"I have taken pride in my work many times before, but for the first time in my life, I feel a sense of righteousness as I walk into school each day."

Why did you join City Year?

The reasons for joining City Year were endless. The City Year Program offers the opportunity to give a year of service before graduating into a stage of my life where finding time to help others will be muchmore difficult. Also, City Year allows me to fulfill my desire to teach children and to offer inner-city students some of the opportunities that I was given during my more fortunate secondary education.

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

During my service in California, a location I have never travelled, I will be able to learn and experience a new culture and enjoy the excitement of meeting new people. I hope to learn more about what I want to pursue after graduation and allow myself to grow in a way that Bentley’s campus cannot offer.

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

Through my service in California, I look forward to being able to see actual changes in the results of students that I work with. Also, I look forward to meeting the other service-oriented Corps members with whom I can make lifelong connections and work with to make a difference in San Jose.

Discuss your experience so far for the following:

Experience in your City Year School:

The days in City Year are a lot more demanding than I found Bentley or any internship I've held. It wasn't until I got here that I realized how much work it is to manage children. As consuming as it is, I really love it. I spend my days tutoring middle school students one on one in math. It's mind-blowing how far behind some students are; eighth graders who have trouble with basic addition opened my eyes to how privileged I have been in life as well as some of the flaws in the US education system.

Exploration or travel experience in San Jose.

San Jose is a great base for individuals trying to familiarize themselves with the Bay Area. Directly to the west is the coastal city of Santa Cruz. This is the place to go for a day at the beach. The city features a beach boardwalk and is a great place to check out some surfing. My favorite place to visit is San Francisco, an hour north of San Jose. An ideal city for bicycles, this bay city was once home to Alcatraz, as well as a large part of the 1960s and 70s movements for peace which still shines through the cosmopolitan city that it has become.

Experience with other City Year Corps Members.

The other forty City Year Corps Members are, to put it simply, good people. They have all come from around the country--from Chicago, Vermont, Southern California, and Louisiana just to name a few places--in order to do one thing: serve. Everybody chose this organization and location for different reasons, but we are all here in order to help alleviate the epidemic that the US Education System is facing. Through early team-building activities and the sheer fact of not knowing anybody else in the area, the Corps has grown into a strong community and spends a lot of time together: travelling and partying on the weekend, and dining and hanging out after our long weekdays.

Experience with Leadership Development Days.

Every Friday morning, the entire City Year Corps (who spend all of Monday-Thursday at their designated service schools) meets at the City Year Office downtown for Leadership Development Days. These are days that are spent on training the Corps on classroom skills, reflecting on our work, discussing where we come from and where we want to go, and building leadership through presentations and round-table discussions. The days are a good escape after a week of being in the classroom and offer a lot of insight on who we are as individuals and as a Corps.

Experience/process in securing housing for the year.

Getting housing was not as simple as I expected. I wanted to get a feel for the city before I chose where I lived so I decided to wait until I got to San Jose. Most Corps Members already had their housing set up upon arrival in the city, but I spent the first few weeks living out of a hotel with my roommates as we searched for apartments, signed the lease, and waited for the apartment to be ready. In retrospect, it would have been simpler to move directly into housing, but I enjoyed the adventure of living out of a hotel while getting familiar with the area.