Hi - this is Savanah Zednicek again from Char-Em ISD AmeriCorps. Wednesday, April 22 was Earth Day and here at Lincoln Elementary School in Petoskey students participated in a full day of educational fun and learning. Kindergarten through 5th grade students took a pledge to be protectors of the Earth before they began their day. Then they learned about bald eagles on Walloon Lake, planted seedlings, participated in a recycle-relay, enjoyed lunch outside, cleaned up the playground and local community, and discovered how paper is made.
Students were very excited for the 2009 Earth Day activities, but they have been leading recycling initiatives in the Petoskey School District for two years, thus creating a culture of caring. Last year, students began to hold recycling collection days each week, with each room keeping recycling bins for paper and plastic. Bins for battery collection were also placed throughout the schools and quite recently students began recycling juice containers….while actually making some money for the school.
What is most impressive is that students at Lincoln Elementary School have been learning to compost for the past two months. The school’s Parent Teacher Organization approved the purchase of a compost tumbler and students have been participating in composting, recycling, and reusing all the materials from their lunch and snacks. They have been learning how to balance the compost, what can go in the compost, and what the compost can be used for. Through the many efforts of the students and staff at Lincoln Elementary School, the building’s trash was reduced by two industrial size bags a day - and that is just from lunch waste! I’m greatly impressed with the students’ accomplishments and commitment to making the world a better place. If you’ve every read The Lorax, I’m sure you are familiar with this quote:
“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.”
To me this quote means so much more than just protecting our environment and the things around us. AmeriCorps members have proven the spirit of caring is alive and well and that because we care, we are getting things done!! Lincoln Elementary School students have shown the same.
We have all proven that a whole awful lot can get better; we’ve done the work to make it happen. So let’s keep it up and show our strength now more than ever…AmeriCorps Week is coming, are you ready?!?! Let everyone know what you’re planning…we’d love to hear what “someone like you” is doing.
Friday, April 24, 2009
Friday, April 17, 2009
Michigan's AmeriCorps Member Council - Posting #19
Hello Everyone! This is Colette Jenkins, a first year member representing Readetroit AmeriCorps. We have 26 full-time members who are placed in 15 Detroit Public Schools. We address the critical literacy needs of children that have been identified as having extreme reading deficiencies.
There are three core components to the RDC program: tutoring, mentoring, and volunteer management. Members are placed in teams of two or four at elementary or middle schools; addressing the local needs by providing individual and group sessions, mentoring students that have a parent who is incarcerated, and volunteering to help children with reading.
I am completing my year of service at Heilmann Park Elementary School, home to the Superstars. I have been blessed to serve a wonderful group of students, mostly fifth graders. We start our sessions off by greeting each other and asking how everyone’s day is going. If we are returning from the weekend then we ask about each other’s weekend and if something exciting took place - sometimes the children had great weekends and sometimes they didn’t. Either way they feel comfortable sharing with the group or other times they need to speak with me privately and I make time after our session for a one-on-one discussion.
I’ve built a good relationship with the children based on care and concern as well as respect and trust. They know when they are with me they will not be ridiculed, bullied, or made to feel bad; I always end the sessions by telling them to have a good day and to remain positive.
The principal, Ms. Yvette Little, has been extremely supportive of our program. My team members and I pick up books twice a month for the school, thanks to the generous donations by Kiwanis International. We have implemented a book club which is called “You Read 2 Me, I’ll Read 2 You.” The AmeriCorps members host our book club every Friday after school for one hour, where we read to the children and they read to us and then we have group discussions to make sure the children have comprehended what they read. We give out incentives that have been donated by Communities in Schools Detroit. We select a new book weekly and once we have completed the book, we give the book to the children to take home and build their own library. We started out with about 30 children and we are up to about 60 and still growing. We have parent volunteers, as well as the teachers that are helping us out.
We have hosted a family literacy night called “Share a Story”, where we had a community partner come to our school and read to the children and their parents. We raffled off gifts for a parent in each grade and then we had one grand prize. The students and parents really enjoyed this event. I was able to secure small dictionaries for my fifth grade students courtesy of Communities in Schools Detroit. The children showed their appreciation by writing thank you letters to CIS.
I’ve heard the expression that children are the future, but to me children are the here and now. I like to think children leave their handprints on your heart and adults need to leave footprints for children to follow. I want to be the change - I want to see in the world…so I ask: have you changed a life today?
