Meet our VISTAs

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2009 - 2010 Maine Campus Compact VISTA Corps

 

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Andrew Barnes –University of Maine Cooperative Extension Milo

The UMaine-Milo Partnership is a collaborative effort between the University of Maine and the town of Milo to raise the college aspirations of the area youth, enrich the community and culture and develop local resources through new media and community engagement. Andrew currently is building three 4-H afterschool programs in local elementary schools. Children are learning to use online and multimedia tools such as digital photography and blogging to build their competence and confidence. He is also working to build an ongoing oral history project with the Milo Historical Society by partnering community members and high school students.

 

Heather Bennett -- Southern Maine Community College

Heather serves in the Center for Student Involvement and Leadership. She is assisting individual students and various student clubs as they plan and organize service projects for the year. Heather is also collaborating with faculty members to create new courses and support continuing courses that involve service-learning.  Other projects for her VISTA year include an Alternative Gift Market, Spring Service Fair and Alternative Spring Break.

 

Michael Blais  -- Saint Joseph’s College of Maine

Michael is responsible for coordinating and streamlining weekly operations of Catherine's Cupboard, a community food pantry founded and administered by Saint Joseph's College of Maine within the Town of Standish. Within this role Michael focuses on donor and inventory tracking, volunteer recruitment and retention, and program expansion.  Michael is tasked with expanding the programming offered by Catherine's Cupboard: establishing a children's program, food safety/preparation courses, college access, and preparing for the continuity of operations and increased capacity of Catherine's Cupboard for the future.

Ryan Bouchard – University of Maine

Ryan is coordinating the Civic Passage program, which provides students with weekly anti-poverty service opportunities. This program is in collaboration with the Office of Community Standards, Rights, and Responsibilities in which conduct referral students can complete service through the Bodwell Center with an aspect of reflection and service-learning. He is also working on UMaine Cares - an annual day of service in celebration of National Make A Difference Day where students volunteer for the day at local community organizations. One of his programs is The Holiday Sharing Program in which toys/gifts are provided to hundreds of Old Town area families in need.

 

David Cimato – University of Southern Maine

David focuses on recruiting students to volunteer roles to fill the critical needs of the local community in Portland and Gorham. He also provides support and training to students on a regular basis who show a commitment to volunteering. His role also includes managing information systems and websites dedicated to tracking student participation and increasing the capacity of USM to volunteer.

 

Edie Davis – University of Maine Farmington

Edie will work to cultivate new community partnerships, as well as help to coordinate student volunteers.  Edie also assists faculty with the First Year Seminar entitled Civic Engagement: Philosophy and Action in the Local Community.

 

Joe Deegan – Colby College

Joe’s primary role is to support the student-led Colby Volunteer Center. This entails increasing the CVC’s visibility on campus, strengthening student leadership skills, building relationships with new and existing community partners, and enhancing the overall capacity and sustainability of the Volunteer Center. Joe works closely with the student CVC Directors to recruit, train, and retain student leaders for 10 ongoing service programs and several major one-time events each year. A primary focus of these activities is increasing college aspirations and access for Maine students.

 

Rachel Dingman – Maine Campus Compact

As VISTA Leader for Maine Campus Compact Rachel supports VISTAs to ensure they make the most of their year of service.  She is responsible for organizing regular meetings and providing professional development and team building opportunities. Rachel is also working to develop the Civic Leadership Network (CLN). The CLN is an online community of students and staff which offers a calendar of trainings, a framework of skills, knowledge, and values for the growth and development of civic leadership, as well as opportunities for students to network with each other across the state and region on anti-poverty projects. Rachel also recruits and screens all VISTA applicants for the next year of service.

 

Andrea Emch – University of Maine Augusta

Andrea serves at the Office of Community Engagement at the University of Maine at Augusta. In her position, Andrea is responsible for guiding student-run programming and community engagement projects. Additionally, Andrea is working with faculty to increase the number and quality of anti-poverty service-learning initiatives available at the school.

 

Therese Fleming – Bates College

Therese is working through the Harward Center for Community Partnerships to set up a chapter of the Bonner Leadership Program at Bates College.  The Bonner program is devoted to creating a culture of service by engaging students in service opportunities with local community low-income serving agencies, as well as providing regular reflection and training opportunities around civic engagement and professional development for its students.

 

Marybeth Hentrich – University of Maine Augusta

As the yoUMAtter Coordinator, Marybeth is responsible for recruiting student volunteers to be mentors to the at risk youth at the Augusta Boys and Girls teen center. She holds monthly training sessions for her mentors. She also plans monthly activities for the mentors and mentees. In addition she budgets the grant money. Her overall goal is to increase the awareness of the problems of at-risk youth on campus and to meet youth needs.

 

Meg Kowalik  -- University of New England

As the AmeriCorps*VISTA at the University of New England, Meg’s primary role is to act as coordinator for UNE’s College Community Mentoring Program. She is responsible for recruiting, training, and managing UNE students to serve as mentors for local children and youth in grades pre-K through 12.  Meg also works with a service-based orientation program called Trailblazers in the Community, coordinates the annual Community Service & Volunteer Fair, assists with service-learning seminars, and organizes college aspiration tours at UNE for local middle school students.

 

Brittany McGarry – University of Southern Maine

As the SGA VISTA at USM, Brittany is a resource to all student organizations for assistance with fund-raising, membership recruitment, event planning, basic organization, running effective meetings and anything else they may need. Brittany consistently helps to organize collaborations between student groups and regularly encourages community service to help strengthen an organization. For example, she is currently working to pitch a USM Day of Service for all student organizations to get involved and work together on a campus-wide project.

 

Becki Quimby -- University of Southern Maine Lewiston Auburn College

Becki is one of the coordinators of the Office of Community Service Learning. She is coordinating college students to work with Big Brother Big Sister Androscoggin in a new mentoring program. She is also planning the fourth annual Community Partner Event.

 

Erin Reed -- Downtown Education Collaborative

DEC is a new partnership between the colleges and non-profits in the Lewiston-Auburn area that is dedicated to creating a space where students, faculty, residents, and non-profits can come together to discuss issues in the city and brainstorm creative new programming that both addresses community needs and provides service-learning and community-service opportunities for students. Erin is responsible for running an after-school program at the Lewiston Public Library and for the College Student's Guide to Lewiston-Auburn. Erin is also responsible for coordinating the collaborations between the schools and the community for many one-time service events.

 

Alicia Sampson – University of Southern Maine

Alicia is the Service Learning Coordinator for USM's Office of Community Engagement (OCE).  She works with faculty and the OCE's community partners to develop projects where students can put into practice what they are learning in the classroom in anti-poverty projects.  Alicia is also the project coordinator for Civic Matters, USM's first annual symposium of community based research and projects.  Finally, Alicia works to develop and support campus/community partnerships for USM focusing on the arts. 

 

Jessica Sheldon – Maine College of Art

As MECA's Americorps VISTA Jess support the Service-Learning program by helping promote and maintain both service learning and civic engagement as an integral part of the curriculum and student life.

 

Sara Trunzo – Unity College

Sara is working in the department of Community Based Learning to help Unity College students and faculty connect with hands-on service opportunities that benefit local schools, food security organizations, and other community groups.  Students benefit by using the community as a learning laboratory.  Community partners benefit from having access to more hands, expertise, and energy to do their work in our rural community.