Jackie Hubbard - Growth in Proximity

​Hello! My name is Jackie Hubbard and I’m a first-year VISTA splitting my service time between Ingenium and GRIL (Grand Rapids Initiative for Leaders) in Grand Rapids, MI. Ingenium focuses on helping elementary and middle school students grow in character and personal development skills, and GRIL emboldens strong leaders with its leadership programs for teens and adults. The majority of my work for Ingenium and GRIL has consisted of researching, networking, curriculum editing/developing, and teaching.

Grand Rapids is wonderfully rampant with organizations, so connecting and working with community partners has been a true joy. I am currently working on GRIL’s partnership with To College, Through College (T2C), and teaching at William C. Abney Elementary School where I am piloting Ingenium’s Strong Character program. I have a list of other organizations I want to seek partnership with, so I cannot wait to see how those relationships unfold in the next few months!

Teaching at Abney Elementary has been a challenging and illuminating experience, as the Strong Character program focuses on positive mindset, healthy emotions, and successful behaviors. Since I have a background in Secondary English Education, teaching 4th-6th graders has involved a lot of surprisingly fun learning curves. I have always been passionate about adolescent growth and triumph, so I have enjoyed seeing that play out in curious minds and building relationships with them along the way.

The kids I teach at Abney Elementary and Ingenium’s Success Center are often underserved and overlooked, both by society and their own communities. I love being proximate to them as I develop the curriculum; their insights and conversations with me directly affect how I improve the curriculum and who I network with. Our side conversations are a bonus, too – who doesn’t love hearing stories about cats chasing kids to the school bus or listening to kids describe their beloved gem collection with twinkling eyes?!
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Although there are already many rewarding aspects to my service, I have been given many challenging projects that are often difficult to navigate – and I’m sure my fellow VISTAs can relate. My skillset is stretched every day, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. Brainstorming and piloting ideas has not only been fulfilling my VISTA Assignment Description, but also makes me develop exponentially as a person. I am excited to continue pursuing possibilities in a city where possibilities seem endless.

I have been attending a lot of conferences, like the T2C Summit on October 17! These have been great networking opportunities.

I think about Social-Emotional Learning on a daily basis and try to further incorporate these concepts in my research and curriculum development.

I get to work with awesome people, like our very own Sean!

I also get new hair-dos from my Abney gals on occasion.