I apologize...

I haven't updated in awhile. A lot has happened!

Exactly 4 months ago today, I started my year as a VISTA. I can't believe it's 1/3 of the way over, and I hate that there is an exact date that it will end. At the same time, thinking about all that I have had the chance to learn and do in the first 4 months makes me really excited for the next 8 months, and whatever will come after that!

My big VISTA news of the week- my supervisor got a different job. She will be leaving at the end of August to go to New York for a few months, then overseas for 3 years! While I am sad that she is leaving, I'm glad that she's getting the chance to do something she's always wanted to do and I know that she will love every day of it. I found out earlier this week that Maggie will be my supervisor after Lindsay leaves! I think that it will be a good opportunity for me to learn more from Maggie and to also experience another supervision style.

The Environmental Leadership Retreat starts on Tuesday! I can't believe it's here already...
the last few days and leading up to Tuesday will be extremely hectic at work. I feel like I'm in good shape but there is still a lot of things to wrap up and not a lot of time to do it. I've done the majority of the planning, getting donations, scheduling, paperwork, etc. on my own and it's really making me appreciate all of the work that others on exec boards for alternative breaks did. I knew from experience that it was a lot of work but I guess I didn't realize just how much it was until it was so concentrated. I think it's going to be a great experience though and I'm really looking forward to it!

I know this is really short but I need to go find some dinner... I will try to update again this weekend sometime-around graduation activities that is! :)

Tree Planting

Hey all! So, we did a tree planting Friday afternoon with Keep Indianapolis Beautiful. You can check out the press release I wrote (they made a couple changes, like taking out the exact location...) http://green.indy.com/posts/college-students-teaming-up-to-plant-trees-2. We ended up with 98 students representing 6 colleges from Indianapolis and a few guests from the community. I was very happy with the turnout and the fact that we accomplished so much in such a short time! I have a few pictures to share:

Kind of hard to tell-but this is part of the finished product! This section goes all the way down to the green interstate sign.

Check out that team work :) And yes-the shovel is supposed to be upside down. They are measuring the depth of the hole compared to the tree.

A little school spirit showing through


An "arial"-ish view of most of the group hard at work.

It was very inspiring to see so many people working so hard-especially on a Friday afternoon the week before finals! The weather was beautiful and we finished the day with no injuries beyond some blisters. I was proud to be part of such a great, hard-working group of students, faculty, staff, and community representatives!

In other news-the Environmental Leadership Retreat is approaching quickly. It has been a little crazy trying to nail down the final schedule as we've had a few changes come up last minute. I know that everything will fall into place and be fine, but it has been a little frustrating at times. We had someone back out of a spot, but thankfully we were able to fill it pretty quickly so we still have a full roster. I'm looking forward to the week-it will be fun to have such a diverse group of students from across the state coming together and learning so much while having the chance to do some hands-on service in Indianapolis. I sometimes forget that Alternative Breaks can take place so close to home. I think it will be a very eye opening experience and I'm really looking forward to it!

We went to 31 cent scoop night at Baskin Robbins tonight! I had Rocky Road ice cream for the first time in years and it was absolutely delicious-and super cheap :)


Finally, this is an article that Maggie sent out to the staff earlier this week. It is pretty light-hearted and an interesting point of view. I would recommend it (clearly I do if I'm putting it on here...) Read it to learn how volunteering makes the heart grow stronger. http://www.mailtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090428/LIFE/904280304

Picture update...

Carson in his soccer uniform showing off his new comic book

We learned that Carson could touch his nose with his tongue and he was very proud to show off his new trick!

