VYDC 13-14 Spring Newsletter

VYDC CHRONICLES SPRING EDITION 2014

PAGE 1

Greetings from the VYDC office in Montpelier, VT

We are happy to bring you the second of three newsletters featuring the 2013-2014 Vermont Youth Development Corps AmeriCorps State Pro-gram (VYDC) team. VYDC places members at community-based or-ganizations around Vermont that provide and promote positive opportu-nities for youth. This year, we have 21 members serving at local non-profit organizations, municipalities, and statewide agencies around Ver-mont. For this newsletter members were asked to describe their service com-mitments and share some of the successes they have had so far. We have also included highlights from our Dr. King Day of Service in the first few pages. We hope you enjoy learning more about our wonderful VYDC mem-bers. We look forward to sharing with you their final articles in our next newsletter. Please take a moment to check out the mid-year accomplishments of this team as well – the numbers say it all (page 11).

Sincerely, Jessi Engelke, Assistant Director of National Service Programs

VYDC Chronicles Vermont Youth Development Corps

AmeriCorps State Program

Contact our office to request assis-

tance or an accommodation.

Dr. King Day of Service Highlights

2-4

Jessie Mazar 5

Alyson Wall 6

Ben McShane 7

Olivia DeJohn 8

Daniel Olmschenk 9

Training Updates 10

Member Accomplishments

11

Emily Wilson 12

Sarah Campbell 13

Karen Taylor 14

Tony Zambito 15

Kathrine Mansfield 16

Lynnette Volden 17

Matt Arnold 18

Nicole Westbom 19

In this issue:


PAGE 2

Vermont Youth Development Corps


2013—2014 Dr. King Day Highlights

Londonderry: The Collaborative offered a day of free and meaningful activities for children who attend Flood Brook School in Londonderry, VT. Chil-dren spent their morning learning about why we celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. They created an "I Have a Dream" mobile, im-agining what the world would be like if the in-justices they see today were gone in the future. After the civic reflection activity, the children emphasized physical health and fun by sled-ding. Coming back inside, they participated in community service by making cards and indi-vidual spaghetti dinners for the residents of Smith Haven retirement community in South Londonderry.

Montpelier: We celebrated the Dr. King Day of Service in Montpelier with service projects, a community meal, food drive, and panel dis-cussion. The morning service projects began at 8:30 and members dispersed to the Food Bank, food pantry, and the ReStore. The MLKids Day activities for local youth and their parents also took place in the morning at a community theater. Others returned to the theater at lunch-time for a delicious community meal, prepared by members. Following lunch, a panel discussion featured Rashad Shabazz, Penny Patch, Leda Schubert, Hal Colston, and Elise Guyette. The panelists introduced them-selves and their role in civil rights, after which they led a thoughtful, engaging, and inspiring discussion with the crowd. We collected over 300 lbs. of food for the Montpelier Food Pantry and Vermont Food Bank.

Burlington: Our event offered a free community lunch for low-income and homeless individuals in downtown Burling-ton. Local elementary and preschool children helped bake all of the bread that was served along with the community meal.

National service members completed a service project at the Mont-pelier Food pantry.


PAGE 3

Total number of national service members participating in 2014 Dr. King Day of Ser-vice activities supported by VYDC members:

65

National service programs represented: VYT SerVermont VT Campus

Compact

Total number of community volunteers who helped in the planning and implementa-tion of the events and activities:

125

Total number of hours given by community volunteers: 204.5

Total number of participants that were present during the event and activities: 322

In-Kind Donations (food, door prizes, craft supplies from 27 businesses): Priceless.



2013—2014 Dr. King Day Highlights Continued

Essex Junction:

Community members gathered for a free brunch in the morning, and took part in fun and meaning-ful service projects in the afternoon. The brunch included time for reflection on the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., meaningful conversation with other brunch attendees, and music. Service projects included the following: sorting and stocking the shelves at Heavenly Food Pantry; preparing food for the community brunch held at Es-sex High School; writing let-ters and cards to veterans and their family members; sorting and cataloging donations for the Winter Clothing Drive & Exchange; assembling gift bags for Special Olympics Vermont in preparation for the annual Penguin Plunge; creat-ing pet toys for low income pet owners for Lucy’s House; cleaning and re-shelving books at Brownell Library; and painting in the Essex Senior Center.

