Travis Vigneault, 2015

Why did you join City Year?

I joined City Year because I felt that it was a great opportunity to not only give back to the community but to expand some of my own skills while making a difference in the lives of others as well. Whether it was from my family or friends, I was always fortunate enough to be blessed with a strong support team growing up and I now want to become part of that team for the students who need me.

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

With my service, I hope to positively change children’s lives, knowing that they will be better off now than they would have been had I not taken a year off with City Year. I hope to increase my students’ learning potential in math, reading, and writing through constant tutoring and mentoring. If nothing else, I hope to keep my students motivated and excited about school while helping them realize their full potential. I want them to realize the importance of education and how it is an absolute necessity in their lives, even if people in their families may think otherwise. A lot of the students that I work with are either refugees, from the projects, or fresh out of foster care who lack a positive role model in their lives; with my year of service, I hope to be that positive role model in these kids’ lives and hopefully change their lives forever. I also look to gain strengths in areas that I may have been weak in before by experiencing new things throughout my year of service in an extremely diverse community. I am gaining strengths in leadership, event planning, as well as the necessary skills to tutor students in reading, writing, and math. I have only been in City Year for a little over a month and I feel that I have already learned more here than I have in one year at Bentley University.

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

I am looking forward to creating lifelong relationships with my fellow corps members while giving back to the community that has been so fortunate to me. I am really looking forward to actually seeing all of my hard work this year pay off. Just a month into service, I have already been blessed with the reward of watching my students’ progression in school. Knowing that I have been able to positively shape these students lives while assisting them in building a plan to achieve all of their academic goals has been all the reward I need.

Discuss your experience so far for the following:

Experience in your City Year School:

I have been serving in the 3rd Grade at Gossler Park Elementary School for a little over a month now. My experience with service has been tremendous. I have created a strong, professional relationship with my teacher that is a great benefit to the students we serve. Though it may sound like an easy job, it has been nothing but difficult since I started. We have gone through extensive training and been on retreats that have really opened my eyes to the national dropout crisis in the United States of America. So far, the students in my class have been very welcoming of me and have accepted me not only as another authority figure in their classroom but as someone who they can trust. During one-on-one tutoring, it does get really frustrating at times when most of my students are not reading at a third grade level or who are very weak in math. Some of my students can barely speak English whole ¼ of my students have ADHD. This can make for a very long day but I am very much up to the challenge. This will only make the reward of seeing their success throughout the year that much sweeter.

Exploration or travel experience in Manchester, NH.

Manchester, NH is pretty similar to Boston, MA but just on a smaller scale. I have built life-long relationships with other corps members through our exploration of the city. After a long day of service, we may go out to eat, shop at the New Hampshire Mall, workout at the gym, or just relax at one of the beautiful parks here in Manchester. Wherever we go, we are always greeted by residents of Manchester and thanked for all of the work we do in the school system.

Experience with other City Year Corps Members.

So far, my experience with other City Year Corps Members could not be better. I feel that my seven-man team at Gossler Park Elementary is one of the strongest teams in the City Year New Hampshire program. A lot of this is due to the diversity of the team members. The different insights that are brought to the table during the planning of events or team debriefs are a major strength; everyone’s ability to not only listen to these ideas but comprehend and respond to what is being said is incredible.

Experience with Leadership Development Days.

So far we haven’t had many leadership development days but we have had some training in leadership development. They have been very informative and helpful; I have practiced what I have learned during these trainings many times in my classroom this year.

Experience/process in securing housing for the year.

Housing was a very interesting process. The hardest part was actually finding roommates. Once I confirmed roommates, we went back and forth until we actually signed the lease to a place on the outskirts of downtown Manchester. Despite it being a stressful process, after we all moved in, our place has really felt like home. City Year was very helpful in finding us a place and matching us up with other corps members to room with.