"We have several students that come regularly to the after school program. One student in particular has not missed a day since Winter Break. I never thought to ask her about her stellar attendance. In all honesty as the number of students attending starting growing every day I failed to realize her perfect attendance. One day we had to cancel the after school program because of the flu bug going around. I was dying and needed to go home. The girl came up to me as I was leaving and made me swear up and down that we would have the program after school the next day. I was a little confused because the students were still able to work in the library for an hour after school even when there is no after school program. The next day I happened to run into her mother at the grocery store and mentioned this encounter. Her mother looked at me like I was stupid and said, 'You’re the only person that ever understood how to help her. She can’t do the work without you around.' I was astounded. No matter how low the attendance goes, I know that at least one student is being helped by the program."
~2009-10 Member from Missouri, serving at Lake Roosevelt High School in Grand Coulee
"I feel that my greatest accomplishment this year has been tutoring and mentoring the seniors at my site and getting to watch and participate in their graduation. Some of our students needed to complete their Culminating Projects and attain quite a few credits to graduate. I was able to work one on one with almost all of them on specific problems they were running into. I helped teach them how to research, put a paper together, and finally, give an oral presentation of their project. One student in particular was really struggling with his oral presentation and writing opinions on current events articles. He is a very shy individual and has never gotten up in front of people to talk. After helping him get organized on what exactly he wanted to say, I had him practice in front of me several times until he attained at least a modicum of comfort. I was able to sit in on his presentation and he performed far above expectations. Later that day his mother came into the classroom and thanked me personally for the help I provided. I know that after this experience, he will have higher self-esteem, confidence, and the knowledge he can do the hard things in life if he puts his mind to it. Speaking at our graduation is something I will never forget. This was a great honor for me and a fantastic chance to speak directly to the students I worked with over my term of service. I was surprised at the emotions I felt when I looked at the young people I had spent the last months serving. When I began last September, I wondered if I could ever relate to them and if they would ever respond to me. Months later, I found myself almost in tears thinking of saying good-bye to them. We developed a bond that I hope will continue to grow stronger, and I know we all learned how to be better people and citizens from the relationship we forged over the past school year. After the ceremony, several parents approached me to tell me how grateful they were that I helped their children get through a very tough year. This was so rewarding and made the hard times I experienced this year totally worth it."
~2008-10 Member from Omak, WA, serving at the Omak Learning Center
"I remember the last day at my site, a staff member approached me and said that she can only imagine the amount of kids I’ve touched and inspired and without hesitation I responded, if anyone has been touched here, it’s me. I am glad to say this is a chapter in my live that I’m glad to add and one day share with my kids."
~2008-10 Member from New York, serving at the Women's Resource Center in Wenatchee
"The one thing I absolutely love about being in my second year of AmeriCorps is that I have been working with some kiddos for the entire time. I started working with one girl who was in kindergarten last year and worked with her every day. I now work with her in her first grade class, not as often as I would like, but I am in her class everyday. I have been informed that her reading skills have skyrocketed recently. I know that I have been an instrumental part of her reading development because I have been there since day one. It feels good to know that my help directly affected her. I would have to say that any accomplishments my students make are accomplishments of mine. I don't succeed unless they succeed."
~2008-10 Member from Lake Stevens, WA, serving at Grant Elementary in East Wenatchee
"This has been the best year of my life. I have become a much better person, a more humbled and respectful person. I like who I am now more then ever. I have learned so much about myself this past year that I thought I already knew. I have also learned to really get to know people. To sit down with a person and let my thoughts concentrate on them and what they are saying and nothing else. Growth and change--two words that I thought I would not really use coming into this program. I thought that I maybe there would be a chance that some things would happen out here that I could learn from but I never thought that I would truly change and more importantly grow as a human being. I knew that I was moving into a different chapter of my life but I truly did not know just how much I was going to love where my life was going and who I was becoming."
~2008-9 Member from Bainbridge Island, WA, serving at the Literacy Council in Wenatchee
"I read an article recently in the New York Times about altruism as a version of selfishness, which is essentially true. People, including myself, help others because it makes them feel good. I think I felt guilty about that for a long time before realizing it is part of our makeup as people. Within AmeriCorps you work towards a goal of a certain number of hours rather than working more hours for more money. As a result I find myself volunteering wherever and whenever I can. I joke to my parents that I am a “professional volunteer.” But all jokes aside, I’ve become connected to my local library, humane society, Red Cross, various schools, and other organizations because of this requirement; I feel rooted in and needed by my community. As a result of my experience with AmeriCorps I will always volunteer in the communities I find myself in in the future. The concept of lifelong service was always a somewhat abstract idea to me, and I feel now as if it is concrete, which I believe has been the greatest lesson of all."
~2009-10 Member from Wisconsin, serving at Paul Rumburg Elementary in Entiat