Statistics: Dr. King Day of Service 2014

Community volunteers and national service members fashion pet toys for low-income pet owners supported by Lucy’s house. Photo credit: Oliver Parini


PAGE 4

Winooski: We began the day with a breakfast of pastries and orange juice at 9:30 in the lobby of the O'Brien Community Center. The lobby was decorated with Dr. King’s pictures and quotes; we used this as an opportunity to have one-on-one discussions with youth about Dr. King and his views on non-violence and his thoughts on service to others. We then moved into our service part of the day. We took about twenty five youth around the com-munity and hung fire safety door hangers. The youth were excellent at being respectful, seeing the good in the work (as there was a recent house fire in our community), and keeping a positive attitude in the cold, snowy weather. Together, we hung over 250 fire safety door hangers. We came back inside and had the youth gather information about Dr. King and other civil rights leaders. We did this in our drop-in space, and we had written information as well as 12 computers for research. During this time, some youth were interviewed by local artist, Dan Higgins. Gathering back together, we had a Jeopardy style game—with prizes—about the civil rights movement. The youth were very active and many were able to recall the information they had just gone over. We then had a fabulous lunch with food donated from four lo-cal businesses. During lunch we had a slide show, and as lunch was winding down, we had the youth deco-rate an "I Have A Dream For Winooski" Quilt. All youth were given a square sheet of fabric which they deco-rated with fabric paint and other materials (see image below). We then showed documentary called Mighty Times: The Children's March. The movie was an excellent success, as many of the youth were shocked by the ability of youth to generate such change in such an important time of history. Then we began our Skype conversation with Jean-Luc Dushime, who was in Rwanda. It was an awesome opportunity for the youth, as many of them are refugees. Jean-Luc is also a refuge, and his perspective on Dr. King Day was very interest-ing.



2013—2014 Dr. King Day Highlights Continued


PAGE 5

Can you imagine 300 high school and mid-dle school students spending their Saturday chopping vegetables and preparing meals from fresh ingredients? I could not have imagined it, but I had the oppor-tunity to see it with my own two eyes this past weekend. Each year in the gray Vermont months, as the winter is transi-tioning into spring, Burlington School Food Project, in collaboration with VT-FEED (Food Education Every Day), host Jr. Iron Chef VT. This annual event brings teams of 3-5 students from schools all over the state together to train months in advance. These teams create their own recipes and learn the skills to prepare meals from scratch. On the day of the event, students arrive with matching costumes, and cars paint-ed, as if they are going to a sporting event. There is no consistency about the kind of student who competes in Jr. Iron Chef VT, which is apparent as you scan the teams- jocks, punks, bookish types, cheerleaders, you name it, they are pre-sent. Once the heat begins, all students are intently focused on their station, chopping, cooking, preparing, and as-sembling. In an hour and a half, teams have prepared their dishes and the plates are off to the judge’s room. At the end of the day, students are cheering, crying, hugging-you would never guess that you are at a cooking event. After a year of service as the Farm to School Educator in Burlington, I have experienced the role of food as a plat-form to encourage youth empowerment, communication, and movement. Wheth-er we are outside in the garden, cooking food in after school programs, or learning about bee keeping, food has been the tool to bring students of different back-grounds and interests to the table. Jr. Iron Chef VT epitomized this notion, and was a great way to wrap up my service with Bur-lington School Food Project.

Jessie Mazar

VYDC AmeriCorps State Member

Burlington School Food Project

Burlington, Vermont

Youth prepare a culinary creation for the 2014 Junior Iron Chef competition.


