- Lindsay
Thursday, November 12, 2009
AmeriCorps Opening Day
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Greetings from Salem!
As I write this, I realize that it’s November and almost three months into my VISTA term, which is scary because in many ways the time has flown, at the same time there’s been a lot packed in to those three months! In October, my focus was split between outreach meetings with about a dozen community-based organizations to hear about their needs on behalf of the College and look at ways they might be able to build a mutually beneficial partnership with the college. It’s really interesting to hear about the challenges of non-profits during these difficult economic times. The meetings have also reinforced the challenge of our work: that often the type of short-term service or engagement that a college or university is most able to do is not helpful and sometimes even detrimental to those community organizations. My challenge at Salem State has been to try infuse service into the culture of a busy commuter student-dominated institution.
One of my major projects this past month has been to coordinate a large-scale food drive to benefit the six the largest food banks on the North Shore. I met with one of them a week before starting the drive and they mentioned how the organization had received a 25 percent increase in demand for food in the past year. With that dire need in mind, I tried to promote the drive using the “under-a-rock” method—that is unless you have been living under a rock then you should know about the food drive. Despite these efforts, and additional incentives offered to student organizations by the Student Government Association we had only received a moderate number of donations leading up to the deadline, and then on the final day…the flood gates opened. One student organization brought in six large boxes of food and several others made significant contributions. The drive ended very successfully and proved that the old maxim proves true on a college campus, if it weren’t for the last minute nothing would get done.
The craziness that is October in Salem culminated on Halloween when 100,000 visitors descended on the city (population 40,000.) A few VISTAs from Boston came out to experience the revelry with me, in what was easily the best Halloween I’ve had since undergrad.
Later,
Jay H
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Meet MACC AmeriCorps*VISTA Lauren Buckley!
I can’t believe it’s already October, and I’m just writing my first entry! To be fair, I started a little later than everyone else, but I’ve still been working for about six weeks now, so that’s not much of an excuse. As you might be able to guess, my work at Holy Cross is off to a very busy start. During the first two weeks, my term of service overlapped with that of the outgoing MACC AmeriCorps*
How interesting, I wrote my last entry on a Friday afternoon and this one is as well. My anticipation of fall is growing. I’m ready for wet rainy days (Alfie may be a little unhappy about this), the smell of Earth, and decaying leaves. Fall should be depressing, right? For me though it isn’t. Take instance the other day I found myself rejoicing over my first “chill moment”. You know the first gust that creates a chilly feeling going straight up your back or causes those microscopic hairs on your arms to stiff up. After this you know the onslaught of fall has arrived. Fall creates an awe effect with its brilliant colors.
This 40 hour a week gig is cool, let me tell you. I’ve never had a job where I could listen to National Public Radio without disturbing someone else. This setup affords me the ability to listen to This American Life, a radio program produced by Ira Glass, as long as I want. The program records daily life of American’s and tells their stories, the idea is quite intriguing. Glass coaches me through the day at times. This past week was the 388th episode and called Rest Stop it has a pretty cool premise: stick five producers at a rest stop in
Jay Helmer, the MACC AmeriCorps*VISTA of Salem State College, and I took a trip two weeks ago to Rhode Island, the ocean state, to visit Rhode Island Campus Compact AmeriCorps*VISTAs for a recap of life and a small shin dig, along the way I brought a weekly newspaper called The Boston Phoenix. I’ve now grown an obsession with this rag of a weekly newspaper which stems from its writers. The writing is beaming with witty writers who’re given the opportunity to write in-depth articles, something that daily’s can’t afford. The paper is very informative giving insight to life in
So, today is a national day of service in remembrance of September 11, 2009. Here at
I’ve started to be a little bit more laid back on finding out the needs of the community to focus a little bit of attention on recruiting students, building the leadership aspect of my work plan. You could say I’m multitasking or branching out of what I’ve been trying to do for the past month. Community organizing is not easy, building a leadership institute is not easy; higher education is not like it was as a student that’s for sure. One thing I’ve grasped is slowing down. It’s not like I can take out a wand and make it happen; even though Harry Potter could make it happen with a swoosh of his wand. Until next time!
Peace
Good day all,
In the couple of weeks since my last blog post, I’ve started to settle into my role at
Classes have started, and students are back, which makes the campus buzz with so much more energy. Student clubs are starting to ask me about getting more involved in service, which is both exciting and encouraging as I begin to talk with community-based organizations about how
I’m starting to feel more at home living in
Jay H
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Meet Jay Helmer, MACC AmeriCorps*VISTA
My name is Jay Helmer, I’m coming to you from Salem State College where I serve as the MACC AmeriCorps*VISTA and Civic Engagement Coordinator. This is my second time around as a MACC AmeriCorps*VISTA, having served in 2006-07 before taking a two-year hiatus to pursue a Master’s Degree in higher education. I returned to MACC firmly committed to enhancing service and civic engagement, and because my first year as an AmeriCorps*VISTA was one of the most rewarding of my life.
As the first *VISTA at Salem State, I have the opportunity to help build a civic engagement program in two ways: first by assisting in the cultivation of partnerships with area community-based organizations, and secondly by creating and enhancing civic engagement opportunities for students, faculty and staff. As I write this, I have just cleared a huge stack of paper from my desk related to my first major project: coordinating a 19-project, 150-volunteer community service day for Resident Assistants and incoming students. My new position is in the Campus Center programs office, so it’s a hub of student activity, and the staff keeps me busy which is fun!
Today is the opening of the academic year and I am being formally introduced during a session for faculty and staff, so, as my supervisor said, “I won’t be anonymous much longer”. About a month into my year of service, my position has been everything I hoped it would be, and made even better by working with an incredibly talented tight-knit Corps of AmeriCorps*VISTAs.
Later,
Jay H
Monday, August 31, 2009
Introducing Lindsay Laguna!
http://www.bu.edu/met/scholarship/parents/
Before I go into more depth about my work and because I am serving at a university, let me give you a snapshot of my own upbringing and educational experience. I am 24 years old, was born and raised in Chicago, lived a few years in Park Ridge, IL, and graduated with a BA in International Studies with minors in Spanish and Sociology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
After graduation, I worked in a variety of offices in a variety of universities mostly in Chicago. I did a year of service with the AmeriCorps program City Year Chicago. Since apparently I can’t get enough of AmeriCorps programs OR higher education, I now get the best of both worlds with MACC. I can’t think of a better fit for me right now.
I’ve only been with MACC/BU for a month, but this is probably the coolest work experience I’ve had thus far. I attended the Book Bag Drive (where I met the mayor), attend Middle O, a college fair, Chelsea’s Back to School Celebration, go on TV (BNN) with my manager Katherine and our Parent Scholar Joan, and got the scholarship on the BPS site under Family Resources (http://www.bostonpublicschools.org/node/39).
It is essentially my role to promote this scholarship to prospective Parent Scholars in the Boston and Chelsea communities. Since this is the 2nd year we are offering the scholarship, there is still much for me to do in terms of building community awareness of the scholarship and also keeping community members aware of the support that BU Metropolitan College offers to students “from application to graduation.”
Katherine and my VISTA predecessor Jessica have been wonderful in orienting me to BU and Boston in general. I’ve never felt so prepared for a new position, which means a lot since I’ve had quite a few positions these past few years.
That’s all for now! Till next time!
Peace,
Lindsay