Monday, April 13, 2009
Michigan's AmeriCorps Member Council - posting #18
Hi everyone! This is Christy Fieber again and I represent Volunteer Muskegon's AmeriCorps. Our members are placed at several sites in Muskegon, Oceana, and Newaygo Counties. The 15 full-time members and five minimum-time members involve K-12 youth in service-learning projects. Members develop strong skills in youth development, grass roots community problem solving, and leadership skills. Muskegon’s AmeriCorps team is dedicated to building awareness of national service and facilitating large-scale service projects on days of national service. Members serve in school systems, health organizations, and various non-profit agencies.
I serve in a local high school where I facilitate the after-school program dedicated to building social skills, improving grades, and individual mentoring. In addition to the after-school program, I also work with three students in the special-education program. We work to improve their math, reading, and writing skills through various computer programs and books.
I am half-way through my first year of service, and am looking forward to serving a second year. Since I was a little girl, I have been taught to periodically reflect on what I am doing with my life, whether it is school, a career, or even relationships. I have been taught that before beginning any project, it is important to set expectations and goals. Looking back at my last six months of service, I have learned to not believe in expectations. I can’t help but think expectations are merely judging the situation or person before you’re able to truly understand their worth. I now realize I have always held this truth to be self-evident. The teachers I respected most in school were not the ones who said “I expect you to write a two-page paper,” but rather the ones who expected a ten-page paper. They were the ones who were able to see your value even when you weren’t.
I look back at when I was first asked to mentor three special-education students and what my “expectations” were. I remember thinking about how great the opportunity was and how it offered me a chance to give them a unique perspective on learning. While that aspect of my service has been nothing but successful and has given me immense joy, it is what I did not expect that has me looking to serve a second year.
Just a couple weeks ago, the three students were busy with a writing assignment. On this particular day, they were free to write about anything they desired - the only requirement was that it had to be one half-page. One student, Ashley, said she was going to name her story “What Hurts the Most.” She discussed how she knew it was the name of a country song, but her story had nothing to do with the famous lyrics. She wrote non-stop for an hour and a half. I was impressed with her ability to stay focused on one task for so long, as she has a tendency to be chatty with me and the other two students. Then I thought there must be a reason she is staying so focused; this story must be something she holds close to her heart.
After she was completed, she handed me her two-page, front and back story. I was as eager to read it as she was to get my feedback. She talked about being a girl in elementary school and other kids making fun of her for her disability. She said they would call her names, push her in the dirt, spit on her while she was down, ask her out on fake dates, give her fake invites to fake parties, put gum in her hair, and would intentionally hit her in the face during kickball games. But, she went on, it is still not what hurts the most.
As she entered high school, she wrote about how she became friends with Mackayla, another special-education student in our program. They started a club that invited all people with disabilities. One member of the club was deaf. Ashley said even though they weren’t able to have a traditional, ordinary conversation, this new member taught Ashley how to say her name in sign language. Ashley says she looks forward to learning more sign language, but there are things that are understood and are universal regardless of an inability to speak or hear.
“We all want to be loved. We all want friends, a husband, children, a girlfriend to show us how to do our make-up, a dad to walk us down the aisle. But most of all, we all want to be respected, want to be believed in, and to have the freedom to make our own choices,” she wrote.
She went on to say that when she is older she hopes to adopt deaf children so she can share in their experience of learning sign-language and will have a unique understanding of living with a disability. She also wants to adopt five more children with various disabilities. Now I would learn, what does hurt her the most. If those childhood bullies had only taken the time to talk to her, to get to know her beyond the disability, beyond the physical, they would have an open heart to accept all people. They would be overwhelmed with understanding and have open-minds. They would know that all people, regardless of abilities or disabilities, are essentially the same. I have no other words, but to say I was in absolute awe. What had hurt her was to know what those children were missing out on. She hurt for them - not for herself, not for her physical pains. I don’t believe I have ever come into contact with someone so selfless.
I am angry with myself for so many reasons; I am angry that I “expected” to change these students more than they changed me. I am angry that I read the title of that story “expecting” much less insight and knowledge than she displayed, expecting the physical and emotional pains of bullying to be her greatest pain. I am angry that I never “expected” a 16 year-old student who is considered to have the mental capabilities of a third-grader, to hold more understanding and love for people than most 30 year-olds with whom I have come into contact. I have a new outlook on life, on service, and on relationships. We are often so consumed and self-conscious about what we have to offer and what words we choose to say to one another, that we sometimes forget what others can give us and show us. It can cause us to be consumed with our own little world inside our own little bubble. It is sometimes hard to acknowledge that other religions, other lifestyles, other cultures, and other people can offer us insight into this life because it would mean we have to accept our imperfections, and thus must search and reach out to other groups of people in order to achieve such insight. But, through my service, I have learned just how imperative it is to go on such a journey, because I have gotten a glimpse of what it has to offer, and who I can become as woman who dedicates her life to service.
