As a retired Senior English teacher and Career Pathway Consultant, it has been a wonderfully unique experience for me to serve as an AmeriCorps VISTA for the town I have lived in for over 25 years. The focus of my service over the past two years has been working with our first-generation college students at Vassar High School. It is crucial that we not only help first-generation college students gain access to college or to their next steps, but also that we support them during that first year of college (or post-high school life). As I am coming up on the last few months of my service, it is a great time to reflect on what has been the most important lesson I have learned. 

For many years, one of the novels that I taught was To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee. The novel is written from the perspective of Scout, a young white girl in a southern town. Her father, Atticus, is a lawyer, and he gives one of the most valuable pieces of advice anyone can learn (it is a major motif of the entire work). Standing in a person's shoes is one of the first things Atticus explains to Scout in the novel, “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view... until you climb in his skin and walk around in it” (Chapter 3). For me, this is a great summary of my VISTA experience in so many ways. 

When I attended college, I was a first-generation college student myself. This, combined with the fact that I currently live in the same town as my students, led me to believe it would be easy to understand what being “in their skin” was like. Over this two-year period, I realized that walking in their shoes and walking in mine still have vast differences. When I was a first-gen, a large portion of first-gen students received mostly grants and scholarships and did not have to worry about high levels of loan debt. Now, when first-gens go to college (even attending for just a semester) they can be saddled with thousands of dollars of debt. 

In addition, during the time that I went to college, only about one in five students came from a one parent home; now the statistic for one parent homes is nearly one in three. Now the Covid-19 pandemic has exacerbated and created many issues for my students. They are grieving the loss of so many parts of their senior year – they have been bouncing back and forth from in-class learning to on-line learning, and have lost much of their high school culture, including band and music, homecoming games, prom, and graduation just to name a few. It is no wonder these students are tentative about their college plans and are having difficulty committing to what comes next. 

These two years have also allowed me to team with a variety of stakeholders – the school faculty and administration, the community (who works hard to support students in our schools even in the midst of the pandemic), the local college representatives, and my VISTA cohort and leaders. Even though I have been in the field of education for over forty years, and I lived here a third of my entire life, I have come to the realization that the challenges and opportunities for each stakeholder group is continually changing and evolving. The shoes of everyone are similar but very different. A year ago, small businesses here were doing well and growing and now many of them have closed or are on the brink of closing.  

One of the large events I helped with at the beginning of my service was a large job fair because there was such a need for employees in a diverse opportunity field. Now unemployment is on the rise, job opportunities have narrowed, and in-person visitors and events are not allowed in our school building. This has caused it to be much more difficult to continue strengthening the bond between the town, the parents, and the school through events such as the job fair. I have been doing my best to serve the community and my school by trying to see the perspective of my town members, the faculty I work with, and the administration of my school, while simultaneously addressing needs that crop up as the pandemic continues on. 

For my VISTA cohort and leaders, we have had to carefully examine (and sometimes adjust) the goals of our VISTA Assignment Descriptions, work from home balancing personal and professional lives, and still manage to move forward to build capacity at our host sites. I have realized that while all of the MNA VISTAs and leaders have that in common, what that looks like is different for each of us as we stand in our own shoes.  

The 20-21 VISTA cohort has worked together through Zoom this year and had a variety of breakout sessions and small group projects to bring us together. It became apparent that each of us has not only unique challenges but also unique opportunities to be a caring and impactful servant for those we are helping. Getting to “walk in the skin” just a little of each of you has been eye-opening to say the least. We are a powerful and diverse group – in age, gender, race, skills, life experiences, and schooling. I am so thankful for being a part of a group of caring people who are making such a difference in so many organizations and lives across our state. 

As we prepare for the end of our service and our next steps, it is important to remember that wherever we go and whatever we do, we must walk around in the shoes of those around us. In that way we can continue to be empathetic members of our communities. Best wishes to each of my cohort as we all get ready for the next phase of our life journeys. ​

​Hello everyone! My name is June Urdy and I am a third-year AmeriCorps VISTA serving for the first time at Mott Community College (MCC) Workforce & Economic Development department, supporting workforce programs for individuals age 50 and up. My service assignments include: assisting with introductory workshops for older workers to introduce them to the employment process and the programs available at MCC, sending emails to follow-up with previous workshop attendees, and data collection and maintenance of a workshop attendee database.   

