Freebird

From one adventure to the next – I am ready to hop into my AmeriCorps position in Los Angeles. Everything finished up very well in Rutland, though the goodbyes were hard. YouthWorks put on an exit session for us back in Delaware for two days, then we were done! It was such a crazy feeling to be done with my commitment as Site Director. I felt as though I was a free-bird and ready to fly! I finished up my time on the East Coast with a visit to NYC to see my cousin, then to Boston to visit my aunt and uncle who then took me to Cape Cod. Not a better way to finish up a summer in the East!

All of my experiences this summer have challenged, molded, and shaped me into the person and leader that I now am. Yes, it was hard work filled with many questions and mistakes; but through all of that God was faithful, and I was grown and stretched beyond what I had ever imagined in my life. As I continue to process all of the ways that I have changed and grown this summer, I truly hope that there is not one thing I will forget about my incredible experience with YouthWorks. I will keep loving the community of Rutland, I will keep loving my team and all of those YouthWorks staff people I grew close to, and I will keep loving all of those whom I am surrounded by – in my community right where I am at.

I am now continuing in service and am now going to the other side of the US: the west coast. I will be serving with the Notre Dame Mission Volunteer AmeriCorps program for 11 months in South Central Los Angeles. I will be working as a teacher's aide and tutor for a private K-8 school. I will be living in community housing with some of the other AmeriCorps volunteers. I am both nervous and excited for this new opportunity. I know that God has called me there, so I am willing and ready to go with an open heart and open mind.