AmeriCorps VISTA!

I hope you all enjoyed hearing from Anne Marie this summer! I think she did a great job of highlighting some of our partner agencies. As she mentioned, Cheryl, our social media intern, will be trying her hand at blogging very soon.

I wanted to share a little bit with all of you before she started. I spent the majority of this week with the HandsOn Network participating in the AmeriCorps VISTA Supervisor training. That's right - it's time for our AmeriCorps VISTA member, Caitlin, to start with us! She'll be here on Monday, so I'm spending the day preparing for her arrival.


While at training, I got to meet representatives from other HandsOn affiliates and partners around the country. It was excellent for networking and gaining a better understanding of how other affiliats do great work in their own communities! We even got to create a few posters. This one shows what my table thought were good qualities for a volunteer leader: a clear idea/interest/passion, ready to take "own"ership of projects (hence the key!), willing to work (with tools like hammers) alongside other volunteers, and understanding when to lead and when to step back and follow.

The best part of training was knowing that the great work Caitlin is about to embark on is starting on Monday! (The picture on the right is of all the HandsOn Network and Habitat for Humanity VISTAs for 2010-2011 being sworn in.)For those of you that don't know, Caitlin will be working in the four middle schools and two high schools in the Clarke County School District developing a structure and system for students to participate in service-learning. Service-learning has been shown to enhance engagement with and commitment to school, which we hope will contribute to greater graduation rates and the pursuit of higher education. Of course, even as amazing as we know Caitlin will be, this cannot happen without your help! So if you know of interested and motivated middle and high school students in any of the Clarke County School District middle and high schools, send them our way! And if you are one of those interested middle or high school students, then email me right away: info@handsonnortheastgeorgia.org. Also, high schoolers, be on the lookout for the application for the Athens Volunteer Fair, which will be on the UGA campus in September.

As always, don't forget to keep an eye on our facebook and twitter accounts for all news HandsOn!

In service,
Dawn