BATTLING HUNGER AND BUILDING COMMUNITY IN THE GALLATIN VALLEY!
Guest blog by Aubree Pierce, MTCC AmeriCorps VISTA with Montana State University___________________________________________My project is at the MSU campus food pantry, Bounty of the Bridgers (BoB). We began having pop-up pantries in October of 2017 so we are making adjustments and trying to improve the pantry as we go. My role with this project has been integral in building capacity and creating sustainability for the BoB Pantry. Through this project I have developed relationships with many campus and community partners who have helped push this project forward and are helping create permanence and sustainability on campus. These relationships as well as…
TROY HIGH SCHOOL VISTA HALEY SPURLIN UTILIZES STORYBOARDING!
Guest Blogger: MTCC VISTA Haley Spurlin____________________________________________________________________In the Fall, I had the opportunity to attend the 2018 GEAR UP West Conference in Portland, Oregon with the Troy Junior/Senior High School(THS) GEAR UP team. During the conference, I attended a session titled “Storyboards – Collaborative Plans Connecting Students, Schools, and Families” led by Washington State GEAR UP team members. This session focused on explaining the value of collaborative goal setting throughout students’ time in high school so that students would have a clearly defined post-secondary plans upon graduation. Since my VISTA project revolves around creating resources to assist students in their post-secondary…
MTCC VISTA AUBREE PIERCE TRAVELS TO INDY!
Guest Blogger: MTCC VISTA Aubree Pierce______________________________________________________________The BoBPantry at MSU relies upon student support and enthusiasm for the project. Not just as volunteers during pantry operating hours, but to help spread awareness of food insecurity and food waste on campus and to break down the stigma around hunger and receiving food assistance. The Food Resource Council student club is the driving force, the lifeblood, and the reason why the BoB Pantry has been so successful during its pilot year. Over the weekend of March 24th-25th, 2018 I traveled to the Campus Kitchens Food Waste and Hunger Summit in Indianapolis with my VISTA supervisor,…
OPPORTUNITIES!
Told by Montana Tech’s AmeriCorps Team Leader Rachel Towsnend._____________________________________________________TRIO Day students attend the Closing Ceremony hosted by Montana Tech Chemistry“This is so awesome! Much cooler than a tour around campus…” On February 23rd, Montana Tech of the University of Montana celebrated TRIO Day, an opportunity to focus the nation’s “attention on the needs of disadvantaged young people and adults aspiring to improve their lives if they are to become contributing citizens of the country, and to the talent which will be wasted if that investment is not made.”Students head underground for a tour of one of Butte’s inactive mines.Students from middle…
HIGHLIGHTING EMPOWER PLACE: VIEWS FROM AMERICORPS LEADER KRISTIAN STIPE
EmPower Place is a hands-on family learning center that brings together science exhibits, University of Montana role models, library books, activities, and free snacks. Located at Missoula Food Bank, EmPower Place is a collective impact effort by spectrUM, Missoula Food Bank, and Missoula Public Library. EmPower Place is powered by the City of Missoula, the Missoula Redevelopment Agency, and the Institute of Museum and Library Services.We strive to educate and encourage critical thinking in all activities we do, whether it is for science or for art. We have activities scheduled almost every day of the week. On Mondays, Tuesdays, and…
VIVA CAPACITY BUILDING!
At the beginning of February, I had the opportunity to travel to the NCCEP/GEAR UP Capacity Building Workshop in Las Vegas, Nevada with the GEAR UP department from LibbyHigh School, my MTCC service site. As a VISTA, I saw the words capacity building and thought “I’M IN!” Sunny Las Vegas was a beautiful reprieve from cold and cloudy Libby but I took home a lot more than a suntan and the tiny condiments they left out at breakfast. I took home a fresh outlook on bringing a college and career mindset to Libby students. We attended three days of sessions….
“DO YOU HAVE THESE EVERY WEEKEND?!”
