time in Pine Hill!