Michigan’s AmeriCorps Member Council – Posting #29

Hello! My name is LaShauna Horton and I serve with the Community Health Corps, which is a National Direct AmeriCorps program in Grand Rapids. A couple months ago, another member and I had the opportunity to help with Ferris State University’s Eye-DOC Camp. The primary intention of the camp was to encourage minority students to become interested in college and, specifically, their School of Optometry.

Ferris State called on the AmeriCorps team to help design the program, facilitate team building games with the group, and chaperon the students while on campus. This was the first year of the Eye-DOC camp so they started out with just 15 students. Ferris State bused the high schools students to the college where they were able to stay in the dorms on campus.

While the students were there, they not only learned about optometry, but about life after high school as well. There were speakers talking about topics such as “Realizing Your Potential in Life,” “Focus on Your Future,” “Applying to College and Affording It,” “Why Optometry?”, and “Being an AmeriCorps Member.” The students also engaged in hands-on projects focused on the eye. They got to rebuild a model eye, discover how contacts work, and even dissect a cow’s eye. In between speakers and eye labs the students did the team building activities the AmeriCorps team planned. These activities required strong communication skills that helped them bond and play off people's strengths and not their weaknesses.

When we first started this camp we didn’t know how interested the kids would be in optometry; but by the end, the kids still wanted to know more! They were asking questions like, “Will there be another camp next year? If so, can we come again?” There was one student who initially didn’t know if he would be attending college after high school. But when he left the camp he was pumped up about his one more year of high school and then attending college. He didn’t know what he wanted to major in or what school he wanted to attend, but just the idea of him wanting to go to college made this camp worthwhile.

The end of my second and final year of AmeriCorps service is approaching very quickly. For the past two years I have helped my community grow. I have done things like increase access to health insurance, educate youth about tobacco, help patients afford their medication, and give out free books to read. I have also become a better person in so many ways. I have developed leadership, communication, and computer skills and health care training. This has been a very long journey, which I’m sad to see is drawing to a close…but I am glad I had the opportunity to serve. The AmeriCorps Pledge features words I will live by forever.

The AmeriCorps Pledge

I will get things done for America - to make our people safer, smarter, and healthier.

I will bring Americans together to strengthen our communities.

Faced with apathy, I will take action.

Faced with conflict, I will seek common ground.

Faced with adversity, I will persevere.

I will carry this commitment with me this year and beyond.

I am an AmeriCorps member, and I will get things done.