On Remembering by Robyn Michalec
Robyn is the 2022-2023 VISTA Leader Sometimes I think I am too nostalgic for my own good. I have the tendency to lean heavily on the fact that moments are fleeting– that the moment they happen, they’ll never happen again in the exact same way. Slowly they’ll fade until they’re just vague outlines of a time and place you once were. I try really hard not to let this ruin moments, which has been a pretty constant exercise of will the past couple of weeks as I have wrapped up my second year of service with Montana Campus Compact. Saying…
The Importance of Education Exposure for Children in Need by Kenneth Edmo
Kenneth is an AmeriCorps College Coach serving with Indigenous Research and STEM Education (IRSE) at the University of Montana. I was born and raised in Montana, spending most of my life on the Flathead Reservation. I have always been interested in ecology and wildlife. I graduated from Salish Kootenai College with a degree in wildlife and fisheries and eventually received a master’s degree in resource conservation at the University of Montana. Before I even began searching for positions in my field of study, I received an email from Montana Campus Compact about joining their team as an AmeriCorps College Coach….
Right On by Amelia Huba
Amelia is an AmeriCorps VISTA member serving with the Bozeman School District 7 August, 2023 already! Thinking about this time last year highlights how far I’ve come and just how much this first year has changed me. In August of 2022, I was planning my move across the country to a state I’d never visited to work and live with complete strangers. I was really excited about my position in the Bozeman school district building programming for homeless students – although I’ll admit, I was apprehensive about the co-VISTA who had signed on just weeks before the start date. I…
Wrapping Up and Reflecting Back on Service by Noell Evans
Noell is an AmeriCorps VISTA member serving with the City of Red Lodge With this month being my last full month of service, I have had to face some daunting realities that I have put off reflecting on up until this point — primarily, what do I have to show for all the work that I have accomplished? Entering my mid-twenties, I have been taking more time to think about where it is I want to go in life and what it is I have done and what I need to be doing in order to get to that point….
Battling the Jelly Monster by Zainab Jamal
Zainab is an AmeriCorps College Coach serving with the Broader Impacts Group. I was in the midst of a battle with the Jelly Monster. Side effects included staying in bed all day, playing Tetris, watching Twitch for the hours I was awake, and feeling complacent with where I was at the time. Why pursue my goals when the jelly was all-consuming—it didn’t matter what actions I took, I would eventually be engulfed by it. Why try? For a brief moment, I was able to escape the putrid tentacles of the jelly by taking a trip to Pakistan. While its smell…
Exploring, Developing, and Announcing Career Opportunities at the University of Montana Western and Beyond by Laurie Koepplin
Laurie is an AmeriCorps College Coach serving at the University of Montana Western. As I read other members’ blogs, it occurs to me that my experience in AmeriCorps looks different than theirs. Principally, I’m close to home in Dillon, Montana. Furthermore, I began this term in April because the position was initially unfilled in the fall. Finally, I stayed in education, my field of interest. I enjoy mentoring, advising, and coaching students. I relate to Matt Sjogren’s blog about focusing on the process and not an end goal. Some see success as an end product, i.e., “graduation is success.” I…
My Two Year Reflection by Ethan Krenzer
Two years serving as an AmeriCorps VISTA member in Butte, Montana, it has been a tough but rewarding experience. Moving from Orange County, California in Summer 2021, the opportunity to assist two different nonprofit organizations and learn from their talented and compassionate team members on how to grow capacity, raise awareness about what specific organization’s do and how it impacts their stakeholder community, fundraise through Community Night Events and Activities, and knowing when to pursue leads that will grow the organization’s reputation beyond their local level, has made me a better professional. Close to starting my third year of Montana…
Trusting the Process and Finding Balance in Service by Matt Sjogren
Matt is an AmeriCorps VISTA member serving with the Bozeman School District As I reflect on my eight and a half months of service as an AmeriCorps VISTA with Bozeman Public Schools, I have learned valuable lessons about mindset and the importance of finding balance. I grew up in Bend, Oregon before heading to Middlebury College in Vermont where I studied political science and Spanish. The COVID-19 pandemic struck in my final semester, and I watched my virtual graduation ceremony in May 2020 from home, and struggled to determine what path I wanted to take next. I was interested in…
A Journey to Self Confidence by Serena Gardner
Serena Gardner is an AmeriCorps VISTA member serving at the WELL Women’s Business Center at the University of Montana Serving as an AmeriCorps VISTA at The Women’s Entrepreneurial and Leadership Lab Women’s Business Center (WELL WBC), I am learning valuable lessons about seeking help and perseverance. I am a North Carolina native but spent time growing up in Portland, Oregon before making my way out to Missoula for college. I am a graduate of the University of Montana where I received a degree in psychology, a minor in global public health and a certification in global leadership. When I began…
My Search for Purpose by Noell Evans
Right after I graduated college, I thought I knew exactly what career path I wanted to pursue. I had always been interested in politics both foreign and domestic, and I had always been interested in foreign languages and culture, so it seemed a natural and logical conclusion that I pursue a career in foreign policy. I had been so sure of this, even back in middle school. However, my dreams began to falter after my first internship. I worked as an intern for the State Department, and it was nothing like I had imagined. I never got that spirit of…
On the Fort Peck Reservation by Secret Crushong
