SPEAK UP BY ASHLEY HETTLER

I served with the International Rescue Committee during my 2018-2019 service year. In April, we received an Iraqi family of two parents and their two children who were going to be in middle school. I picked them up and drove them to their enrollment meeting at the local school district. They were excited to attend school, and were kind and attentive to the teachers and staff. They asked questions, were lighthearted and laughing, and being respectful to everyone. During the meeting, the kids were practicing their English with their ESL teacher, and their mother was trying to give them little hints to help. It was obvious how important education was to the whole family.

The next day, I picked up the family in the morning to go on a tour of the children’s middle school. There, we met with the school counselor and the ESL teacher. School tours are often overwhelming and confusing for refugees. There are people talking at you in a different language, trying to explain the whole U.S. school system to you in an hour. Between explaining school bells, lunch and recess, and how many teachers they’ll have - it’s a lot to process. Halfway through the tour, I saw the children looking around, looking a little intimidated. Some kids were walking past us, staring at them. The family stood out, being the only people of color in the school, and the mother and daughter were wearing hijabs. Yet, they continued to be polite, smile, ask questions, and say “good morning” to everyone – even to the kids that were staring.

After the school tour, the counselor was trying to explain that there was an event going on that night, and that the family should come. Understanding the overwhelming nature of school tours and language barriers, I politely tried to tell her that they wouldn’t go, and that that’s okay. After explaining their schedules and what time the students should get to the bus stop, we were ready to leave. The counselor turned to me, a few inches from my face and said “Mm, they look like troublemakers to me”.

Something I’ve worked on in my life, and that I’m continually working on, is to speak up. I wish I would’ve responded to her, asking what she meant by that. I wish I could have called her out on that statement, in that moment. I’ve replayed it in my head on how that situation could’ve gone. Instead, I was silent. I was stunned. We were on the same school tour, and I saw the family being polite, kind, and enthusiastic the entire time.

As a member of the International Rescue Committee, and as an advocate on behalf of the family, I failed them. It’s a continual process to learn how to speak up and confront issues that are, literally, in front of your face. After thoughtful conversations with peers and coworkers, I am more prepared for the next time I face a situation like that because there will be a next time.

COMMUNITY COLLEGE ACCESS BY DAYTON SMITH

During my two years of AmeriCorps service, I’ve had the pleasure of working at two unique community colleges in Montana - Salish Kootenai College in Pablo and currently Great Falls College MSU. Prior to my first service term, I was completely unfamiliar with the culture or operation of a community college as I pursued my undergraduate degrees exclusively at the University of Montana in Missoula.

Over the past two years, I’ve come to admire the opportunities available for students and professionals alike at these smaller colleges that offer primarily associate’s degrees and only a handful of bachelor’s programs. So much so that I think I may have missed out myself by not beginning my academic career at a community college.

It goes without saying that there is truly a sense of community on these campuses. Both that I’ve worked at have unique quirks but they are the same in the sense that everyone knows everyone, instructors provide drastically more intimate classroom experiences, and the chance for students to achieve individual recognition is greatly increased. Whether we’re discussing scholarship opportunities or involvement in student groups, I found that the students who seek them out benefit greatly from being on a smaller campus.

Now, my service through Montana Campus Compact is of course meant to be specific to college access. At times I found myself questioning how much my day-to-day work was addressing this objective, particularly when time had passed between my interactions with high-school seniors.

At both locations, I eventually came to realize that my service was still very much working within the college access pipeline and would often remind myself that many associate’s students still need an extra leg up to achieve their academic goals. They may need financial education, which I could provide our students at SKC on an informal, regular basis. They may need basic homework help.

In the case of my role with the Digital Design Tech Department at SKC and the Tech4Good program, my days often consisted of breaking away from traditional office work anytime a student needed words of encouragement, a helpful critique on their design work, or most importantly career pipeline advice and assistance.

Once I arrived at Great Falls College my role was working in the area of Student Activities and I had the pleasure of promoting efforts of both the student honor society as well as the student government. The dedication of the students involved blew me away and seeing some of these same students graduate with numerous accolades on their way to a traditional 4-year school once again reminded me that college access doesn’t end after high-school.

What I realized is that the concept of “college access” isn’t limited to after-school educational programs, FAFSA workshops, and scholarship application assistance. These are all important aspects of the pipeline, but in the best scenarios it goes beyond that and continues into our young careers. At this point, I’m satisfied with my decision to spend the past two years focused on service learning. As is often said, being in a leadership position gives you the opportunity to learn just as much if not more than what you teach others. For these experiences and more, I am grateful and excited to continue my career in areas that likely apply to college access in one way or another.