Welcome to the MACC AmeriCorps*VISTA Blog -- Erika's VISTA Story

Hello internet world!  Welcome to the new MACC (Massachusetts Campus Compact) AmeriCorps*VISTA Blog, we hope this will be a resource to you all in getting to know what we MACC VISTAs do in our everyday lives while making a difference in the Commonwealth!  Now first, let me introduce myself.  My name is Erika Rydberg and I am a first year MACC VISTA here in Massachusetts.  I was born and raised in the lovely town of Easton, MA which is 30 miles directly south of Boston.  After graduating high school, I became one of the many young people whom flock to Boston to attend college or university.  

I attended Emerson College in downtown Boston, which is mainly known for its quirky student body, and its communication and arts curriculum.  White at Emerson I studied Communication Studies and Writing, Literature, and Publishing.  I found myself extremely involved in campus life from playing tennis to being on the class board, but I found my passion in doing service.  My dormitory life consisted of living in a "learning community" where I was placed to live amongst people with a similar interest, which happened to be service.   Our floor was known as the "Leadership through Service" Floor (LTS) and we took classes themed around our interest with titles such as Local Action Global Change and Research Writing: Art in Action.  My fellow LTSers and I often found ourselves participating in service projects on the weekends.  From my humble beginnings on the LTS floor, I joined and became president of an on campus service group known as Imagine.  One of my proudest achievements while in school was from my work founding an Alternative Spring Break program, which still exists at Emerson today.

So here is the big question - why did I join MACC VISTA?  I was someone who dreamed of doing Peace Corps, but as I engaged myself in service from volunteering for four summers with families affected by 9/11 to volunteering in my local community while in  Boston, I realized that I really wanted to start doing service at home.  Between realizing that I found change on my home front critical to my personal growth and education, and also wanting to give back to the Massachusetts community that gave me so much, I decided to apply to become a VISTA.

I found out about MACC because of two core people in my collegiate education - the Director of the Service Learning and Community Action office at Emerson, and the Assistant who happened to have been a MACC VISTA when I began college.  Heather, the Assistant at Emerson, helped me start the Alternative Break program and became one of the most powerful albeit non-traditional teachers for me while in college.  She also became a good friend and ally, and although she was only a few years older than me, I felt she was someone who became a powerful service-learning change agent at Emerson and gained a lot from her experience as a VISTA.  It was Heather, the Assistant, and Jen, the Director, who inspired me to take a chance and continue doing the work I loved doing while an undergraduate at Emerson.  Once I was told more about MACC I decided it would be somewhere where I would want to spend a year of my post-undergraduate life.

And nothing more than an abracadabra later, I find myself a MACC VISTA working at UMass Boston.  I work within the Student Leadership and Community Engagement Office and am working on several projects including Beacon Voyages for Service (an Alternative Break program), Hunger and Homelessness Week, and a big UMass Boston Volunteer Fair.  Stay tuned for more information on the day to day in my next post!

Yours in Service,

Erika