CHECKING IN WITH AMERICORPS LEADER SHANADA HICKS

Our staff member Lacy Fiore checked in with AmeriCorps Leader Shanada Hicks to see how her service is going.  Shanada comes to Montana from Denver, CO and serves with Girl Scouts of Montana and Wyoming and Rocky Mountain College.  Keep reading to learn more about her service to Montana:
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Where are you serving and what does a typical day look like?
I am serving in Billings, MT. A typical day starts with preparing materials and lesson plans for our Girl Scout Troops. The best part is getting to engage the girls in these activates. I enjoy watching them learn and expand their horizons.  We are always preparing for upcoming events which takes a lot of organizing and preparation. I am always looking for ways to collaborate on projects with other Billings organizations.   

What are some focus areas of your service?
Working to incorporate college access activities into our Girl Scout lesson plans and activities with young girls. 

Inspiring the girls I work with to always feel empowered.

What inspires you to serve?
I am very passionate about teaching, and being a big role in the development and growing process of children. I believe that every child needs someone who wants to learn about them and push them to be all they can be despite any circumstances that they think may hinder the process of them being who they dream to be. I want to be that person. I grew up in a low income family and for a long time college wasn't something I was looking forward to doing, now I'm two years in and also serving for a national service branch. I never thought I'd be doing anything like this and I want to show other kids like me that truly anything is possible if you work at it. 

How are you incorporating your campus partner into your service?
I will be meeting with them when classes start back up for a possible collaboration on National Service Day!

What do you hope to gain from this experience?
I hope to gain a better sense of self and a better understanding of why I do what I do everyday and what purpose I serve.

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Thanks for checking in, Shanada and good luck with the rest of your service!

ROCKY HOSTING SERVICE LEARNING WORKSHOP

Rocky's beautiful campus.

You may already know that through your CEO’s affiliation your campus is a member of Campus Compact, a national (and Montana) network advancing the public purposes of higher education.  Our state Compact office offers training, programs, awards and scholarships to our members to support their work to address needs in our communities and educate students for civic and social responsibility.

We are excited this month to offer a Service Learning Professional Development Workshop in eastern Montana for faculty, staff and administrators from the Campus Compact network. Rocky Mountain College will host the event on Friday, August 12. The workshop is free for Compact Affiliates in good standing, and will be led by MTCC’s Executive Director, Dr. Andrea Vernon. Andrea has worked in the field of higher education service learning and civic engagement for the past twenty years in Montana. The service learning event in Billings will focus on our affiliate campuses in the eastern half of the state, though any are welcome to attend. We will offer workshops in central and western Montana as well this fall.

Registration and additional information can be found here. Please share this invitation widely at your campus, and encourage anyone with questions to call the network office (406-243-5177)

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ALUM CHRISTINA DOCK TALKS ABOUT CAMPUS PARTNERSHIPS

Christina Dock: MTCC VISTA alum 

Christina Dock served from July 2014 to July 2015 in a partnership position between the the Girl Scouts of Montana and Wyoming and Rocky Mountain College in Billings, MT. Christina worked hard to build a strong, reciprocal campus-community partnerships and we asked if she could discuss what went into them, reflect on what she accomplished and share her successes and challenges.

Campus Partnerships

"At the Girl Scouts of Montana and Wyoming (GSMW) headquarters office, we tried to make connections and recruit students from every college in our region including Rocky Mountain College, Montana State University Billings, Montana State University, Little Big Horn College, Fort Peck Community College, Dawson Community College, etc.

Our main partner is Rocky Mountain College in Billings. Last year our partnership consisted of a meeting space on campus and hosting Rocky Work Study students. This past year our partnership with Rocky expanded to include hosting Work Study students; holding a Troop on campus; co-hosting events; and introducing girls to faculty, staff, and students. Rocky Mountain College troop 2435 met every other week and has the opportunity to meet with college professors, athletic teams, and/or staff members once a month. The members of the college came in, discussed what they do, how the girls can take steps to getting into college (in a way a 5 year old can understand), and did activities pertaining to their professions with the girls. That gave the girls an opportunity to see that they can attend college and be anything they want whether it is a chemist, an artist, and anything in between. We have also worked with RMC to create a higher education patch which the girls can earn at the end of the year. With all of our successes, we are planning for next year already!"

DCTA Project

Rocky Mountain College

"Many people think that Girls Scouting is about the "3 C’s" Camps, Crafts, and Cookies. This is not the case! GSMW’s main focuses for 2015 are Science Technology Engineering and Math (or "STEM"), financial literacy, and the outdoors. I encouraged my Rocky student volunteers to use STEM to create engaging lessons that get the girls pumped to learn. We hope that this will carry over into their school work and get the girls ready for higher education!

