Why Join AmeriCorps?

How It All Began...

October 2004: I attended an "Alternative Breaks Info. Night" at GVSU where I learned about the various service trips that AB had to offer. I nervously signed up for a spring break trip and was placed on the "Rural Culture" trip to Fries, VA.

March 2005: I participated in my "Rural Culture" trip and had a fabulous time! My group worked with a small community for the week doing various projects such as cleaning a fire station, working in schools, and raking leaves. When I returned to Grand Rapids after that trip, I changed my major to education because I realized that I needed to work with people (specifically kids).

Here's me cleaning up trash at a cemetery in Fries, VA.

September 2005: I applied to be a site leader and was placed on the trip "Hunger and Homelessness" which travels to Washington, DC. My co-site leader and I spent the months leading up to the trip planning our volunteer schedule, arranging our housing, and planning our nightly service reflections.

March 2006: On our trip we worked with two organizations: The Dinner Program for Homeless Women and DC Central Kitchen. At the DPHW, we served meals to over 40 women and children each night in the basement of a church. DCCK is a culinary arts school for homeless people (which is amazing!) Here, we cooked meals side-by-side with training chefs and the students of the school, and all of the meals we made were bused around the city to various churches and homeless shelters. Both were awesome organization to work with, and I learned a lot about people in poverty during that week.

Here's me and my group outside the subway -- we got a lot of practice travelling the city that week!

April 2006: I was voted Public Relations Chairperson on the executive board for Alternative Breaks. I was very excited to be involved in recruitment and getting other students to join AB!

E-Board members (2006-2007) at Site Leader Retreat in Oct. 2006!

October 2006: I was placed as a site leader for the "Domestic Violence" trip to Beaumont, TX for my third year in Alternative Breaks. Below is a picture of my co-site-leader (Caitlin) and I at our booth at Info. Night.

March 2007: I participated in my third Alternative Spring Break trip to Beaumont, TX where my group and I stayed on-site at a women's shelter for the week. We completed various cleaning and organizing projects for the center, as well as got to spend time talking to the residents and hearing their stories. It was a very emotional week, and I learned a lot about the issue of domestic violence.

April 2007: I was nominated and voted Coordinator of the entire Alternative Breaks organization! This was a HUGE responsibility, and I spend the majority of my summer that year setting up all 20+ trips around the country.

July 2007: As coordinator, I was invited to attend a national Alternative Breaks conference in Atlanta, GA where I was able to plan and network with other AB leaders from around the country. It was an awesome experience! We not only worked on planning for our programs, we also volunteered with the issue of "Refugee Resettlement." Below is a picture of me playing cards with some refugee children at a BBQ we hosted one night in a transitional apartment complex.

March 2008: I participated in my first "Alternative Breaks Weekend Trip" to Mayville, MI. I worked at The Fowler Center, which is an outdoor educational camp for children with multiple disabilities. We made crafts with the kids, had a pajama dance party, and assisted in an indoor therapeutic riding center. It was a great weekend-get-away during the midst of my hectic student-teaching semester!

Here's me with a couple of the boys as we're getting ready to start the day!

April 2008: As coordinator, I wasn't allowed to be a site leader too, so I was a participant on the College of Ed. trip called "Youth and Wishes" which travelled to Kissimmee, FL. Because I was student-teaching, my spring break was in April with the rest of Michigan's public school. Our AB organization has two trips in April for teachers who have a later spring break.

On this trip, we worked with "Give Kids The World," which is an organization that brings terminally ill children and their families to Disney. We volunteered at the GKTW resort for the week and got to spend time with the children and their families. Our activities included: face-painting, operating the carousel, serving dinners, participating in Village Idol, dancing down the streets during the "Christmas Parade," and many other things. It was a bittersweet week because the activities were so much fun, but most of the kids were very sick!

December 2008: This was my final AB trip. Because I was graduating in December, I participated in this winter break trip to Soddy-Daisy, TN called "Path Creations" where I helped build and repair trails through the Cumberland Trails State Park. Below is a picture of my group and some community members after we spent an entire day cleaning trash out of the ravines.

It was after I returned home from this final AB trip that I knew I could not be finished with service trips quite yet. I had a couple of friends who had applied to various AmeriCorps programs, and the more I looked into them myself, the more interested I became.

As I filled out my application and began running my memory over all of the service trips I've been on (much like I just did to create this blog entry), I knew that AmeriCorps was the right decision for me. I am so excited to work with other passionate and motivated young adults and try to make a difference, however we can, in the communities we are going to serve.

"Never doubt that a small group of committed, concerned citizens can change the world. Indeed, they are the only ones who ever have."
-Margaret Mead