PAGE 6

As the AmeriCorps Programs Specialist at Operation: Military Kids, I develop and im-

plement programs for military youth to attend throughout the year during school vacations, summer break, as well as some weekend events. Activi-ties can include cooking, gardening, mapping and painting-all designed to enhance children’s skills. A handful of our programs focuses on STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) topics through our Tech Wizards program. As OMK is a part of Universi-ty of Vermont Extension 4H, our pro-grams follow the 4-H teaching method, encouraging youth to learn by doing. This enables kids to learn through both their successes and failures. Running an afterschool program in Winooski has shown me the value of and growth that kids have as a result of just trying things out! My position is a combination of behind the scenes and face-to-face. Face-to- face activities enable me to get to know military youth and learn more about the military community. At our February camp our topics were robotics and vide-ography. Kids were able to practice their science knowledge through robot-ics activities and filming of short videos on various topics. One assignment was to interview a partner about a story they wanted to tell. You could see that some kids are bound to be journalists and newscasters! Kids also created a Lego robot version of the “Harlem Shake,” the

kids amazed me with their creativity! Kids are an endless pot of ideas and it’s awe-some to see them come to life.

Alyson Wall


Operation: Military Kids

Burlington, Vermont

Alyson works on creating instructions for a group art project as a part of OMK's Month of the Military Kid kick off day at the state house on April 1st. In Vermont, April is a month to recognize and celebrate the state's military children


PAGE 7

Ben McShane


City of Winooski Youth Programs

Winooski, Vermont

The Vermont Youth Development Corps AmeriCorps State Program is different from other AmeriCorps programs in VT because it places a much heavi-er investment on working directly with youth. That is what made me fall in love with the position to begin with. I truly enjoy seeing the growth of the youth I work with over a peri-od of time. When I began my ser-vice in September, I knew I would have fun. As Middle School Pro-grams Coordinator for the City of Winooski Youth Programs, my day-to-day activities are more like the chaos seen in a pinball machine than what one would normally think of a first career out of college. This is great, because every day when I step foot inside of the O’Brien Com-munity Center, where our office and teen center space are located, I know that it won’t be long until there is an opportunity to serve the youth in a direct and meaningful capacity. Whether it is a game of billiards or air hockey, whether it is an intense battle of wits during chess or Strate-go, or whether it is hanging outside playing basketball or soccer, the engagement with youth allows for a fun atmosphere where learning and inspiration can flourish. In my position, you don’t just have fun with youth; you begin to become an important part of their life. My great pleasure is being a pillar of consistency and trust in the life of a youth who really values those traits. I have found that the importance of being a consistent role model for the youth I serve cannot be over-stated. Serving has truly presented a sense of purpose in the work I do, and I wouldn’t trade my short time at the Winooski Youth Programs for anything!

Ben (right) eats lunch with youth.


PAGE 8

Two of the things I regard most highly, in my personal life and as key players in healthy and vibrant communities, are physical activity and food justice. I have been serving in

my AmeriCorps role thus far to engage stu-dents at the Maplehill School and Communi-ty Farm in activities to support these goals for a healthier future. Many of the students at Maplehill are from low-income families or would be considered “food insecure,” so Maplehill consistently works to offer opportunities that many of these students would otherwise not have available to them. The winter is definitely a hard time to find viable physical activity options, but at Maplehill we have spent the winter taking trips to a local aquatic center to swim or go-ing to Burke Mountain to ski, encouraging students to seek ways to get active in the winter! In addition to our weekly trips, I have also been teaching an elective course with youth that focuses on yoga and has now in-corporated hula hooping. The winter time is also a bit of a standstill on the farm and gardening front. I have been spending the winter getting seed donations from New England seed companies, creat-ing farm based education curriculum for the spring, and we have finally begun starting our seeds! During the Vermont Farm-to-School Awareness Week, we showed a doc-

umentary and lead a civic engagement discussion about the National School Lunch program and school lunch re-form. With all this building excitement for more physical activity and fresh, locally grown food, we all sure are ready for spring!

Olivia DeJohn


Maplehill School and Community Farm

Plainfield, Vermont

Olivia on a Ski field trip with youth at Burke Mountain.


