From the personal benefits and life-long connections to the professional development and education award, there are myriad reasons someone may choose to serve in AmeriCorps. For me, the decision was easy.

I first heard of AmeriCorps as a high school student when my mother hosted an AmeriCorps member that worked to alleviate food insecurity within my rural community in northwest Montana. Experiencing the benefits of her service as a member of the community ignited within me an interest in the program, but at the time I was too young to join. I decided to keep it on the back burner, promising myself to return to the idea later.

After high school, I attended college at Montana State University, earning a bachelor’s degree in wildlife biology while falling back on my academic pursuits as another excuse not to join AmeriCorps. Following college, I focused on networking within my field and starting my career as a young wildlife professional. I loved my job more than anything and forgot about AmeriCorps altogether. I worked in my field for several years, and had the opportunity to do things I’d only dreamed of. I collared mule deer fawns, trapped bobcats, chased baby turkeys, tackled bighorn sheep, and vaccinated black-footed ferrets, backpacking all the while.

Eventually I found myself at a bar in Bozeman, Montana, reconnecting with a few former coworkers. One of them mentioned that his girlfriend was doing AmeriCorps in northeastern Montana, and the comment struck me like the name of a former friend. At the time, I was working offshore collecting data on whales for an environmental consulting firm. I was having too much fun to put my career on hold, but AmeriCorps was back on my mind.

Not long after AmeriCorps reentered my mind, I tore my Achille’s tendon while backpacking in the Bob Marshall Wilderness Area – an injury that spelled doom for my adventurous lifestyle and wildlife-centric career path. Unable to perform the basic duties of my job, I was laid off immediately, and had to withdraw from my upcoming position researching jaguars in Mexico. As the old adage goes, when one door closes, another opens. I realized this was the window I’d been waiting for so long.

I began searching for positions and applying immediately. New Mexico, Colorado, California – I wanted to go somewhere I hadn’t been before. I’d become addicted to my lifestyle of constant travel and new experiences. It didn’t even occur to me to serve in Montana until I saw a position at Salish Kootenai College in Pablo, Montana.

Just south of my hometown of Somers, Pablo is located on the Flathead Indian Reservation. The breathtaking beauty of the landscape provides a stark juxtaposition to the complex, deeply-rooted socioeconomic issues Pablo faces. Since its establishment in 1977, Salish Kootenai College has remained the only institution of post-secondary education on the reservation.

The available AmeriCorps position with Salish Kootenai College was within the Upward Bound program, a program that encourages low-income high school students to take charge of their futures and plan for the career they would like to have. The position was offered in collaboration with Montana Campus Compact, an organization that partners with institutions of post-secondary education across Montana and strives to embed public service into their curriculum. I had no relevant experience and had never worked with high school students before – I was much more accustomed to secluding myself in pristine wilderness areas for months on end – but the opportunity to serve near my home community and the diverse partnerships the job required intrigued me, so I polished up my application and submitted it.

I’ve now been serving with Montana Campus Compact and AmeriCorps at Salish Kootenai College for three months, and witnessing the impact AmeriCorps has on this community has been rewarding to say the least. Through Upward Bound, I connect with high school students all across the Flathead Reservation, not just in Pablo. I’ve had the opportunity to mentor students who are sincerely passionate about their career goals and aspirations and face challenges no high schooler should encounter. The burden of food insecurity and financial stress these students carry is at once saddening and stirring, and serves as a reminder of how important my service here is.

Because I’m serving with AmeriCorps rather than working for Upward Bound directly, I’ve also had the opportunity to serve the Flathead Reservation and surrounding communities in other ways. I’ve judged speech and debate for local high schools, checked licenses at hunter check stations, volunteered as a research assistant at Ninepipes Museum of Early Montana, and presented a professional development lecture to students in the wildlife biology class at Polson High School.

Poverty is a multi-faceted, complex issue that cannot be solved through mitigating only one symptom, and I know that I will not solve it alone. However, by dedicating myself to an AmeriCorps service term, I am enacting positive change within the community I serve in, and every college acceptance letter or scholarship awarded to one of the Upward Bound students I serve is one of many heartwarming products of my efforts here.