Coming Full Circle with Service by Nathan Stahley
In 2007 I was offered an internship at United Way of Yellowstone County in Billings Montana. I was an undergraduate student unsure of what path I might take professionally. A year later, I graduated with a degree in Business Management, what seemed like a “safe” degree for my uncertain future. Luckily, I was hired on staff at United Way, helping launch and coordinate their Youth Volunteer Corps Program (YVC), a community-wide service learning club for youth ages 11-18. It was a perfect start to my professional journey, and it taught me a lot about how important giving back to your…
AmeriCorps has saved my life
I was a proprietary trader for a company in Atlanta. Nice paying job. Nice crib and all. I was getting paid very well but I was filling empty inside and living selfishly. I decided to ask the universe to provide an opportunity to do something more fulfilling. Something that will make me feel better about my contribution to society and my purpose in life. Around two weeks after epiphany, I received an email for AmeriCorps asking if I would be interested in sacrificing a year of my life (physically, mentally, and financially) to serve an impoverished community. I had always…
Typical Stuff by Alex Moore
Life in a pandemic is far from typical. Typically, a six-foot gap isn’t between family members during a visit. Typically, a restaurant isn’t dark and empty on a Friday night. Typically, the latest fashion “trend” isn’t an N95 face covering. Like all these pandemic quirks, an AmeriCorps VISTA typically isn’t serving a community in a predominantly virtual setting. But this has been the reality for thousands of AmeriCorps members during the times of COVID-19. People’s health just isn’t worth risking if contact can be avoided, and this is especially true when one serves communities that might lack access to medical…
Architecture in Service by Kim Minch
Hi! My name is Kim, and I am an MTCC VISTA member serving at 100 Fold Studio. I have now had the opportunity to serve at 100 Fold as an Americorps State member multiple times and now I am serving here as a VISTA member. 100 Fold Studio is an international, nonprofit architecture firm investing in developing communities through design. As a professional firm setting, it is somewhat out of the ordinary for an Americorps placement. Over the years I’ve gotten many questions about the oddities of the combination of the architectural profession and community service. However, as it turns…
Time Heals by Emma Burke
I have been reflecting on my past 9 months in Missoula and thinking a lot about the power of time. Time can heal. Time allows for growth, understanding, and building connections. When I first moved to Missoula I was skeptical if it would ever feel like home. Like most good things, it took time for me to find my community and place in Montana. Now I’ve been in Missoula for over 8 months, and I am so happy I will be here for at least another 2 years! Thanks to my job at the International Rescue Committee, and friends I…
Service in a Time of Uncertainty by Grace McGrath
This past year has been a whirlwind; it just feels like it has flown by. And now it is time for me to think about what is next, and that is very scary. However, I wouldn’t have figured out what I possibly want to do without this service year. The pandemic has affected everyone in many ways and hurt some folks more than others, but there is no denying its impact significantly on the service years of my cohort. I am grateful for having work and still meeting people, even if it is virtual because I know that isn’t the…
Rhyming Mountains By: Octavia Jimenez-Padilla
My entry in to national service came with the coalescence of massive forces in my life, the inescapable shadow of the global Covid-19 pandemic, the search for direction that accompanies a young graduates life after a constant experience in the education system, my drive for social justice, and my desire to redefine myself in my gender transition. National service through Americorps gave me the opportunity to not only act in service of communities and causes I am passionate about but to move out of my comfort zone and redefine my living situation. I was grateful to have the opportunity to…
A Walk That Will Take Me Back to Service by Nico Fleming
In college I moved to a different apartment every year. To save money I would always live a little farther from campus than most people. Every year there was a lengthy morning walk to campus. The repetition bred familiarity in the walk. My sophomore year of college I lived south of downtown in a small house with 3 of my friends, and we all had our own preferred route to campus. When I would leave the house I would head west on W Irvin Ave for a half block and then head north on Fraser street towards what Strava…
Seeing Impact in a Distanced World by Brooke Carey
I have always dreamed of being an educator. I wanted to be an educator to make a difference and change some lives. When educating, you can often see the impact you are having. You see scores improve, essays get better, and you hear the students’ tell you about their learning. This makes the hard days worth it. But how do you know if you are making a difference if you can’t even interact with students? The pandemic has made this my reality in my service. I am currently serving at spectrUM Discovery Area, a science museum in Missoula, as…
How the Pandemic has Served Me While Serving in the Pandemic
Hey Y’all! My name is Hollis Hubbard and I am serving my second term as a VISTA in beautiful Missoula. I’m originally from Kentucky but my lifelong love for mountains and wilderness brought me out west in 2018 after graduating from college. My favorite things are camping, hiking, skiing, and taking pictures of my constant canine companions; Auggie and Harlow. I cannot wait to experience my first summer in Montana. My partner and I have several backpacking trips planned as well as a bikepacking excursion. It will be my first time riding my bike over fifty miles. I also have…