PAGE 9

At the Northfield Teen Center (NTC), I’ve been excited to introduce pro-gramming and emphasize healthy habits through physical activity and nutrition, provide homework help, and offer opportunities for creative en-deavors. However, I think the most important aspect of my service has been the facilitation of discussion in the space, particularly regarding the concept of respect. Northfield youth have consistently reported higher lev-els of violence, school bullying (both as the aggressor and the victim), and electronic bullying than the statewide average, according to the Youth Risk Behavior Survey. As such, I feel that the conversations we have at the NTC about respect and the question-ing of normalized discrimination are the aspects of my service that target the greatest risk behavior for North-field youth.

The NTC uses a program called Teen Council to absorb youth feedback, help govern the direction of the space, and talk about respect. Still, the majority of my direct contact with disrespectful behavior and discrimina-tion are a result of conversations be-tween youth outside of programming. In those circumstances, counselling techniques like open questioning and motivational interviewing become very important to my interaction with youth. Though this aspect of my service is difficult to quantify into one service category, it most directly impacts the risk behavior identified by youth in the community.

In the next several months, I hope to continue the discussion and actively bring questions to youth in Northfield, utilizing guest speakers and community partners to broaden youth awareness and empathy.

Daniel Olmschenk


Northfield Teen Center

Northfield, Vermont

Daniel (bottom) and youth building a Rube Goldberg machine at the Northfield Teen Center.


PAGE 10

Past and Upcoming Events

Mayors Day of Recognition (April)

Members from all parts of the state gathered together at the State House in Montpelier for the second annual CNCS Mayors Day of Recognition. Members shared their stories and accomplishments with the Mayors.

SerVermont Conference (May):

Members will join other members in Vermont’s AmeriCorps programs for two days of enriching workshops at the Common Ground Center in Starksboro, VT.

End Of Service Event (July)

VYDC members will gather together in Randolph, VT and reflect back on their service terms this year. Mem-bers will congratulate one another for their accomplishments.

VYDC Member Training:

February 2014—April 2014

Counseling Youth, Harm Reduction, and Motivational Interviewing:

Facilitated by Nicholas Nicolet, MA; members learned how to establish good boundaries with youth; practiced tech-niques such as, motivational interview-ing, harm reduction, and other counsel-ing skills.

Goals Revisited and Resume Writing:

Facilitated by Markey Read, MA; mem-bers reflected and revisited the profes-sional development goals they set for themselves earlier in the year and learned about networking and resume writing techniques.

Understanding Poverty:

Facilitated by UVM Professor Jennifer Jewiss,EdD; members explored the com-plexities of poverty and its impact on the communities they serve.



2013—2014 Training Plan

Professional Development:

A significant benefit to serving in our program is the emphasis we place on each of our member’s professional development throughout the year. By providing access to high quality workshops and training, we help members gain profes-sional skills and experi-ence that will serve them in seeking mean-ingful employment, as well as develop a com-mitment to a life of ac-tive civic engagement.

Members pose with folded towel frogs after an AmeriShare led by Matt Arnold, VYDC member serving at Northfield Teen Center.


PAGE 11

Mid-Year Accomplishments by the Numbers

Total Youth Served (unduplicated count) 3551

Veterans' Family Members Served (unduplicated count) 105

Civic Engagement Discussions facilitated by VYDC members 24

Healthy Futures Programs & Activities developed by VYDC members 112

School & Workplace Readiness Programs & Activities led by VYDC members 66

Community Service & Intergenerational Events planned by VYDC members 34

Publicity Materials Created & Maintained by VYDC members (Flyers, Posters, Websites, Videos, PSAs, social media, blogs, etc.)

155

Operational Systems Developed and Enhanced by VYDC members (Databases, Manuals, Processes, Training Curriculum, etc.)

85

Community Volunteers Recruited & Managed by VYDC members 460

Community Volunteers Hours Generated by Volunteers 2740

Estimated Value of Volunteer Hours Generated (1 volunteer service hour = $21.75. See www.independentsector.org/)

$59,321

Funds Raised Through Non-Federal Grants, Cash Donations, In-Kind Dona-tions, and Events by VYDC members

$92,386

Partnerships Developed with Community Stakeholders by VYDC members 127



2013—2014 Mid-Year Accomplishments

Liz Smith: VYDC Supervisor, the Committee on Temporary Shelter Kathrine was working with school aged boys on both physical activity and nutrition. The boys loved swim-ming and were very enthusiastic about the snack and dinner program that Kathrine has started. The boys shared that their favorite animals were horses and yet they had never seen one in person. The family was days from moving out of state and Kathrine along with our Children’s Education Advocate made arrangements to bring the boys to the UVM barn and see and touch horses. The boys were thrilled! It was very touching.