MCC Workforce & Economic Development department has more than 18 program divisions dedicated to enhancing economic opportunities for people in the community, from youth to senior citizens.  

The AARP Foundation has several programs for older workers to help them find employment. As the AARP charitable affiliate, the AARP Foundation has aided America's poor and isolated seniors for 57 years. The AARP Foundation “serves vulnerable people 50 and older by creating and advancing effective solutions that help them secure the essentials.” One of those programs is the AARP BACK TO WORK 50+ program. MCC Workforce & Economic Development department is the regional partner for the AARP BACK TO WORK 50+ program, providing introductory workshops four times per year. Job coaching and job-search support is then available, by appointment, for all workshop attendees.   

MCC Workforce & Economic Development department has adapted their programming during the COVID pandemic to keep everyone safe. In-person meetings and classes have changed to virtual/online meetings. Employers are still seeking workers but how and where the workers perform their jobs has changed. Despite the changes and the challenges brought on by the pandemic, the important work of MCC Workforce & Economic Development department has not missed a beat.  

I look forward to spring and the “growth” of programs and partnerships in the community that will result in increased employment opportunities for everyone seeking work. I am grateful to have the opportunity help people over 50 years of age in their job search journey. I am supported and inspired by the team at MCC Workforce & Economic Development, the staff and members of the Flint National Accelerator, and the entire cohort and support staff of the Michigan Nonprofit Association. I am not sure what the future will bring but I know we are all making a difference right now. Together, we are doing great things. 

​Lately I’ve been reflecting on myself in a few different ways. I often struggle with letting myself feel satisfied with my work. While I’m working on some project it’s “well, you can’t be happy until you’re finished with this.” Not feeling satisfied with work ties into a larger issue of not being satisfied with where I’m at -- “you need to figure out what you want to go back to school for so you can prepare.” I can’t just let myself be happy in the moment, there need to be strings attached. The problem with that mindset is you can’t feel long-term satisfaction with your work even if you find it enjoyable and/or meaningful (a bit paradoxical, I know). It’s something I’ve been talking about with my therapist.

She likes to frame our lives as a cycle of seasons. Seasons of change, seasons of stability, seasons of insecurity, and so on. Since becoming a VISTA in 2019, I've been in a season of growth. My first posting was a way for me to jumpstart becoming more independent. I wasn’t happy in the job I had at the time and sort of understood that if I kept living at my parents’ I wasn’t going to grow more as a person. Well, turns out economic development work isn’t something I’m particularly suited for. The COVID-19 pandemic also made things like socializing and meeting new people in a small community even more difficult than it was to begin with. So when Meridith suggested I try applying for a spot at Friends In Deed, I leapt at the opportunity.

I think I’m in a better place to keep growing now that I’m in Ypsilanti with Friends In Deed. The mission and aspects of the work align with my personal goals and I’ve had many opportunities to engage with social work. I have housemates and more opportunities to meet people, albeit carefully and cautiously. Now I just need to let myself be and take things day by day. I can’t force myself to grow, I have to just let it happen.

A year ago from today, I was working in my office at the schools I was serving. Getting closer than 6 feet to other people and the idea of wearing a face mask rarely crossed my mind.  A lot has changed since then. Now I am working from home for most of the week, I am careful to practice social distancing, and I regularly online shop for stylish face masks. As we approach March 13th, the day Governor Gretchen Whitmer ordered all K-12 Michigan schools to close, I find myself reflecting on the past year.

​The past 12 months were filled with many surprises and challenges. Despite the hardships, I’ve learned how resilient people are.  I have seen communities come together throughout the challenging year, families and friends finding new and creative ways to connect, and coworkers learning new technology to get their work done. 

Personally, I have learned the importance of being grateful for all of the things and people I have in my life, slowing down, and being more present.

