VISTA Year Reflection
Here are reflections from a few of our 2009-2010 Iowa Campus Compact VISTA members:
“I am most proud of the MLK event. Simpson had never done a semester of service project and we were not sure how well it would go. We did not have as many students involved as we would have liked, but the students who did participate did a lot of good work. I am heading to Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur Georgia. At this point I am planning to be a minister, but that might change. VISTA has taught me a lot about working in an office and working with grants and bureaucracy which I think will be helpful in a church setting. It has also shown me a lot of the agencies that are present to help people that I did not know existed. Anyone who is thinking about AmeriCorps should give a year. The amount of things you learn about the world any yourself are more than worth the pay and your time”. –Heather Bardole, Simpson College
“I am particularly proud of the Real Service Class that I set up. It was very useful to the students and staff this year and will be used in years to come. I will be moving home for about a month and then I will be starting graduate school at the University of North Dakota for Educational Leadership, while working as a hall director for Fulton/Johnston Halls. VISTA was a very positive experience. The main thing that it helped me with, is that is allowed me an opportunity to work in the field of Higher Education which was a field that I was interested in. VISTA gave me real experience in this particular field and allowed me to realize that this was something I was passionate about”. Doug’s parting words "Sometimes you eat the bear, and sometimes, well, he eats you"-The Big Lebowski. - Doug Wagner, Saint Ambrose University
“It was really rewarding to collaborate with Janna on the VISTA professional development series and it will be fun to see how next year’s VISTA Leader expands upon that. I recently accepted a position at Pella Corporation, and will be going back to school part-time at Mercy College of Health Sciences and Des Moines Area Community College to pursue my dream of becoming a volunteer paramedic and fire fighter. VISTA reinforced the importance of public service and civic engagement and cemented my believe that every citizen should give their time and talents to the community in which they reside. I want to thank all of the member institutions who continue to invest themselves in the Compact. The resources that Iowa Campus Compact provides is one reason why Central College is able to deliver a high quality service-learning experience, which for me, led to the VISTA experience”. –Kelly Dooley, Iowa Campus Compact
