​Hey there! My name is Morgan Benham and I am coming at you live from the offices of the Battle Creek College Access Network in Battle Creek, MI. I am currently a little over four months into my first year of service. My time here has flown by and I have gained an incredible amount of knowledge since my first day. With the help of awesome colleagues, substantial progress toward completion of my VAD and VYI have been made along with networking efforts and building multiple new, valuable relationships.

The transition of a past mentoring program into a student-led club at Kellogg Community College has been successful thus far. The group of Legacy Scholars who showed interest in the beginning of this implementation have met on a couple of occasions. BC CAN staff held an initial meeting to explain our direction and hopes for the club. A few weeks later, we met up at Buffalo Wild Wings and spent time together in order to get to know each other and forecast topics for future get-togethers and workshops. Our first workshop had low attendance but another event is to be held soon in hopes of reconnecting with the students. Overall, the club is coming together nicely and hopes to have the students take over are a work in progress as well.

Our social media platforms (give them a follow!) are growing steadily. I oversee both our Facebook and Instagram where I post regularly about our Legacy Scholars, college tips, and activities pertaining to students in the community. We created four hashtags in order to keep posts consistent and regular. Those hashtags are used biweekly on their respective days. The initiative of these platforms are to reach students and their families in our community with information on preparing for post-secondary education, getting to post-secondary education and staying on their specific post-secondary education path to earn a degree.

Since BC CAN’s focus is college readiness, persistence, and attainment we partake in Decision Day activities around the city. This year, Battle Creek Central is holding an assembly and reception for its graduating seniors who have indicated their plans for the fall. Other schools in our community are not taking as grand of an approach but have jumped on board with celebrating their seniors’ decisions in their own way. I have offered each school the opportunity to receive pennants from us that can be decorated with the senior’s name and decision. Two local schools have taken us up on this offer and will receive those soon for the students to display on their lockers before and during Decision Day.
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The rest of my year of service will continue to fly by, I’m sure! There is still much to do to complete my VISTA Year Initiative and reach the goals I have set with my supervisor. Stay tuned for more excitement from the Battle Creek College Access Network!

​Hello! My name is Morgan Benham and I am a first year AmeriCorps VISTA serving in Battle Creek, MI with the Battle Creek College Access Network (BC CAN). As a Marshall, MI native and former Calhoun Area Career Center & Albion college student, I have spent my entire 23 years in Calhoun County. I am extremely excited for the opportunity to give back to this community over the next year. Battle Creek has an amazing drive to be the best and give its people the best! The majority of my coworkers live here and many have grown up here. Regardless of being born down the street or across the country, everyone in the office has a central mission to make Battle Creek a place to live, grow, and succeed.

My main project while at BC CAN is to re-design the mentoring program and implement an organization at Kellogg Community College that brings our Legacy Scholars together and allows them to fully benefit from the resources KCC has to offer. Once this is established we will expand the program to reach the incoming students from Battle Creek high schools who double as Legacy Scholars. We are looking to steer away from coining the terms “mentor” and “mentees” to create a cohesive group that allows for relationships to be formed and skills to be developed. The scholars involved will be able to come together on campus and have a support system. There will also be a series of workshops for the group to participate in as a means of developing soft skills. Once this is implemented and takes off, we are looking to then bring in a mentorship role between the college students already in the group and high school students who will be applying to attend KCC with their Legacy Scholarship.

Beyond the logistics and organization of my main project, I oversee BC CAN’s social media platforms. We have a Facebook page and an Instagram account which I have been updating and posting to. We hope to grow our following significantly this year to reach more students and their families. Another focus in working alongside BC CAN staff is to ensure other events that are planned throughout the year occur as close to flawlessly as they can. The big event of the year – Sophomore Future Track – is approaching quickly so there will be many tasks to take on. BC CAN also holds FAFSA workshops and a SAT preparation course. These events are ongoing over a few months which will require being onsite to help with their agendas on any given week.

I have been bouncing around ideas for my VISTA Year Initiative (VYI) with my supervisor at our weekly meetings. Within my year, I hope to implement workshops and get into the elementary schools to further their college-going culture. I will be putting my ideas into action and hitting the ground running with my VYI in the coming months. By starting at the “ground” level and working up, I believe college-going culture can be implemented from the beginning of education.
My first month and a half has been an amazing learning experience! The next year will be a great adventure and I am very excited to see where everything will be a year from now.