Helping Youth in Northern Michigan

Char-Em ISD AmeriCorps are small in number, but big on service! My name is Janice Justis and I serve with the Char-Em ISD AmeriCorps program located in northern lower Michigan. Char-Em ISD stands for the Charlevoix and Emmet County Intermediate School District. We currently have nine members in this two-county school district. We are a school-based program working on literacy and behavior in grades Kindergarten through fifth grade.

I am a Baby-Boomer AmeriCorps member (over the age of 50!!!). When my husband of 25 years passed away suddenly, I was only 49 years old. My husband was a legal aide attorney for about six years when I met and married him. I guess the legacy of service was just starting in my family. I decided to join AmeriCorps because of his legacy of service and I hope that it will be carried on by our sons.

I am a second-year AmeriCorps member serving at Ottawa Elementary School in Petoskey. I have a caseload of 16 students in Kindergarten and first grade. We work on literacy skills, and in some cases, social skills. As a Char-Em ISD AmeriCorps member, I have received training on teaching literacy skills and have received additional professional development through my service site. I also work with students in our RTC (Responsible Thinking Classroom) where we work on skills to make better choices and improve social skills. We have participated in classes for life crisis intervention and other social skills mentoring.

Along with serving each day at our respective schools, the Char-Em members do a variety of service projects and engage in service to the community. For the 2010 MLK Day my service project consisted of collecting personal care items which were donated to United Way for Project Connect (a day of services for low-income and homeless families). More than 700 people were served in one day and each person with a bag of personal care items.

Our members are involved in a number of other projects; including those involving Exceptional Riders, Red Cross Disaster Teams, Court Mentoring Programs, Girls on the Run (self-esteem program), food pantries, and shelters. I am honored to serve alongside my other members to build relationships with our young mentees and give them the encouragement to succeed each day.