Member Accomplishment Story

(Story told by VYDC Host Site Supervisor)


PAGE 12

I have spent the last six months serving with Spectrum Youth and Family Services at the Drop-In center. We serve homeless

and at-risk youth from the ages of six-teen to twenty-five.

I have found serving with Spectrum to be pretty incredible because we are working to break down societal barriers that push at-risk youth into the margins and shed light on issues that many of the youth are dealing with. For exam-ple, many of our youth engage in risky behaviors, one of which is drug use. We offer harm reduction resources for those who are intravenous drug users, such as counselling and free, anony-mous HIV testing.

We invite organizations from the Bur-lington community to come give “Chat n’ Chews” where we discuss issues ranging from why healthy and consent-ing relationships are important to plac-es where youth can go to further their education for free. I have really en-joyed taking initiative in asking organi-zations to come give Chat N Chews and watching conversations unfold be-tween the youth and representatives from the organizations.

Spectrum seeks to be a safe space for youth seeking whatever necessities they may be in need of, whether that be a hot meal or someone who will lis-ten to what they’re going through. I have been trained in motivational inter-viewing, and have found that skill to be

especially helpful when counseling youth. I definitely feel that building relationships with our youth has been the best part of serving with Spectrum.

Emily Wilson


Spectrum Youth and Family Services

Burlington, Vermont

Emily poses in front of the resource wall at Spectrum.


PAGE 13

As an AmeriCorps member, I feel like my role varies from others at my site in a positive way. As a twen-ty-something, I feel like I am far away enough in age from the kids I serve to be a positive role model and an authority figure, but close enough in age to be able to relate to kids and have them view me as a friend and confidant. I’ve had kids ask me for help with things ranging from braiding their hair to filling out job applications to asking for advice about how to deal with a difficult teacher.

Throughout my year and a half of service, I’ve had moments of great joy, like seeing kids gradu-ate from high school who never thought they could. I’ve also had moments of great disappoint-ment, like realizing one of the kids you think is perfect is just a teenager and capable of making terrible decisions like anyone else.

To me, being an AmeriCorps member is a commitment to ser-vice as well as to the community and youth I’m serving with and I take great pride in my role. I’ve had the opportunity to work with youth from all around the world and create wonderful relation-ships with community members, all within one square mile.

Thank you to AmeriCorps for bring-ing me to Winooski, one of the most unique towns in Vermont.

Sarah Campbell


City of Winooski Youth Programs

Winooski, Vermont

Sarah (left) poses with VYDC member Ben McShane at Leddy Park Arena for an ice skating trip with youth.


PAGE 14

One of the best parts about living in Vermont is the inevitable connection to the seasons, and the students at Maplehill are fully experiencing the slow transition from winter to spring. Maplehill operates an organic farm that helps feed nutritious lunches to all students. Winter on a farm tends to be fairly quiet, full of planning and dreaming about warmer months. However, farming activities are final-ly beginning to gather momentum; over the past few weeks, students have helped set up taps to get ready for maple sugaring season. In the Farm Outreach & Marketing class I have been co-teaching, stu-dents have hunkered down through the winter and have pulled off an Ac-tion Research Project to identify some ways the Maplehill Community Farm can better serve the surround-ing community. Students in the class have interviewed community members, local farmers, and people involved in food security organiza-tions and have gathered an impres-sive amount of data. Together, we are writing a report to put together our findings. It has been an amazing experience to see these two students link to people in the community and to see how other farms and organizations are tackling hunger in Vermont. This class encompasses one of my favor-ite parts of AmeriCorps service—helping youth think about serving their communities and giving them the tools to make it happen!

Karen Taylor


Maplehill School and Community Farm

Plainfield, Vermont

Karen cuddles with baby goat during a field trip with MaplehIll youth.