Baby Brooke playing at Nana and Papa's house


All smiles in the car on the way to Illinois :)

Reflections on the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act

This is a few days late, but I am still sorting out my thoughts on the whole Serve America Act... incase you didn't get the chance to check it out, here are Obama's remarks before he signed this act: http://www.nationalservice.gov/about/newsroom/statements_detail.asp?tbl_pr_id=1302

I pulled out a couple of quotes from his speech that really stuck out to me

"It’s the same spirit of service I’ve seen across this country. I’ve met countless people of all ages and walks of life who want nothing more than to do their part. I’ve seen a rising generation of young people work and volunteer and turn out in record numbers. They’re a generation that came of age amidst the horrors of 9/11 and Katrina, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, an economic crisis without precedent. And yet, despite all this -- or more likely because of it -- they’ve become a generation of activists possessed with that most American of ideas, that people who love their country can change it. They’re why the Peace Corps had three applications for every position available last year; why 35,000 young people applied for only 4,000 slots in Teach for America; why AmeriCorps has seen a 400-percent increase in applications in just the past four months."

I love that my generation has been drawn to service. I guess I hadn't ever thought about the fact that we are the "generation that came of age amidst the horrors of 9/11 and Katrina" despite the fact that so many of my friends have gone to the Gulf Coast to help with relief efforts. It is inspiring that there are so many people my age that want to do great things and really leave their mark on the world. The next quote I pulled out is where I get a little concerned about this...

"That’s why this bill will expand AmeriCorps from 75,000 slots today to 250,000 in less than a decade."

That is a drastic increase. I think that is possible over a decade, but within the VISTA program alone (there are several AmeriCorps programs) 3,000 of those spots have to be created and filled before September 1, 2009 because the funding will end September 1, 2010. The process of creating my position was a several month process, then it took about 2 months for them to fill the position. I worry that the positions being created are not being well thought out, and therefore the VISTA will not be able to make as strong of an impact. I worry that organizations don't understand the overall VISTA mission and the purpose of having a VISTA in the office and they will end up using the individual that fills the spot as more of an internship/free labor kind of thing. I am also concerned that some people are deciding to join AmeriCorps just because they can't find a job elsewhere. Which that isn't necessarily a bad thing, but if they find a "real" job 6 months into their position, how many people will quit instead of finishing their year? I love the VISTA program and all that it stands for and it will be very interesting to see it develop over the next 4 months as they create all of these positions and attempt to fill them. I truly hope that this is not an issue of people just doing it because they can't find another job, but rather this is something they have thought about and since the job market is rough, they decided that this was their push to join and make a difference.

I hope I'm not sounding stuck up and saying that people are joining for the wrong reasons-I'm not the right person to be judging the motivation of others. These are just my initial reactions to the Serve America Act.

Happy Earth Day!

Hello all! Happy Earth Day :) In honor of today, turn off your tv and go read a book, take a walk, or do something good for the Earth! This is an interesting article about the view from youth in our country on the environment:

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/04/kids-worry-about-environment.php



To help celebrate Earth Day, ICC is sponsoring a tree planting this Friday. We are going to have almost 100 volunteers from 5 Indianapolis colleges and universities coming together to plant 100 trees in one afternoon. I think it is going to be a cool event and I'm really looking forward to it! And, the weather looks like it is going to be fabulous-high 70s and sunny :) In relation to the event, I wrote my first press release yesterday/this morning! I'm pretty excited about that.

I forgot to tell you last week that we had our Presidents and Chancellors Board Meeting. It was interesting to listen to all of the technical stuff that goes on that I don't usually hear about-stuff about the budget and all that. The staff did a great job setting up the day-they had different people from our campuses come in and give presentations and we did a tour of the Keep Indianapolis Beautiful building that is super green. It was pretty neat to see all of the advances that have been made towards green buildings and hearing the numbers on how much energy it saves.

I went to Carson's first soccer game last weekend-he's so grown up and played so well! I'm guessing that if he keeps playing he will end up being a mid-fielder. He has endless energy and naturally runs back on defense rather than always trying to score. He saved several goals! Again, I need to upload a bunch of pictures onto here, I have some cute ones of him in his soccer uniform!