This is my second year as an AmeriCorps VISTA serving with Capital Area College Access Network (CapCAN) in Lansing, Michigan in the Pathways to Employment Program. I am serving at the Wilson Talent Center as a College and Career Adviser. CapCAN’s mission is: “making completion of post-secondary education an achievable reality for all residents of the capital area….. to increase college and career readiness, participation, and completion.”

Over the past few months, I have been busy planning and scheduling virtual visits with colleges, assisting students with their college and Free Application for Federal Student Aid(FAFSA) applications, hosting virtual office hours, and answering other college and career-related questions. 

Soon I will begin to plan for Decision Day at the Wilson Talent Center! National Decision Day is May 1st and it’s the deadline for seniors to pick their college. The Wilson Talent Center has a tradition of celebrating Decision Day by having the students parade around the building with signs of what they’ll be doing after graduation. Due to COVID restrictions, this tradition will have to be modified in order to follow safe practices. 

I can’t believe how fast this year has gone by and I am incredibly grateful for the memories, the lessons I learned,  and the strong support system that this year has brought me. 

Can I be honest with you? It’s been hard lately. Wait, scratch that, it’s been hard for a while. We’re quickly approaching the one-year mark since the Covid-19 pandemic hit the U.S. Just a few days ago, on February 21st, the New York Times reported that 500,000 Americans had died from Covid-19. Half a million in just one year. And hundreds of thousands of families and friends impacted by these deaths. Not to mention that this death toll and the effects of this pandemic have disproportionally impacted BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and people of color) communities and impoverished communities.  

This is the backdrop of our service year, and it impacts the service of every one of my VISTAs. It weighs on my mind heavily each day. As a VISTA Leader, I am a bit removed from the service that our VISTA cohort is doing. Don’t get me wrong, I read about all the amazing services and projects they complete in their reports and in our check-ins, but I don’t necessarily see the impact in these communities, especially since I’m serving virtually this year. And from what I hear, this is always a struggle for VISTAs. To help programs become more robust, efficient, and effective so that we can serve more of our communities is totally different from helping someone right in front of you.  

With all these thoughts swirling in my mind, I laid down in bed the other night and couldn’t shake the thought, Did I do enough today? Was I productive enough? Did I help anyone today? Because some days, when I’m on my computer all day at a hand-me-down dining table that’s operating as my desk, I feel like haven’t done enough. I haven’t helped that many people that day. 

But then I saw a video* and I had an epiphany. Every breath you take is enough. Every day you live is enough. If we measure our days by productivity, we will always be setting ourselves up for failure, because we live in a society which tells us the more you produce, the better you are. There is no limit on how much you can produce and how productive you can be, so you can never reach a goal and be satisfied. There is always more to do. And yes, there is nuance and a balance here, because there are lots of tasks that need to get done during our service. But at the end of the day, don’t look at the tasks remaining on your to-do list and feel that you didn’t do enough. Look at those you have completed, look at those moments you have lived and tasks you have accomplished and feel proud. Feel that you are enough.  

This was a huge mindset change for me in the past month. A service year is extremely challenging and it’s easy to feel as though you haven’t done enough. I’ve started reflecting each day and asking myself, Did I help one of my VISTAs today? Did I connect earnestly with someone today? Did I spend time with others and with others in mind today? With this as my perspective, every day is successful to me because these are things I do on a daily basis. This year has not been easy, but each day we live, each day we connect with others can be enough sometimes. 
 
*Yes, the video was a TikTok, I knew y’all were going to call me out about that. ​

​Hello! I am Sophia Mackoul, a first-year AmeriCorps VISTA member serving with the Capital Area College Access Network (CapCAN) in Lansing, Michigan. CapCAN’s mission is “making completion of post-secondary education an achievable reality for all residents of the capital area… to increase college and career readiness, participation, and completion.” I graduated from Michigan State University in 2019 with a degree in apparel design and began my career as a stylist. As time passed and the pandemic began, I realized my desire to give back to the community that had given so much to me. With the help of Ann Roboski, I found my way to CapCAN!

I was born and raised in Lansing, Michigan. My father and his family immigrated here from Lebanon in the ’70s to escape the civil war. They moved into a small home in Lansing, where my Grandfather found work on the assembly line at General Motors. To learn English, he took ESL classes at a local community center. My father and his siblings went to school at Sexton High School, where their teachers and community helped guide them through a challenging cultural transition.