PAGE 15

Tony Zambito


Willowell

Monkton, Vermont

As the VYDC AmeriCorps member serving at the Willowell Foundation, a small arts and envi-ronmental education focused non-profit, I per-form a variety of roles within the organization. However, a major theme of all the projects I support through my service is providing unique educational opportunities and experiences for local youth.

Among the wonderful va-riety of projects and pro-grams I have had the op-portunity to be involved with, one especially fun project has been creating a series of outdoor educa-tional programs with the Monkton After School Program. With the Monk-ton After School Program myself and Ashton Kule-sa, the VYT AmeriCorps VISTA member at Willow-ell, have created a series of outdoor activities for students with the aim of providing structured, ac-tive time outdoors after school. Some of our ac-tivities have included building forts in the school’s woods with stu-dents, learning about wildlife tracking, and mak-ing birdfeeders to hang around the school and in the surrounding woods.

It has been a wonderful experience knowing that our programming with the Monkton After School Program has provided local youth with the opportunity to spend time being active after school while learning, being creative, and build-ing an appreciation of the outdoors.

Monkton Afterschool youth create birdfeeders.


PAGE 16

Kathrine Mansfield


Committee On Temporary Shelter (COTS)

Burlington, Vermont

cludes the first family shelter

snack and dinner program in Ver-

mont, in addition to activities such

as swimming, dancing, reading,

and painting. I also seek out

community partners for donations

and collaborations. Anyone who

has the privilege of serving with

kids, and especially families in

shelter, knows that flexibility is

essential.

Spontaneously adapting pro-

gramming has led to some of our

most exciting excursions. Re-

cently, two children in grade

school remarked that they had

never seen a horse, even though

horses were their favorite ani-

mals. The kids believed that they

would never get to see them in

person. Upon prompting from a

Family Shelter supervisor who

heard their despair, I decided to

explore our community connec-

tions. Before long, we went to

the UVM horse barn to visit with

the horses. The children’s faces

lit up as they were encouraged to

pet and feed them.

Each day that I get to serve with

these children is a new adventure

that I await with eager anticipa-

tion.

Every day that I serve through VYDC

AmeriCorps as the Children’s Pro-

gramming Specialist at the Commit-

tee On Temporary Shelter (COTS)

Family Shelters, I know that I will put

a smile on a child’s face. It is what

motivates me, even on the worst of

days.

There is no typical day here at COTS.

I have a schedule of activities led by

myself and approximately 50 volun-

teers that I manage, and with whom I

collaborate to provide children’s pro-

gramming. This programming in-

Kathrine (left) poses with youth.


PAGE 17

Lynnette Volden


The Collaborative

Londonderry, Vermont

When meeting someone new, as often happens to AmeriCorps members, this is a hypothet-ical question you might encounter: “So, what do you do?”

When you do a bit of everything, as one often does while serving at The Collaborative, here’s a hypothetical response: “What don’t I do?”

If that, hypothetically, is not a very satisfying answer, here is a second explanation, “I serve as a full-time member with AmeriCorps, a federally funded service program that gives citi-zens the opportunity to give back to their communities. I support youth in Southern Vermont through my site, The Collaborative. The Collaborative works to support healthy, substance-free youth in a caring and involved environment.”

OR

Stated as a list: “I am an educator, childcare provider, database man-ager, volunteer recruiter, communi-ty organizer, substance-free event planner.”

OR

If I had a baseball card, my year-to-date stats might read, “Youth Served: 519, Events provided: 14, Volunteers managed: 41, High-lights: Taught nutrition and physi-cal movement in The Learning Kitchen and facilitated Community Dialogue Night for youth and par-ents to come together and partici-pate in a civic discussion about teen substance use.”

OR

“The other day in the program, the kids taught me how to build a scooter-car. We connected six scooters and stacked a gymnastics mat on top of them. We opened the World’s Most Relaxing Taxi Service and had races around the gym!” would be a story I could tell.

So, what do I do? Take your pick. It’s all in a day’s service.

Lynnette and youth go for a

sleigh ride.

What Do You Do?