Work has been keeping me very busy with so many big events coming up. I applied for a grant to cover my registration for a conference in July...my fingers are crossed that I get it! I will find out in a week or 2 if I did. I've also been trying to get food donations for our retreat-it has been harder than I was expecting but I have gotten a fair amount of stuff and I am waiting to hear back from several places still. That's about it for now-I will get pictures up here soon, promise! Happy Earth Day everyone!!!

National Service Presentation

Hey! So I am going to do a presentation with Emily at Butler about National Service 101. In preparation for this, I was updating an old powerpoint presentation she has with the new numbers and it was very inspiring. Here are the stats that I wanted to share to show just how great the impact of national service is on our communities and around the world:

Indiana Senior Corps:
More than 8,600 seniors in Indiana mentor more than 3,900 young people with special needs, help more than 380 homebound seniors maintain independence, provide services to more than 1,400 groups across the state.

Indiana AmeriCorps:
More than 570 individuals will respond to education, environmental, public safety, and other pressing needs in communities across Indiana. Since 1994, more than 7,900 Indiana residents have qualified for the Segal AmeriCorps Education Award totaling more than $24.4 million.

Illinois AmeriCorps:
More than 73,000 people of all ages and backgrounds are helping to meet local needs, strengthen communities, and increase civic engagement through 150 national service projects across Illinois. This year AmeriCorps will provide more than 2,300 individuals the opportunity to provide intensive, results-driven service to meet education, environmental, public safety and other pressing needs in communities across the state. Since 1994, more than 17,000 Illinois residents have qualified for AmeriCorps Education Awards totaling more than $59,100,000.


Peace Corps:
Since 1961 195,000 volunteers have been trained serving in 139 countries around the world.

Current Peace Corps volunteers:
7,876 volunteers
60% female 40% male
94% single 6% married

average age-27 years old
median age-25 years old
5% of volunteers over 50 (oldest=84)
94% have at least an undergraduate degree

And finally, a couple of notable Peace Corps Alumni:
-Samuel Gillespie III, Senior Vice President, Exxon Mobil Corp (Kenya, 1966-68)
-Reed Hastings, founder and CEO of Netflix (Swaziland, 1983-83)
-Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Connecticut (Dominican Republic, 1966-68)
-Donald J. Putrimas, Vice President, Warner Bros. (Brazil, 1976-78)


As for the notable AmeriCorps Alumni, it's still a relatively new program so I couldn't find any major people...yet. Check back in 10 years and I'll let you know what I'm up to at the time :)
Go national (and global) service!

Easter Weekend!

Hello all! Sorry I didn't update all last week-it was a pretty low-key week so I didn't really have anything exciting to report! I got to go home this past weekend for Easter and it was such a good weekend :) I rode home with Crissy, Brian and Brooke (Carson spent a long weekend with Nana and Papa) and it was great to catch up with them! It's always so much fun to get everybody together, and it's always nice to go home for a bit.

Saturday I went to my best friend Amanda's bridal shower. That was weird...it was my first friend's bridal shower and it made me realize that we are all growing up faster than we'd realized. I got my bridesmaid dress for Leigh's wedding and I love it! It's an indigo-ish color and its super cute! I still need to get my dress for Amandas. It will be a busy summer! Saturday night we went to eat at the Blue Cat, a little restaurant in Williamsville that is delicious and has a guy come in and play music. It's a really fun atmosphere with awesome food! Sunday we went to Granny and Grandpa's house :) It was so good to see everybody and our brunch was awesome! I really enjoyed our time there.

Molly (Mom and Dad's cat) is about to have kittens again and I get to keep one! I'm really excited about it and so are all of my roommates. It will be so fun to have a real pet! I really want a dog but I don't think I'm ready to have all of the responsibilities that go along with a dog, so I'm pretty excited for the kitty. I hope it's cute and super playful! I feel very grown up getting a real pet...

I have some pictures from Easter that I will try to remember to put up tonight or tomorrow. Back to work for now :)