My Grandfather recently passed away and, I have been giving a lot of thought to the sacrifices he made for our family. Leaving his life and family behind in search of new hope is no small feat. Hope was the guide for a better life for his children and future generations. He was a hard worker and fiercely independent, declining help from anyone. That being said, I can’t help but think about the community behind them supporting them through a difficult transition. Who knows how differently things could have been without their support and that motivates me every day while completing my service year.

I am the college and career advisor at Dansville and Potterville High Schools. My service year looks different than I imagined with virtual events, meetings, and tons of Zoom boxes, but extremely rewarding! I am grateful for the opportunity to give back to a community that has given my family so much! I enter each day of my service with generosity, as my Grandfather and community have.  

When I stepped into an AmeriCorps VISTA role with MCAN (Michigan College Access Network), I had no idea what to expect. I graduated from Calvin University in 2019 with a degree in secondary education focused on history and social studies and here I was taking on a role in data and technology. Until I began this role, most of my experience with data came from a childhood full of playing multiple sports. Now I was jumping into a role where the cornerstone of my work revolved around collecting and using data to help my host site better understand what was and is happening in the field of college access. It was a pretty significant change.
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Very quickly upon beginning to serve at MCAN, I was introduced to the impact map, which the previous VISTA had rebuilt and launched during her term of service. For those unfamiliar with the impact map, I would highly recommend checking it out. The map pulls in education data from multiple partners across the state in areas such as college completion, persistence, FAFSA completion, and many other metrics and then the impact map organizes the data by areas such as the county, region, and legislative district (among many other uses). My role has been the upkeep of the map, which I quickly learned is not an easy task.

But it is an important one. Keeping the impact map updated with the most recent data allows others, such as school counselors, administrators, and state legislators, to see an accurate measure of where their students are at and areas they can improve. By building and sustaining data systems such as the impact map for others to see, I know that I am contributing towards MCAN and Governor Whitmer’s goal of Sixty by 30 (sixty percent attainment by 2030), and COVID-19 has only made this more of an urgent goal.  In doing this, I know I am helping to build a future that is data-driven, but also better for those who otherwise would not have gone on to college.

Hello! My name is Roxanne Osga and I am serving with Mackinac Economic Alliance (MEA) in St. Ignace, MI (the city you enter when you cross the Mackinac Bridge into the Upper Peninsula). I have been working with many Michigan business groups, local and regional such as Michigan Works, Small Business Development Center of Michigan, Michigan’s Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity to name a few. A big goal for MEA is to find creative ways to help add employment to the area off-season (so not during the big tourist season).  
 
Mackinac County is in a unique situation in which they are at 2% unemployment (below the state average) in the summer and 20 - 40% unemployment (well above the state average) in the off-season winter time. One idea is creating a wintertime business that creates locally handmade items that could be sold in the boutique and tourist shops in the summer. This would utilize displaced workers and raise their income potential.  
 
I am also working with the local schools to pivot the previously held Trade School Expo to a virtual event that would be open to the area public as well. This event was held face to face in 2018 and 2019, but with current COVID-19 restrictions, it makes sense to change the format. Facilitating an online event will be a new and exciting experience for me and I’m looking forward to the challenge learning how it all works.  
 
I have also recently assisted in scoring the Michigan Small Business Survival Grants for Mackinac County. We had $85,500 to award in our county and were given points to allocate based on our local priorities. Reading their stories in their applications gave me great insight into the impact of COVID-19 on our local businesses. 
 
I have also been asked to lead a grant writing team that consists of stakeholders in the area and we are currently creating a strategy to tackle multiple projects planned for Mackinac County. Our first project will be working on the Iron Belle Corridor trail. This trail travels through St. Ignace and connects with the state wide Iron Belle trail system. This trail will help us connect to the local State Park, allowing tourists and families a pathway off the busy roads, and will hopefully increase the foot traffic to local businesses.  
 
It is very exciting to work on several different facets; it’s never a dull day in Mackinac County.  ​