Secret is an AmeriCorps College Coach serving at Poplar High School. My first task as an AmeriCorps College Coach on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation was to get to know the students I would serve throughout my time at Poplar High School. To achieve this, I surveyed the junior and senior classes’ interests, skills, and experiences. Using the information collected from these surveys, I could search for specific educational and vocational opportunities that best match our students, and introduce each student individually to the limitless possibilities of approaching their post-secondary goals. This approach includes familiarizing prospective college students with a…
Shocked by Culture Shock, Peeling Back the Layers… by Raymond Knight
While conducting my research for this assignment, I remember thinking that acclimating to this new environment would be a breeze – that I would hit the ground running and adjust with a quickness, from the giddyup. After all, I have lived all over these united states, and through the years visited over a dozen nations. I have experienced so many different places, studied many diverse layers of culture and different ways of living, and have become accustomed to frequently adjusting to changing circumstances. However, months into my service year in Montana, I began experiencing different thought energies and sensations within…
Looking Back on my First Half of AmeriCorps Service by Katherine Fazekas
Downtown Livingston, Montana (September 2022) On August 10th, 2022, I packed my car to begin a 5 day solo journey from Boston, MA to Missoula, MT for pre-service orientation with Montana Campus Compact. Though I had never been to Montana, I eagerly accepted a position as a VISTA with Park County Environmental Council in Livingston. After a tumultuous college experience that consisted of two semesters completed from my brothers’ childhood bedroom and three joint surgeries, I was in need of change. Having completed a demanding degree at a rigorous college with a competitive, intense atmosphere, I felt like I was…
On Community by Amelia Huba
Reading through the archives of MTCC blog posts, there is a stark theme of loneliness/lack of community/feeling unmoored. While AmeriCorps advertises that its programs are community-based and discusses providing opportunities for members to serve in their own communities, every VISTA I know got a relocation stipend, and half of us are from the East Coast. The draw of Montana has pulled people from across the country to tackle pressing challenges that affect cities throughout America. Choosing to address those issues here is a testament to all that the state has to offer, despite the challenges that come with being here….
Talk, Talk, Talk by Olivia Holstine
When starting in an AmeriCorps position, and as we do our service, we get a lot of really good advice. It’s usually putting it into practice that can be hard – weather, location, resources, time, etc. All manner of things can work against us. And the projects are going to be frustrating. There are moments when I feel like I’m not accomplishing anything, that I have No Idea what I’m doing, and it sucks. Sometimes you serve and it turns out to be helpful, sometimes you read a 118-page report and realize later it’s useless to you. It’s a crap…
When Entrepreneurship is Necessary by Anya Smith
Anya is an AmeriCorps VISTA member serving with the Women’s Entrepreneurship and Leadership Lab (WELL) in Missoula, Montana “Men start businesses because they have an idea or an opportunity, women start businesses because they have to.” This (or something close) was said at the first full staff meeting I attended for the Women’s Entrepreneurship and Leadership Lab. It’s a phrase that has stuck with me ever since. I’ve lived in Montana most of my life, and based on my experience, it can be difficult to find jobs here that allow a person to make a livable wage. This is compounded…
My Experience with Service by Francine Tageant
Francine is an AmeriCorps College Coach serving in Missoula. I was first introduced to AmeriCorps when a friend of mine decided to serve in Bellingham, Washington. She was serving at a middle school helping tutor students who had fallen behind in school. I can remember how excited she was when one or more of her students would begin to understand their coursework. My children are now all grown and leading their own lives. I was ready for a change in my life as well. Little did I know that it would be blown up in just a few short months….
Embracing Your Fear by Allie Nawrocki
Let me set the scene for you. It is August 2022, and I was about to leave my Midwest home. With it, I would be leaving everything I knew behind. At first, I was thinking I was crazy, flying to a place I had never been before. I had so much anxiety doing it by myself, and I also knew that I would miss my parents, my siblings, and friends. As I looked around, everything was different, and that was a daunting experience. This fear was familiar because I felt the same way when I went to college. I also…
Reflection on My Journey by Anna Waller
Anna is an AmeriCorps College Coach serving at Salish Kootenai College. It has been more than six weeks now since I started my service term as a Montana Campus Compact AmeriCorps College Coach, and I have learned a lot, although I have only just begun. It is my pleasure to be serving the community through Salish Kootenai College’s Upward Bound program, a nationwide initiative with the purpose of providing higher education opportunities to high school students from low-income families and/or parents without bachelor’s degrees. Through this experience, I am learning that community service can take on many forms. I never…
Finding My Way in Service by Emily Montalvo
My time as a VISTA has been, overall, an extremely rewarding experience that has taught me a lot about both my local community and myself. I am serving with the Rural Institute of Inclusive Communities, which promotes equal opportunity for people with disabilities. As someone who has a disability, is dating someone with a disability, and was the primary caregiver for a parent with a disability, the work of the Rural Institute is personal to me. We all deserve the same opportunities, and too often people with disabilities are denied those opportunities. During my service, I have been working on…