“There's much insight to be gained during these times by aligning heart and mind. As we achieve alignment, the experience of new awareness will become tangible and alive. Now is the time to take that promise to heart. But having insights is different than acting on them. We must follow the heart and shape a better world for ourselves and the collective whole.”
- Doc Childre and Howard Martin
I serve in a local high school where I facilitate the after-school program dedicated to building social skills, improving grades, and individual mentoring. In addition to the after-school program, I also work with three students in the special-education program. We work to improve their math, reading, and writing skills through various computer programs and books.
I am half-way through my first year of service, and am looking forward to serving a second year. Since I was a little girl, I have been taught to periodically reflect on what I am doing with my life, whether it is school, a career, or even relationships. I have been taught that before beginning any project, it is important to set expectations and goals. Looking back at my last six months of service, I have learned to not believe in expectations. I can’t help but think expectations are merely judging the situation or person before you’re able to truly understand their worth. I now realize I have always held this truth to be self-evident. The teachers I respected most in school were not the ones who said “I expect you to write a two-page paper,” but rather the ones who expected a ten-page paper. They were the ones who were able to see your value even when you weren’t.
I look back at when I was first asked to mentor three special-education students and what my “expectations” were. I remember thinking about how great the opportunity was and how it offered me a chance to give them a unique perspective on learning. While that aspect of my service has been nothing but successful and has given me immense joy, it is what I did not expect that has me looking to serve a second year.
Just a couple weeks ago, the three students were busy with a writing assignment. On this particular day, they were free to write about anything they desired - the only requirement was that it had to be one half-page. One student, Ashley, said she was going to name her story “What Hurts the Most.” She discussed how she knew it was the name of a country song, but her story had nothing to do with the famous lyrics. She wrote non-stop for an hour and a half. I was impressed with her ability to stay focused on one task for so long, as she has a tendency to be chatty with me and the other two students. Then I thought there must be a reason she is staying so focused; this story must be something she holds close to her heart.
After she was completed, she handed me her two-page, front and back story. I was as eager to read it as she was to get my feedback. She talked about being a girl in elementary school and other kids making fun of her for her disability. She said they would call her names, push her in the dirt, spit on her while she was down, ask her out on fake dates, give her fake invites to fake parties, put gum in her hair, and would intentionally hit her in the face during kickball games. But, she went on, it is still not what hurts the most.
As she entered high school, she wrote about how she became friends with Mackayla, another special-education student in our program. They started a club that invited all people with disabilities. One member of the club was deaf. Ashley said even though they weren’t able to have a traditional, ordinary conversation, this new member taught Ashley how to say her name in sign language. Ashley says she looks forward to learning more sign language, but there are things that are understood and are universal regardless of an inability to speak or hear.
“We all want to be loved. We all want friends, a husband, children, a girlfriend to show us how to do our make-up, a dad to walk us down the aisle. But most of all, we all want to be respected, want to be believed in, and to have the freedom to make our own choices,” she wrote.
She went on to say that when she is older she hopes to adopt deaf children so she can share in their experience of learning sign-language and will have a unique understanding of living with a disability. She also wants to adopt five more children with various disabilities. Now I would learn, what does hurt her the most. If those childhood bullies had only taken the time to talk to her, to get to know her beyond the disability, beyond the physical, they would have an open heart to accept all people. They would be overwhelmed with understanding and have open-minds. They would know that all people, regardless of abilities or disabilities, are essentially the same. I have no other words, but to say I was in absolute awe. What had hurt her was to know what those children were missing out on. She hurt for them - not for herself, not for her physical pains. I don’t believe I have ever come into contact with someone so selfless.
I am angry with myself for so many reasons; I am angry that I “expected” to change these students more than they changed me. I am angry that I read the title of that story “expecting” much less insight and knowledge than she displayed, expecting the physical and emotional pains of bullying to be her greatest pain. I am angry that I never “expected” a 16 year-old student who is considered to have the mental capabilities of a third-grader, to hold more understanding and love for people than most 30 year-olds with whom I have come into contact. I have a new outlook on life, on service, and on relationships. We are often so consumed and self-conscious about what we have to offer and what words we choose to say to one another, that we sometimes forget what others can give us and show us. It can cause us to be consumed with our own little world inside our own little bubble. It is sometimes hard to acknowledge that other religions, other lifestyles, other cultures, and other people can offer us insight into this life because it would mean we have to accept our imperfections, and thus must search and reach out to other groups of people in order to achieve such insight. But, through my service, I have learned just how imperative it is to go on such a journey, because I have gotten a glimpse of what it has to offer, and who I can become as woman who dedicates her life to service.
