“City Year has made me realize the dire state
our education system is in. Between knowing the facts of the dropout crisis and
seeing the struggles my students face each day, I can’t
imagine not doing anything about it. I am positively impacting many students.
More importantly, they are turning me into a more humble, socially-minded
member of society. As cliché as it sounds, joining City Year was one of the
best decisions I’ve ever made.”

Why did you join City Year?

I joined City Year to make a positive impact on students’ lives who have not had
the same academic opportunities as I. I serve because I know that I will never
again have the opportunity to volunteer an entire year of my life to a cause
greater than myself.

What do you hope to achieve with your service? Any personal goals?

I hope to instill a greater appreciation for learning in my students’ lives and
to give them hope for a better future where there previously was none.
Personally, I desire to challenge myself to push myself outside my comfort zone
so that I can have the greatest impact possible.

What are you looking forward to most in your upcoming year of service?

I’m looking forward to seeing students’ eyes light up as they grasp a concept for
the first time, when they finally realize that they can succeed in school!

Service experience in your City Year School:

KIPP is unique because it is a public charter school. The students are actually in
class from 7:30am-5pm, after which we run after-school programs, so our days
are very long. However, I love my students and have created relationships with
them such that I am excited to wake up in the morning and they are happy to see
me! I follow a group of 27 sixth graders to each of their classes, tutoring
them throughout the day in the subjects in which they need help. I also help
run fifth grade elective classes, such as art and a teambuilding class.

Exploration or travel experience in your new home area:

San Antonio is a city rich with culture, and I’ve loved attending local festivals
and concerts to soak in more of it. Food is also a great way to understand an area—San
Antonio has some incredible Mexican food! I brought a car with me, so it has
been pretty easy to get around—everything (no matter where you are going!) is
20 minutes away, although the highways were hard to get used to at first.

Experience with other City Year Corps Members:

The amount of leadership experience and idealism present in the corps is
astounding. Everyone came into the program ready to serve, but also ready to
form relationships. It was easy to get to know everyone, and since most of the
other members do not know anyone else in the city, we have formed very strong
relationships already.

Leadership Development Days:

Every Friday, the entire corps meets to receive more training. Sometimes, we learn
more tutoring skills and other useful tools for our school service. However, we
also learn applicable life skills such as etiquette that will assist us in our
futures. These trainings are not all business, either. Every so often a school
team leads a Community Meeting, during which we share stories about our school
service and have the opportunity to learn more about the other schools City
Year serves around the city. I really cherish these times, because it provides
an opportunity to remember that the work I am doing in my school is being
multiplied throughout the city—and the country.

Experience/process in securing housing for the year (both positive and negative):

I started looking for housing very early—especially because I was accepted into
the program 7 months before needing to move. I used a free service called
Apartments NOW!, which really facilitated the entire process. Luckily, I was
able to visit San Antonio to look at the apartments before making a decision.
The most frustrating part of the entire process was that my original roommate
backed out about a month before the program started. I ended up finding 3 more
roommates (which makes rent MUCH more affordable), and I love them so much. The
other problem we faced was that the apartment complex required everyone to be
present to sign the lease, but the 4 of us are from all over the country and
were arriving several days apart from each other. Luckily we were able to talk
to the managers and had an exception made for us.