Connecting With Youth

I’m Missy Olgine and I’m a second year AmeriCorps Member serving with the Mentor Michigan College Coaching Corps. For the past two years I have had the privilege of coordinating a mentoring program for foster youth through the Department of Human Services (DHS) in Midland and Isabella counties.

My kids are the best! They’re zany, energetic, thoughtful, and giving. They love deeply, laugh loudly, and are passionate about achieving success. My mentors are just as amazing. They generously give of their time week after week and pour into their young people. They truly care and will do whatever they can to help their young people reach their dreams!

Like most Michiganders, I was facing an extremely grim job market 2009. A recent college grad filled with youthful idealism and big ideas on how to change the world, the lack of job offers from employers—never mind those with “world changing” positions-had worn me down. Thus, when I stumbled upon the posting for this AmeriCorps position it was with a fluttering of new hope that I applied and was accepted.

My service on an average day is never the same. Some days I am meeting with community organizations recruiting mentors to work with my teens; some days I do a lot of paper work, reference checking, interviewing prospective mentors, and running background checks to ensure they’re a good fit for our program; other days, I take groups of mentors and youth rock climbing, snowshoeing, or to the local pottery studio to play with clay. But mostly, my time is devoted to talking to mentors, youth, caseworkers, and foster parents, ensuring that everybody is on the same page for helping our young people achieve success.

Often the best days are when I get to meet face-to-face with a single mentor and mentee and just “share life” with them. Sometimes this is done over coffee or ice cream, other times it’s in a cozy living room surrounded by baby toys with a toddler happily drooling on my knee while a mentor and mentee comfortably chat about their great time together the week before. But the best memories are always attached to that moment when I see the deep connection between a young person and their mentor.

AmeriCorps has shaped me professionally. I have had countless professional development opportunities. I’ve connected with countless movers and shakers in the non-profit, higher education, and human services worlds, as well as with leading policy makers in our great state. I’ve developed in skills, inner strength, and confidence.

For those that are considering a year of service—whether it be through working with a disaster relief organization, a poverty reduction crew, or a group of people passionate about changing their communities for the better through mentoring—I have one piece of advice: do it! There is nothing more rewarding than this and there’s no time like this moment to take that step and find just how much you can accomplish. And how one person really can change their world!