When you dedicate a year of your life to community service, both the individual and the community served look different than when you first began. We asked some of our current members and alumni to share a bit about the impact their VISTA experience has had on them.
Mel Ray
"Through doing AmeriCorps VISTA I hope that I am able to help develop the capacity of SiCM to have a sustainable community hub that is able to impact the community for a long time. So far, I have learned that it really does take a village and that community connections are crucial to communications, engagement and attendance to our programs. Upon completion of my VISTA year I am hoping to have experience in program planning, evaluation and improvement, and to have a better understanding of what skills I want to capitalize on in my career." -Mel Ray at SiCM
Logan Coggins
"It's been eye-opening working in the nonprofit sector through Americorps VISTA, meeting and working with all of these passionate professionals has really shown me my service can make a difference. My work at the Connect Center For Youth has been a dream come true. I've been able to not only work with my passions every day but strengthen the skills I need to meet the goals that go alongside them." -Logan Coggins at Connect Center
Kamaria Harris
"I'm hoping to learn more about data management, as it is an essential piece to a more efficient workplace. I've been able to work on important tasks such as a Facebook marketing engagement tracker for our summer/fall cohorts to help get a picture of our conversion rates for enrollment, which as a result informs our marketing ad expenses and gauges interest on programs to potential students. While doing this, I was able to collect lost data from our recruitment periods and cohort withdrawals from 2016-2022 and put together a database with their information for inquiries about enrollment and future programming assessment. I'm hoping that this information and experience will help me find an opportunity as an operations assistant or production manager at a tech or gaming organization, mixing my passions with my new skills." -Kamaria Harris at Can Code
Marcos Velazquez
"The Siena cohort model is a great way to make connections both professionally and personally. I can honestly say that I met a ton of great people that I consider close friends, and would have otherwise never met." - Marcos Velazquez, 2019-2020 Siena VISTA
Jacob Landis
"None of the other AmeriCorps positions I looked at had anything close to what Siena's program has to offer. Without the staff, team building days, and the other VISTAs, I do not think I would feel as confident and prepared for the next steps of my life both personally and professionally." - Jacob Landis, 2018-2019 Siena VISTA
Jennifer Simek Hunt
"The skills I learned prepared me to be a more polished professional, from learning how to speak better in public, to building confidence that I am an expert in my field. I learned how to write better, speak one on one with colleagues more effectively, manage my time more proficiently, and successfully multi-task with a heavy workload. These are all practical skills that I didn't completely master in college, so being a VISTA was a great experience for me." -Jennifer Simek Hunt,2009-2010 Siena VISTA