Students from across the Flathead Reservation gathered at Salish Kootenai College for Flathead Tech4Good’s Winter Game Jam the weekend of February 9th. Games were played, tested, and dissected as we refined prototypes from our Fall Game Jam and made plans for our next collaborative project!The game’s Water Warriors and Mussel Hustle were prototyped the first weekend in November. Since then, students behind the project spent time with our partners at Native Teaching Aids designing the game board, playing pieces and cards. On Saturday morning, both polished games were play-tested for feedback and refinement. Students and volunteers, who had never seen…
GUEST BLOGGER: ISABEL LANGLOIS, NEWMAN CIVIC FELLOW
Today we’re lucky to have guest piece from Isabel Langlois, a University of Montana student and Newman Civic Fellow with Campus Compact. Thank you, Isabel!____________________________________________________________________Newman Civic Conference Fellows in BostonIn November 2017, with the support of the UM Civic Engagement Office, I was able to attend the Newman Civic Fellowship Conference in Boston, MA at the Edward Kennedy Institute. I took on the identity of a Democrat from Colorado to debate the controversial Farm Bill.A few days were packed with elevator introductions, Farm Bill riders, and Ted Talks; beyond this, the Newman Civic Fellowship Conference in Boston Massachusetts was the gathering of…
MASS, GRAVITY, FORCE, AND FRICTION
Montana Campus Compact VISTA Harley Fredriksen currently serves at University of Montana (UM) Broader Impact Group bringing UM Graduate Students and Researchers into Public School classrooms across the state. I was lucky to get out of the office for few hours and tag along with Harley and Kate Perkins on their recent trip down to Hamilton Middle School where Kate taught physics through hula hooping. The Broader Impact Group Model was developed to help form working partnerships between various University departments. Over the years the program has had great success in connecting university departments around extending campus resources into surrounding communities….
MLK DAY AT THE ROXY!
Blogging about one’s own event can be difficult in my eyes. This is when I’m conscious of coming across as stuck up, fake, or WORSE to hype up an event that really wasn’t that eventful. So I’ll tell you a bit about the event and hopefully the video links below from NBC Montana and KPAX T.V. below will reflect that as well. KPAX T.V. MLK at the ROXyNBC Montana MLK Day at the ROXYAcross the state Montana Campus Compact and AmeriCorps members helped continued the MLK Read for Peace mission with a few creative add-ons within the community. In Missoula I…
MLK READ FOR PEACE
Photo credit: Adrienne Hopkins, Missoula Aging Services.I just got back at my desk after being at Lewis and Clark Elementary School here in Missoula. Today’s when many of Campus Compact’s Read For Peace events happen, and I’m nearly always moved to tears at some point during the day. I wouldn’t say I’m a very emotional person, but there’s something about six, seven and eight year old kids s thinking about segregation and learning about the civil rights movement, and applying it to their realities that always gets me choked up. The bafflement on kids faces when you talk about separate…
MTCC VISTA SUPPORTS VETERAN CENTER AT MSU
On Monday, January 8, the Veteran Support Center kicked off a semester long effort aimed at encouraging financial literacy among veteran students. The inaugural event was the Financial Success Summit, which covered scholarships, loans, and entrepreneurship. Subsequent events throughout the semester will have narrower focuses. Connor Harbison, the MTCC AmeriCorps VISTA serving at the MSU Blackstone LaunchPad, supported the staff at the Veteran Support Center, in order to put all of MSU’s resources to work for veteran students.“Working with veteran and non-traditional aged students, finances can be a big source of stress,” said Joe Schumacher, Director of Veteran Services. “Any…
FALL GAME JAM AT SKC!