PAGE 18

Matt Arnold


Northfield Teen Center

Northfield, Vermont

“Whoa!” “Cool!” “Sweet!” “Ouch, that’s hot!” Those are just some of the re-marks by youth involved in the Mad Scientist program that I have been facilitating at the Northfield Middle School after school program. There are many students in Northfield who have been struggling in their academ-ics, and the after school program called Bridges has been using a crea-tive technique to help students over-come their struggles. When students arrive at Bridges after finishing their classes, we serve them snacks and head outside for some much needed running and being cra-zy. Then, they get about 45 minutes to get some extra homework help with a team of tutors (including me). After the homework help comes the fun! Each student has a number of differ-ent programs to choose from that peaks their interests and gets them thinking critically about things that they enjoy. A couple of programs that I have run include Movie Making (script writing, acting, filming, editing) and Mad Scientist (science experi-ments), and I am planning another program to start this spring getting youth outside riding bikes. Another program that I have started up this year is called Transitions Tu-toring – a program that is linking the school with the Northfield Teen Cen-ter. The students who may not be old enough to regularly attend the teen center get a chance to get homework help and engage in activities, at times, with the older teens. The youth love spending time at the teen center and with the other teens, and the teen center is making great connections with youth who may end up coming to the teen center down the road when they are old enough.

Matt (left) conducts an experiment with youth at Northfield Middle School.


PAGE 19

Have you ever seen the look on a child’s face when you show them exactly the right book? It is the closest thing to ma-gic that I have ever experienced. The huge smile. The brightened eyes. The hands eagerly grab this precious book as if it might disappear if he or she does not act quickly.

This enthusiasm for learning is the defini-tion of service on the Bookmobile. Creat-ing a positive bond between children and books is such a profound first step in cre-ating lifelong learners. In the Franklin Grand Isle region, young people report feelings of discouragement about their education. This is a primary reason to make these early memories and associa-tions.

In addition to library service, my work as the Advanced After School Care member has allowed me to experiment with new ways to engage school age children in learning. Recently, I have had success with a Storyteller curriculum, which I cre-ated for 2nd and 3rd graders. The most exciting thing for me is seeing how em-powered and involved the children are in creating their own plots. A few children who have struggled with traditional class-room settings are thriving when expected to entertain their peers with a silly story. I have never heard such laughter at some of the ad-libbed dialog that these students have created. One young girl was too shy to perform in the first class, but has since embraced the program and found her voice. This simple change is an example of why I am serving in AmeriCorps.

Nicole listens as youth reads a story.

Nicole Westbom


Franklin Grand Isle Bookmobile

Swanton, Vermont


PAGE 20

The opinions expressed in the articles in this newsletter belong to the individual writers and do not necessarily reflect the views of the site where the AmeriCorps

members serve, Vermont Youth Development Corps, the Washington County Youth Service Bureau/Boys and Girls Club, SerVermont, and CNCS.

VYDC AmeriCorps State Program

P.O. Box 627 / 38 Elm Street

Montpelier, VT 05601-0627

802.229.9151 ph / 802.229.2508 fax

https://sites.google.com/a/wcysb.org/vydc/

Contact our office to request

assistance or an accommodation.

Following a professional development training on time management, the 2013-2014 VYDC team gave their best “oh no! I’m late!” impressions.

VYDC is recruiting for the 2014-2015 program year!! To apply:

Go to www.nationalservice.gov/programs/americorps/americorps-state-and-national

On the right-hand side is a headline: Join AmeriCorps! Click the small link “Advanced Search” For Program Type, choose AmeriCorps State / National For State, choose VERMONT For Program Name, type VYDC Click the Search button.

https://twitter.com/VYDCAmeriCorps

https://www.facebook.com/vermontyouthdevelopmentcorps?ref=hl

https://sites.google.com/a/wcysb.org/vydc/

http://www.nationalservice.gov/programs/americorps/americorps-state-and-national

http://www.nationalservice.gov/programs/americorps/americorps-state-and-national

VYDC 13-14 Spring Newsletter

Documents

Transcript of VYDC 13-14 Spring Newsletter