“There's much insight to be gained during these times by aligning heart and mind. As we achieve alignment, the experience of new awareness will become tangible and alive. Now is the time to take that promise to heart. But having insights is different than acting on them. We must follow the heart and shape a better world for ourselves and the collective whole.”
- Doc Childre and Howard Martin
Monday, April 6, 2009
Michigan's AmeriCorps Member Council - Posting #17
Hello, my name is Bridget Ferrigan and I serve as an AmeriCorps*VISTA through Michigan Campus Compact (MCC) at Olivet College. Volunteers in Service to America (VISTAs) use their year of national service to work to eliminate poverty in their areas. Michigan Campus Compact places VISTA members at different member campuses across the state to work with students, staff, and faculty to promote volunteerism, community engagement, and service-learning as a means to end poverty there.
With the current economy, we’ve been hearing a lot about situational poverty—poverty caused by sudden changes in areas like employment status, disability status, or household composition. The main contributor to household finances could be losing a job, becoming wheelchair-bound and facing new challenges, or leaving the household. Any of these can plunge a family into poverty. Situational poverty is usually temporary. Another job can be found, disability benefits can be used to support the household, etc.
Situational poverty often goes hand-in-hand with relative poverty—living below the recognized standards or customs of a community. When you lack the diet, health, amenities, standards, services, and/or activities your neighbors have, you live in relative poverty. Often, those in relative poverty do not have resource access to get out of poverty.
In Michigan, however, getting out of situational and relative poverty is especially difficult. With jobs being cut by the thousands and nothing coming in to replace them, it is hard to get to a point where one can support their family or have certain necessary things their peers have. Even working full-time (40 hours) at a minimum wage ($7.40) job to support a family of four, it is not enough to be above the federal poverty line ($18,100), even before taxes.
I feel this is where we as AmeriCorps members can help. We can unite communities, educate individuals and families, and bring underserved populations the resources and opportunities they need.
How do you see yourself working with your community, and those who live in need, to eradicate poverty? What resources do you have that you can share with others?
With the current economy, we’ve been hearing a lot about situational poverty—poverty caused by sudden changes in areas like employment status, disability status, or household composition. The main contributor to household finances could be losing a job, becoming wheelchair-bound and facing new challenges, or leaving the household. Any of these can plunge a family into poverty. Situational poverty is usually temporary. Another job can be found, disability benefits can be used to support the household, etc.
Situational poverty often goes hand-in-hand with relative poverty—living below the recognized standards or customs of a community. When you lack the diet, health, amenities, standards, services, and/or activities your neighbors have, you live in relative poverty. Often, those in relative poverty do not have resource access to get out of poverty.
In Michigan, however, getting out of situational and relative poverty is especially difficult. With jobs being cut by the thousands and nothing coming in to replace them, it is hard to get to a point where one can support their family or have certain necessary things their peers have. Even working full-time (40 hours) at a minimum wage ($7.40) job to support a family of four, it is not enough to be above the federal poverty line ($18,100), even before taxes.
I feel this is where we as AmeriCorps members can help. We can unite communities, educate individuals and families, and bring underserved populations the resources and opportunities they need.
How do you see yourself working with your community, and those who live in need, to eradicate poverty? What resources do you have that you can share with others?
Friday, April 3, 2009
Michigan's AmeriCorps Member Council - Posting #16
Hello Everyone! Welcome back to Michigan’s AmeriCorps Blog. I’m LaShauna Horton, a second-year member representing Michigan’s Community Health Corps.
Community Health Corps is also an approach to reducing the health care workforce shortage. Health Corps members perform a wide range of activities including: patient enrollment in low-cost or free health insurance programs, patient utilization of health care resources, case management, counseling, health education, and community outreach/volunteering.
The program I serve with is the Smoking Cessation and Prevention program. The program’s goal is to expand the reach of tobacco control through community health centers. I educate the community about tobacco and its harmful effects through presentations, quit groups, bulletin boards, and games. I tell the truth about tobacco products, show participants the ways in which tobacco products are being advertised, and let them make there own decision about if they are going to use tobacco or not.