Above the Clouds on Mt. Unorthodox by Gabe Alderson
The handwritten caption read “MLK Read for Peace 2020”, describing a photo featuring then governor of Montana Steve Bullock, shaking hands and meeting with an AmeriCorps MTCC service member who was running him through the plan for that event. It was displayed on my 2nd floor cubicle wall at the Department of Labor and Industry in Helena, where I was doing some quick printing and emailing, and I found myself staring at the picture, finding it almost alien, as if it were a very creative Photoshop job. That service member was me, and even though that event was only a…
You Get What You Expect by Jamie Miller
I loved college. Growing up: my mother didn’t send me to bed with fairy tales. Instead she sang me to sleep with the enchanting, alluring stories of “the college days”. I understand many hear the phrase “college days” and a hundred different visuals of partying gone astray enters their mind. But that isn’t how my mother sold college to me. As an immigrant from Vietnam, college was my mom’s chance to cement her belonging in the United States, and have a better chance at a career than when she and her mother first arrived in America. She filled my head…
So Much LOVE by Emma Burke
Hi everyone! My name is Emma and I am from Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. That’s only 2 and half hours away from Missoula, but surprisingly I had spent very little time in Montana before I made the move. Before I started my service with AmeriCorps, I was a tad bit farther away than Idaho. I was living in Peru and working as a Peace Corps Volunteer as a water sanitation and hygiene facilitator. Due to the current state of our world, Peace Corps Volunteers worldwide were asked to pack their bags and evacuate immediately. All of a sudden I was on…
Staples By Alex Moore
Some afternoons, I travel to a green-roofed building to drop off a publication whose pages are falling apart. They aren’t stapled or even glued, just prone to gravity if you don’t grip the spine tightly enough. Apart from this, the delivery is seamless. I speak with a muffled voice over phone, they tell me someone will be right out, I hand off the pages, and I’m on my way. The poorly bound publication is called The Beat Within. It contains writing and artwork by incarcerated youth from around the country. As for the building, it’s the Missoula County Juvenile Detention…
Becoming the Fertile Grounds to Sow Seeds of Service by Natalia Boise
My path to serving with AmeriCorps wasn’t a straight one- nor has it been one I would have expected. Last year this time I was offered a position serving in North Macedonia with the Peace Corps. I don’t think I could have known what the year would hold; I certainly didn’t expect a pandemic, or to return to my college town, to see the inauguration of the first woman vice president of the United States… When the pandemic hit and Peace Corps volunteers were pulled back to the US from their host countries, I was faced with defining an entirely…
Waking Up To Serve By Mary Sullivan
It’s 8:00. Time to wake up. Since last March, the COVID-19 pandemic has ravaged many lives in many ways around the world and here in Montana. As I write this, the most updated numbers are reporting that 75 of my fellow Missoulians have died. 1,152 Montanans, including 64 residents in my hometown of Butte, have died. 420,000 Americans. As I lay in my bed at the beginning of my day, I think about a few things. Maybe what shirt will make me look collected over Zoom and who I will have the opportunity to meet today. But I always think…
The Power of Hours Adding Up by Jamie Miller
Time’s linear pattern as a force always moving forward feels like it may be the last concept we can depend upon as a consistent reality of life. All other contributing theories that keep the earth spinning have cracked and disintegrated thanks to our new friend Covid-19. Our perspective of equality has been challenged, our economic system has been evaluated and the everyday routine of the 9:00-5:00 working american is being rethought. Everything has changed for me. Except the idea of time. Time moves forward. That’s all we got. Time adds up. Time leads us places. Looking back, there are three…
Total Eclipse of the Plant by Andrea Aviles
One morning I woke up and glanced over to my window. To my surprise, I noticed how my favorite plant, my golden photos, was dying. An upset feeling washed over me. How was this possible if yesterday she was perfectly normal? I watered her regularly, sang to her, and made sure she received any available sunlight. I glanced away, exasperated. That night, sleep came late, as I drifted into my own speculative thoughts. What did I do wrong? Could it be that my plant child is the foreteller of an ominous occurrence? At that moment, three months of my AmeriCorps…
Growing the University of Montana Food Pantry: A different kind of food service by Hilary Rosa
Pre-service I grew up in a military family, and my mother would continuously emphasize the value of public service. During my teenage years, I dreamt of joining the Peace Corps, but I ended up taking quite a detour after high school. Many years later, a summer internship at the Gallatin Valley Food Bank led me to consider instead a position with AmeriCorps. Before my position as an AmeriCorps VISTA, I had worked in the food service industry for over a decade- restaurants, mostly, but some retail kitchens and catering gigs as well. I had a lot of experience cooking professionally,…
but i can hear you talk without a telephone – by bri howerton
Hello! My name is bri, and I am in my 2nd year of AmeriCorps service. Last year I served as a VISTA at the Great Falls LGBTQ Center, and this year I serve at SpectrUM Discovery Area. This winter, the glorious season of seasons, I have spent my time creating science kits for students, sweating in a hot yoga studio, and seeking the scent of evergreen trees. Having grown up a Great Lakes Midwesterner, I have always found solace in the dark, snow covered months, but as for Montana “the next passage in my journey is a love affair…” My…