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Current VISTAs
  
Jeana-Dee Allen, Reach
Studio Art Center: Jeana-Dee began her year of service as a
Community Building Assistant in July of 2009 at NorthWest Initiative
(NWI). She is currently in her second term as a VISTA member at Reach
Studio Art Center. She has a strong
background in documentary journalism and non-profit work. She started at
the NWI as a volunteer filmmaker. In her year of service, she produced a documentary film about
prisoner re-entry. At Reach she is currently working on fundraising and
volunteer recruitment.
Christine Harris,
New
Way In, INC:
Christina has been working with New
Way In, Inc. providing ex-offender re-entry services since July of 2009.
She has also served as a volunteer for Capital Area Community Services,
Volunteers of America, and America Reads/America Counts at Michigan
State University. Christina intends to further use her acquired skills
to promote community rehabilitation, education, workforce development,
ex-offender re-entry and collaboration amongst non-profit organizations.
In 2010, New Way In, INC merged with Advent House (AH). Christina joined
with AH for a second term of service.
Chad Badgero,
Old Town Commercial Association: Chad has M.A. in
Theatre from MSU and has a wide background in teaching and volunteering.
He has also served as a volunteer with Habitat for Humanity. These
experiences have driven him to pursue VISTA to help restore Old Town
Lansing. Following his service in December 2009, Chad taught a few
classes at Lansing Community College and rejoined the VISTA Project in
April of 2010.
Sergio Ruiz, The Power of We Consortium:
Sergio began his year as a VISTA in mid-November of 2010
as the Communications Coordinator for the Power of We Consortium. Sergio
graduated in 2010 with a major in Security & Intelligence and minors in
Arabic and Middle East Studies. Sergio will serve to increase the
consortium's, as well as its member coalitions', social media and
communication capacity. Sergio is looking forward to serving in a
position which will allow him to deal with more than one issue and to
gain valuable experience for his future goals.
Willow Cherven, The Garden Project:
Willow is the new AmeriCorps Outreach Coordinator at The Garden Project,
a part of The Greater Lansing Food Bank. She is a Michigan State
University graduate and has past experience with outreach at the Crooked
Tree Arts Center in Petoskey. She is interested in sustainable food
systems and the power of community involvement, and is happy to be a
part of The Garden Project this upcoming year.
Nikki McCabe, Refugee Development Center:
Nikki is completing her AmeriCorps VISTA service at the Refugee
Development Center. She became interested in working with refugees
after seeing the vitality, hope, and resilience of internally displaced
populations while living in Uganda for four months during her
undergraduate career. She has a BA in social work and hopes to continue
working with international populations to do mental health or community
development work into the future. Nikki is also passionate about the
Eastside of Lansing and enjoys potluck dinners, gardening with friends
and neighbors, and bread-making.
Meet
Our Summer Associates:
At NorthWest Initiative:
Ashley Benson:
Ashley is a 19 year old and incoming Junior at Western Michigan
University. She is a business major and will be minoring in Spanish. She
is excited to work with NWI this summer and has previous experience
working with kids for the last three years. She is overjoyed to be a
part of the Summer Associates. She plans on building fun and healthy
relationships with children and helping them to become bright stars that
will shine all over the world.
Marcus Canady: Marcus is a 19 year old Sophomore
attending Morehouse College in Atlanta, GA. He is very happy and excited
to be working with the NWI this summer. He spent past time working with
children and other child care programs in the area and feels that
working with children is one of his strongest areas. He looks forward to
new opportunities that will be presented to him through his Summer
Associateship.
Dylan Rodgers: Dylan is a MSUE graduate with a degree
in Interdisciplinary Humanities. A North Lansing resident, he hopes to
improve the lives of others in his city through hard work and
understanding. His interests include bicycling, making music, painting,
reading and smiling at strangers. Dylan is excited to be getting married
this coming September.
At Reach
Studio Art Center:
Natalie Walicki: Natalie is a Summer Associate at Reach
and student at MSU's Arts and Humanities. Natalie is very invested both
in community engagement and the arts. She also enjoys working with kids,
so the Art Truck Program (offering experiences to children at the
Lansing Parks and Recreation Summer camps) is very appealing.
Hailey Chenevert: Hailey grew up in Ann Arbor, MI and
attended MSU. Currently she is a Summer Associate at Reach Studio Art
Center working on their new summer program: The Art Truck. She hopes to
combine what she is learning at REACH with her studies in the
Residential College in the Arts and Humanities at MUS to work in a
non-profit organization providing art programming for community youth.
John Szilagyi: John grew up in the Lansing Area and attended
Michigan State University. After graduating in 2005 he decided to
undertake a year of AmeriCorps State service where he managed a youth
mentoring program for Ingham County 4-H. Following this, he moved to
Urbana Illinois to attend graduate school. In 2009, he graduated with a
MS in Library and Information Science. He then moved back to Lansing and
is now a PWC VISTA Summer Associate.
At The
Garden Project and Greater Lansing Food Bank:
Brian Bienkowski: For Brian, becoming a VISTA Summer
Associate was his first step towards a new career path. After college,
he worked in manufacturing for close to five years, having plenty of
time to contemplate what he wanted to do with his life. After seeing
that Michigan State University offers a Masters in Journalism with a
concentration in environmental issues and policy, he knew he'd found
what he was looking for. Through the environmental journalism program,
he hopes to supplement his core courses with a focus on food policy,
sustainability, and agricultural economics. The Summer Associate VISTA
position gave him the opportunity to work with the Lansing Garden
Project who tackle these issues on the community level, providing
invaluable exposure and knowledge.
Kaitlyn Rich:
Kaityln is a 22 year old, MI native and recent
graduate of MSU. She became interested in sustainability, community
gardens and other environmental issues after taking an elective class on
renewable energy. She was particularly drawn to community gardens and
the garden project because of her love of food and do-it-yourself
ethics. In high hopes of learning a lot and contributing much, she will
be keeping a weekly blog about her service at
http://ww.slumberish.blogspot.com.
Chris Hoskins: Coming soon...
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