My team and I spend most of our time in health centers but every so often we have the chance to get out and assist in community service projects. Some of these include helping the fire department put smoke detectors in houses, planting community gardens, cheering people on at the Breast Cancer walk, and many more. On Friday, March 27, my team helped out at the 2009 Special Olympics Michigan State Basketball Finals. We had the chance to watch athletes of all different ages play basketball. There were members helping out at the souvenir table, setting up for arts and crafts, cleaning, keeping score, and cheering teams on.
I think I took more away from this event then I gave. I helped with the 8-12 year old athletes; making sure their hard work on the court didn’t go unnoticed. I cheered if they made a basket, but I also encouraged them to try again if they didn’t. I had a lot of fun.
The first game I watched was Team Blue versus Team Red. At one point Team Blue was up by 23 points, and by the end of the game they had won by 15. Even though Team Red lost, they never got frustrated and they never gave up. If one player fell, both teams were helping them up. Both teams showed great team work and excellent sportsmanship. Special Olympics' motto is, “Let me win, but if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt.”
This was a competition, as trophies and awards were handed out at the end of the games, but as the littlest player on Team Red said, “Everything wasn’t always about winning.” One athlete told me he played in the tournament because he loved playing basketball and he didn’t care if he won or lost as long as he played. Another player told me she loved to play because she always made new friends and she liked having a lot of friends.
“Live life fully while you're here. Experience everything. Take care of yourself and your friends. Have fun, be crazy, be weird. Go out and screw up! You're going to anyway, so you might as well enjoy the process. Take the opportunity to learn from your mistakes: find the cause of your problem and eliminate it. Don't try to be perfect; just be an excellent example of being human.”
- Anthony Robbins
I really enjoyed myself and learned a lot. Not everything always has to be so serious - have fun sometimes. One mistake is not the end of the world. Life is not about getting your way all the time. Learn what you did wrong and find a way to fix it. It’s not always the big things that make a difference but something as small as a smile can change a situation. If it only takes a smile, why don’t we as people smile more often?
Community Health Corps is also an approach to reducing the health care workforce shortage. Health Corps members perform a wide range of activities including: patient enrollment in low-cost or free health insurance programs, patient utilization of health care resources, case management, counseling, health education, and community outreach/volunteering.
The program I serve with is the Smoking Cessation and Prevention program. The program’s goal is to expand the reach of tobacco control through community health centers. I educate the community about tobacco and its harmful effects through presentations, quit groups, bulletin boards, and games. I tell the truth about tobacco products, show participants the ways in which tobacco products are being advertised, and let them make there own decision about if they are going to use tobacco or not.
My team and I spend most of our time in health centers but every so often we have the chance to get out and assist in community service projects. Some of these include helping the fire department put smoke detectors in houses, planting community gardens, cheering people on at the Breast Cancer walk, and many more. On Friday, March 27, my team helped out at the 2009 Special Olympics Michigan State Basketball Finals. We had the chance to watch athletes of all different ages play basketball. There were members helping out at the souvenir table, setting up for arts and crafts, cleaning, keeping score, and cheering teams on.
I think I took more away from this event then I gave. I helped with the 8-12 year old athletes; making sure their hard work on the court didn’t go unnoticed. I cheered if they made a basket, but I also encouraged them to try again if they didn’t. I had a lot of fun.
The first game I watched was Team Blue versus Team Red. At one point Team Blue was up by 23 points, and by the end of the game they had won by 15. Even though Team Red lost, they never got frustrated and they never gave up. If one player fell, both teams were helping them up. Both teams showed great team work and excellent sportsmanship. Special Olympics' motto is, “Let me win, but if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt.”
This was a competition, as trophies and awards were handed out at the end of the games, but as the littlest player on Team Red said, “Everything wasn’t always about winning.” One athlete told me he played in the tournament because he loved playing basketball and he didn’t care if he won or lost as long as he played. Another player told me she loved to play because she always made new friends and she liked having a lot of friends.
“Live life fully while you're here. Experience everything. Take care of yourself and your friends. Have fun, be crazy, be weird. Go out and screw up! You're going to anyway, so you might as well enjoy the process. Take the opportunity to learn from your mistakes: find the cause of your problem and eliminate it. Don't try to be perfect; just be an excellent example of being human.”
- Anthony Robbins
I really enjoyed myself and learned a lot. Not everything always has to be so serious - have fun sometimes. One mistake is not the end of the world. Life is not about getting your way all the time. Learn what you did wrong and find a way to fix it. It’s not always the big things that make a difference but something as small as a smile can change a situation. If it only takes a smile, why don’t we as people smile more often?
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