My project was called "Discover, Connect, Take Action (DCTA)," and we have recruited 575 girls to participate in our council-led troops just last year. These girls meet at one of our 13 partner troop locations including the YMCA, Friendship House of Christian Service, Discover Zone, CARE Academy, Rocky Mountain College, various middle schools in Billings, and many churches. The main goal of the DCTA project is to create a sustainable campus partnership that leads to a reliable stream of college student volunteers to lead these troops and encourage the girls to pursue higher education. I have successfully recruited and retained four long-term volunteers, so if you know of anyone in eastern and southern Montana who wants to volunteer, send them to GSMW, we have opportunities across the region!"

MTCC DISASTER INSTITUTE RESULTS ARE IN.

This October MTCC hosted its first Disaster Institute in Billings, Montana, hosted by Rocky Mountain College. We partnered with American Red Cross of Montana (ARCMT), the Montana Department of Emergency Services (DES), the Governor's Office of Community Service (OCS) to train 40 participants from across our wonderful state of Montana. We were excited to collaborate with these agencies in order to help our communities learn valuable lessons on disaster preparedness.

ARCMT  participants during the Shelter Management Simulation

Institute participants came from different areas and backgrounds to receive training in Red Cross certifications and Montana State DES Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) training. Participants ranged from community members to department heads within the Compact affiliate colleges and universities.

Of the forty participants, twenty seven received certification in Department of Emergency Services CERT which included topics on Active Shooter, Fire Safety, Communication and Amateur Radio, and Disaster Psychology.

The other thir participants received American Red Cross certification in Emergency Shelter Management, International Humanitarian Law, and Psychological First Aid.

Our participants came from 2 year colleges, 4 year and Universities, tribal colleges, and different Montana communities. Our tribal colleges included: Aaniiih Nakoda College on the Fort Belknap Reservation; Blackfeet Community College on the Blackfeet Reservation; and Little Big Horn College on the Crow Reservation. There were also members of these tribal communities in attendance.

Our 2-year institution in attendance was  Helena College while our 4-year and universities were: Montana Tech, the University of Montana, Montana State University, MSU-Northern, MSU-Billings, and Rocky Mountain College.

Disaster Institute participants gained new skills in competencies in supporting either the American Red Cross of Montana or Department of Emergency Services and Community Emergency Response Team; as well as, a greater understanding of the roles colleges and higher education play in disaster preparedness. Many of our participants learned how Montana Campus Compact helps further civic engagement on college campuses and helps them establish and deepen partnerships with their communities. Participants also built up a great network of colleagues to draw on in the future and we hope to see some "good faith" effort put in to build up their communities and campuses first responders and disaster preparedness volunteers!

Big thanks to our event sponsors: The Corporation for National and Community Service, City Brew Coffee, The Montana Office of Community Service, Rocky Mountain College and to Jill Washburn, Rocky's community service coordinator and a tireless voice for disaster preparedness.

MTCC HOSTS DISASTER INSTITUTE AT ROCKY MOUNTAIN COLLEGE

MTCC's network office staff is getting excited to spend a couple days at Rocky Mountain College in Billings for the Disaster Institute, October 16-18. the Institute will convene partners from fourteen Compact affiliates from across the region, and will help build capacity of colleges and universities to support communities when disasters happen. 

Big thanks to the Corporation for National and Community Service for the funding support for this important work, to Montana DES, American Red Cross of Montana and Rocky. See you in Billings!

MTCC'S FIRST VOLUNTEER OF THE GAME!

Samantha Zetler, Rocky Mountain College
student and Volunteer Of the Game

We're working with Montana's Governor's Office of Community Service and MTCC's board of directors to highlight some of our state's exemplary college student volunteers this fall. Our first Volunteer of the Game recipient is Samantha Zetler from Rocky Mountain College in Billings. Samantha's off-campus service focused with Billings nonprofit organization, the HUB. The HUB focuses on providing services to mentally ill, homeless people in Billings, and Samantha's given hours of her time to supporting HUB clients.

Additionally, Samantha is involved with Rocky's Community Service office, Debate and Spiritual Life programs. Samantha's an inspiring college student volunteer, and we're proud she's representing Rocky, and Campus Compact!

MTCC board member and Rocky president Bob Wilmouth along with Montana Commission on Community Service member Jim Larson will present the award during this Saturday's (September 27th) Battlin' Bears home football game against Eastern Oregon. If you see Samantha, please tell her you appreciate her service.