OPPORTUNITIES!

Told by Montana Tech's AmeriCorps Team Leader Rachel Towsnend.
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TRIO Day students attend the Closing Ceremony hosted by Montana Tech Chemistry

“This is so awesome! Much cooler than a tour around campus…” 

On February 23rd, Montana Tech of the University of Montana celebrated TRIO Day, an opportunity to focus the nation's "attention on the needs of disadvantaged young people and adults aspiring to improve their lives if they are to become contributing citizens of the country, and to the talent which will be wasted if that investment is not made."

Students head underground for a tour of one of Butte’s inactive mines.

Students from middle and high schools in and around the Butte area came to our university to experience first-hand the voluptuous opportunities college access will provide them. From touring underground mines with professionals to memorization from Tech’s chemistry students demonstrating various chemical reactions, it was certainly a day worth celebrating.

Junior and Senior Upward Bound students after their tour
of one of Butte’s inactive mines

Although four-year universities do not bode well with every person’s career aspirations, academia past high school allots everyone an opportunity that otherwise would not be possible. It is important for students to realize their potential and begin thinking about life after high school from an early age;

however, it is one thing to be told of different possibilities and entirely another to see what is possible in face-to-face situations.
During the event, junior and senior Upward Bound students had an opportunity to travel 100 feet underground to tour an inactive educational mine. They walked with lights on their hardhats, reflective vests on their backs, and smiles on their faces. Butte is known as the “Richest Hill on Earth” for its mining history, which the majority of the students who came to campus for this year’s TRIO Day celebration are interested in pursuing to some degree.

Sublimity has a funny way of taking over when you have a room full of countywide students who are genuinely excited about their next steps.

High School TRIO students.

TRIO student with Amanda Curtis, a member of the Montana
House of Representatives.

CHECKING IN WITH MTCC VISTA SAM GARETSON

Sam Garetson serves with Salish Kootenai College

Sam Garetson has had a lot of success since he started as a VISTA this past January. He currently works from Salish Kootenai College with with the Upward Bound office, helping open the doors to postsecondary education wider to more first generation and low income Montanans. Recently, we decided to check in with him. This is what he had to say:

Why do you serve as a VISTA member?

I think an intuitive as well as learned desire to be in service to others is what drove me to AmeriCorps VISTA. Throughout my undergraduate studies I found myself gravitating towards classes and areas of study that reflected this. My final senior thesis essay on poverty became a turning point in my life. It made me wrestle with some of the most uncomfortable, pre-conditioned beliefs concerning our society and its divorce from humanity. It took me until the final semester of my college years to understand why I had been studying what I had. AmeriCorps provided an outlet for the skills I cultivated in college and an environment to continue to grow academically, professionally and spiritually. VISTA has been a blessing, allowing me to learn the processes associated with community activism, at the same time granting creative freedom in exploring new ways to serve and connect with community. 

Describe a typical work day at your host site.

AmeriCorps VISTA Sam Garetson (pictured far right)
with fellow instructors and students participate in
 Bob Marshall Wilderness trail restoration
 as part of Upward Bound's summer program. 

My day typically starts with me checking emails. Since that lasts a whopping five minutes, I have a lot time to spend on my primary function, which is to research and create sustainable programs and curricula to be used by Upward Bound (UB) in improving communication and empowerment of our students. By the end of the day I have a pile of post-it notes, scratch printer paper, and more ideas than I know what to do with. I spend subsequent days making sense of the previous day’s research, tending to the ideas that work and throwing out those that don’t. Throughout the summer, I piloted student assessment tools that could assist UB in improving student academic success by paradoxically going beyond mere academic evaluations and focusing on character development. My research has spawned a multi-faceted teaching tool that hopes to build on characteristics of grit and resilience, essential to a student’s investment in learning. The long-term goal is to maintain an instructive system that supports the actualization of self-awareness and empowerment for our students.

How have you incorporated your campus partner into your project?

Salish Kootenai College (SKC) has been an excellent community partner. SKC is the hub of academic activity in the Flathead Valley affording me access to college level instruction, Native American cultural life, and important networks that expand my scope of work. SKC also provides transportation and logistics to and from the many college tours, cultural events and programs around the state that support the personal and academic development of our students. Our cooperative relationship with SKC is essential to the operations of Upward Bound and its continued viability in the region.

What motivates you to do a year of VISTA service? 

High School is hard. We often look back on that time, frustrated at our lack of understanding of the bigger picture, wishing we had known then what we now know. The motivation to work with underprivileged students to expand their internal and external life horizons comes from this perspective. Upward Bound is a college preparatory program administered by the government, sure, but to make it effective requires forward thinking. Students need more than a manufactured roadmap to get them to and through college. We have a responsibility to meet our students where they are individually in order to facilitate a deeper ecology of self that will help them become resilient, aware, ethical persons. Working from this mindset brings the student back into the equation allowing us to address the web of personal experiences that effect academic success.

What are your plans after VISTA?

Working at the University of Montana (and MTCC Network Office) as a VISTA leader and supporting new, wide-eyed VISTAs sounds pretty plush. An alternative route would be to pursue a joint master’s program incorporating Peace Corps service and cultural ecology or who knows. In a beautiful way my goals are adaptable. AmeriCorps, and the environment it placed me in, has taught me humility and contentment in the process. Ultimately, losing myself in this process of serving others will be my own selfish life reward.

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Thanks for your service, Sam!

MTCC VISTA ALUM ALEX HERLICH CHECKS IN

Alex Herlich served as a Montana Campus Compact AmeriCorps VISTA with Salish Kootenai College's Upward Bound program which helps first generation and low income students attend college.  Alex was responsible for developing public relations and community networks, overhauling recruitment policy, building at-distance summer curriculum, and piloting an arts outreach program with on-campus summer programs. In an effort to keep in touch with the amazing individuals who commit to a year of service, MTCC will periodically feature an alum or current member spotlight.


When and where did you serve during your term as an AmeriCorps VISTA?

I served from January 2014-January 2015 at Salish Kootenai College (on the Flathead Reservation in Pablo) with Upward Bound. Upward Bound is a federally funded program that exists to help low-income, would be first-generation college students through the college application process.

How did your year of service impact your life?

It reiterated my desire to work with people and be in the human service field. Beyond the work I was doing in the office, I had a really interesting and fulfilling experience immersing into a local community. Coming from a suburb of Boston and then going to college in the second biggest city in New England, I did not have any life experience living in a community under 30,000. Working and living on the Flathead Reservation gave me an opportunity to meet and get to know people from all walks of life within the community. So in that way, it gave me an appreciation for smaller communities and the difference that can be made in those places.

What did you do after your term as a VISTA?

I returned to the east coast to family and friends while applying to jobs and couch surfing for a month.

Where are you now and what is your daily work life like?

I am living in Worcester, MA where I went to college. I was recently hired as an Education Specialist for a program called Education for Employment. I am working with high school dropouts in Central Massachusetts to help them get their HiSET (the modern equivalent of the GED) and then figure out what the next step is, whether that is a job, trade school, or college. A typical day is three or four hours with students in the morning, tutoring, counseling, or taking them on service trips or college tours. After that, a lunch break and then time in the afternoon doing paperwork and working to connect with community partners and maintain/develop relationships with schools, the Department of Children & Families, and community centers.