Michigan's AmeriCorps Member Council - Posting #3

Hello! My name is Jessica Murphy and I represent MARESA AmeriCorps and I am member of Michigan’s AmeriCorps Member Council. MARESA stands for Marquette-Alger Regional Educational Service Agency. The MARESA AmeriCorps Program assists both Marquette and Alger counties which are located in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. If you are really interested in seeing how far away I am from the rest of the state’s population I would suggest getting a map out and looking the counties up.

The MARESA people mostly help in school settings and a couple of the members help with the techie side of education. I am a full time member fulfilling my year of service at Gwinn Middle School. This middle school has only seventh and eighth graders at the school. I help out these students, mostly in their math classes. I really like working with the students in math because small things can give the kids such problems but you can see when the math clicks for them, right there in front of you the signs are clear that they are learning. I really love my placement at the middle school. There are times when the kids tell me about their families and the hobbies they love. The boys talk about four wheelers, dirt bikes, and hunting. The girls tell me about the books they are reading, sports they are in, and sometimes they feel the need to tell me their drama. There is never a shortage of drama in a middle school!

At times my services has been hard, like when I know a child has so much potential and so much life ahead of them but they do not make much of an effort in the education setting. Most of us in AmeriCorps go into these placements, not because of the money or the education award, but because we hope we can make a difference in our surrounding communities. I am of the mindset that I am here to help and I want to help the students in learning the material. Yet there are times when I extend the offer to help a student and they reject the help because they do not care about school. It is sad when kids don't care or do not try on a homework assignment but what can I do? I just try again the next day and sometimes all they need is a new day. I do have hope, that if a student rejects my help I hope he/she will take the help of another staff person.

Since I serve at a school and schools have Christmas break I need to go volunteer at another place so that I do not fall behind on my hours. I am going to volunteer at the Salvation Army Recreation Center also know as the SARC. It is also the place that I did my first year of AmeriCorps service at but it was only a part-time site. The center is for youth ages 8 to 17 years of age. I will go there several times over the two week break. The center is open for youth to just drop in so if I go on several different days I will see different kids. This will a great place to put in some hours over the break because a lot of the kids from the Gwinn Middle School also go the SARC. It will be nice to shoot some hoops with the kids and to have time to listen to them talk about their lives. I know my Christmas break will be fun and chilled and I hope the same for everyone!