On November 3rd through 5th AmeriCorps Leader Dayton Smith helped put on the Fall Game Jam at Salish Kootenai College, hosted by Flathead Tech4Good. “Water is Life” is this year’s theme at SKC. With that focus the purpose of the fall Game Jam was to bring local high-schoolers, SKC students and community volunteers together to tackle related issues with-in the community. With the”Water is Life” theme in mind, Tech4Good Game Jam focused on the unique challenges that Flathead Watershed faces.Now what is a watershed? The first thing that comes to my mind is a “shed that holds water”, but that’s not…
MSU BLACKSTONE VISTA REFLECTS ON PITCH COMPETITION
On November 15th, MTCC VISTA Connor Harbison hosted the Awards Ceremony for the 2017 Idea Challenge him and his team at Blackstone LaunchPad at Montana State University had been planning for months. This video pitch competition brought together 27 current MSU students to give 90 second elevator pitches for their business ideas and social ventures. This year, the Idea Challenge awarded $3,000 in prizes, garnered 1,869 votes and reached 532,586 social media profiles.This year’s pitches included an all-natural cleaning solution, modular tiny homes, handmade duck calls, metal campfire rings, a bar arcade in downtown Bozeman, among others. Blackstone LaunchPad’s team…
LAME DEER 2nd ANNUAL TALENT SHOW
On October 29th MTCC VISTA, Scarlett Day-Aleman and Lame Deer Boys and Girls Club VISTAs Christazia Johnson and Rebekah Guillotte hosted the second annual Lame Deer Talent Show. The Talent Show evolved this year from it’s first permutation as an art show in hopes to increase inclusivity to students beyond those with interest in visual arts. The VISTA Members hosted auditions for anything youth considered a talent. This year’s talents ranged from hula hooping, to jump rope, to drumming, and beyond. Kids as young as five and as old as 18 were invited to participate. A total of eight students performed…
FORK PECK BRIDGE STUDENTS TOUR UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA
MTCC VISTAs Kaitlyn McCoy and Kaitlin Willbanks travelled with 11 high school students: 2 from Frazer, 1 from Wolf Point, 1 from Brockton, 7 from Poplar to the Twin Cities with American Indian College Funding (AICF) through the Bridge grant. AICF states the “The program aims to improve reading comprehension, research and essay-writing, understanding of math and science concepts, knowledge of college admissions processes, and awareness of the first-year college experience amongst program participants”.From a Fort Peck Reservation context the grant is structured to support students who have a college going attitude. Bridge programming works to familiarize these students to…
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE TO MONTANA, JILL!
Jill, second from the right, with her fellow AmeriCorps leaders in 2012.It was a bittersweet day for us this Monday, in Big Sky Country: Rocky Mountain College’s Jill Washburn packed up a U-Haul, and is heading to Vermont. For the past five years Jill’s been a great, consistent face of community engagement, service, volunteerism, veterans services and parent relations at Rocky, with Campus Compact, in Billings and across our state.Before her time as a staffer at Rocky, Jill served two terms as an AmeriCorps leader -also with Rocky and the American Red Cross- in Billings. In that capacity she organized…
LIBBY STUDENTS CELEBRATE NATIONAL CHRISTMAS TREE
My name is Maya Koepke and I’ve been serving as a MTCC VISTA in Libby, MT since August 2017. My VISTA Assignment Description is focused on strengthening our Gear Up and student internship programs at Libby Middle High School. In my past three months here I’ve learned that the Libby community takes great pride in the land they live on, the surrounding Kootenai National Forest. This year it has been an exciting honor, that our Kootenai National Forest was chosen to supply the National Christmas Tree to the White House lawn in Washington, DC.The lighting of the National Christmas Tree…
SPARROWS NEST’S FIRST RESIDENT STARTS COLLEGE!
Estevon Torres is a CAT!For the past four years an emerging nonprofit called Sparrows Nest of Northwest Montana has been making headway on addressing teen homelessness in the Flathead. Sparrows Nest does some incredibly necessary work there helping homeless teens with safe housing so they can continue and complete their studies, work, and live. We’ve helped provide four AmeriCorps VISTAs over the past four years, and they are on the home stretch with the support we can provide. Over the years, we’ve seen them go from a good idea hatched by caring community members to an organization with a board, staff…
MPSEOC BRINGS COLLEGE FAIR TO MISSOULA!
MPSEOC’s College Fair in Missoula!Montana Post-Secondary Educational Opportunities Council (MPSEOC or “mop-sock”) is a non-profit organization representing over 25 higher education institutions in Montana. Every year MPSEOC hosts 24 College Fairs across Montana, reaching over 10,000 students. Lauren Tobias, our MTCC VISTA Member serving a second service term with MPSEOC sees the fairs as “a great, and often times the only direct college exposure students in small towns across our fourth largest state in the nation get”.High School Students test out the MPSEOC Photo Booth.Serving as an MTCC VISTA with Poplar High School and Fort Peck Community College last year I…