AMERICORPS

On the front lines

Freelance reporter volunteers to make a difference with local youth

Gail Franklin, For the CDT

I was reporting for the Centre Daily Times on an after-school program in a rural neighborhood, taking notes as youth workers played with children, when I felt a strong desire to become part of the story.

Gail Franklin, left, works with fellow AmeriCorps member Brittany Madison in June as they prepare an activity for children who will participate in a Youth Service Bureau field trip.

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It was a very cold day in March 2008, and my plan was to ask a few questions, keep the blood running through my fingers

He also made me rethink what I had planned for my life for the following year.

For the past ten months I’ve been an AmeriCorps member at the Youth Service Bureau. My assignment at an alternative learning high school program in State College has challenged my preconceptions, pushed me emotionally and tested my ability to adapt to one of the most changeable and unpredictable forces known to the world: high schoolers.

I didn’t realize a year ago when I signed on to this program that, along with the students, I would be learning new things every day. But my lessons weren’t in a textbook.

Making a difference

I had worked solely for print publications since graduating from college in 2002 and had only volunteered with a few youth programs. The career change was frightening, but that was part of the lure.

The idea of trying something new, and so meaningful, helped me get over any doubts about the one-year commitment.

AmeriCorps is a federal program that aims to fight poverty in the United States by boosting nonprofit organizations with AmeriCorps members who help people buy homes, keep kids off streets, improve education and prevent drug use.

The setting for my AmeriCorps experience was a quiet storefront that houses Reclaiming Individual Talent, the alternative high school program run by State College Area High School.

My main task was to help the students participate in community service, including the 20 hours required to graduate and additional hours for those on probation.

and observe as employees from the Centre County Youth Service Bureau set up weekly games in a mobile home park.

A six-year-old boy who wasn’t intimidated by my notebook introduced himself, smiled up at me with bright, curious eyes and led me by the hand to join a game of tag.

CDT photo/Christopher Weddle

Gail Franklin, at right, is pictured with a team of AmeriCorps members.

Photo provided

From September to June, the students collectively completed almost 400 hours of service doing projects I chose, planned and took them to accomplish.

I say this to brag about the students, many of whom continued — even after meeting their minimum requirements — to volunteer their time sorting clothes for benefit sales, cleaning animal cages at the SPCA in Centre Hall, and making crafts with local nursing home residents.

I organized outside speakers and gave talks on issues such as drug prevention, AIDS awareness and healthy relationships.

When I wasn’t taking students to clean dog kennels at a shelter or help make lunch for a free food program, I was in the classroom.

Each student works independently at the program, and I was part of the staff that helped with questions, kept students on task, talked to them about their lives and engaged in the modern school warfare against cell phones.

Among the many humbling experiences was when I took two teenage girls to clean our Adopt-A-Road in Ferguson Township and then, to my utter horror, realized we had been cleaning the wrong road for an hour.

To their credit, the girls agreed to move to the right spot and keep cleaning until the job was done.

One of perks of the job was to help run an indoor rock wall class that combined life skills and learning to climb at the wall at the State College YMCA.

Once, when I was climbing a difficult wall, I heard a student cheer me on and encourage me to get to the top.

It was one of the many students who enjoyed pushing my buttons to see how I would react. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.

For a fleeting moment we understood each other, this so-called at-risk student and a 20-something do-gooder.

And then I slid down the rope, felt my feet hit the floor and we went back to the give-and-take of tutor and student. But exposing myself to the rock wall helped us connect later in the classroom.

Solid connections

I was asked to reflect on my year of AmeriCorps service. I am writing this with 10 months completed and about two months remaining, yet I can only grasp a little of what I am sure I will take away.

I have learned that “no” is a powerful word and one that youth may not like but do need to hear.

I’ve learned that teachers in the modern school system deserve our respect because they truly are serving our country.

I’ve discovered the rule of the 10-passenger van. It’s simply this: the fewer students in the van, the better the conversation. And it’s especially good if there is just a driver and one student.

I think it’s similar to when I was young and simply wanted someone to listen, not necessarily to fix all my problems. I’ve had a lot of good talks in that school district van.

My fellow AmeriCorps members joined the team for many reasons and the experience has changed our lives in different ways.

I will go back to freelance writing, although I plan to continue as a volunteer with some Youth Service Bureau activities.

Other members from my team have found jobs in youth service or education due, in part, to their Ameri- Corps service.

One member credited her two years of service under the Centre County Youth Service Bureau with helping her find her calling in life.

Toni Woodward, a 2007 Penn State graduate, worked for a year at the Bellefonte Youth Center and recently completed an additional year as a residential counselor at the Burrowes Street Youth Haven in State College.

“I was a criminal justice major and was not really sure what I wanted to do with my degree or with my life for that matter,” she wrote me in an e-mail.

Woodward signed on for a second year of Ameri- Corps so she could work at the shelter for homeless and runaway teens.

“The training for this position was long and intensive, and there were moments when I wondered if I was doing the right thing,” she recalled. “I later found out those trainings would help me significantly.”

She found she enjoyed working with the teens in a one-on-one setting.

“I also enjoyed the thought and feeling that I was actually helping these kids and their families; giving them resources, reuniting them, and assisting with the difficulties that come with being a teenager,” she said. “It was this year of service that made me realize that I knew what I wanted to do with my life.”

Woodward will begin graduate school at West Chester University this fall. Her goal is to become a high school guidance counselor.

She told me she values the friendships she made with youth and other AmeriCorps members. I’ve begun relationships that will last a very long time, too.

I’ve also come to realize that if you want to make a positive effect in your community, you won’t be alone.

Do I feel like I’ve fought poverty? Definitely.

To fight poverty I relearned algebra, simplified vocabulary words, taught a student how to fold a shirt, praised what was good, gave second chances and listened to despair, elation and every emotion in between.

I fought things that often lead to poverty, such as quitting school, using drugs and having unhealthy relationships.

On the last day of school, when kids I knew I’d never see again waved goodbye or simply walked out of the door, I wondered if they’d make good choices this summer.

I hope they remember our conversations in the SCASD van, achieving their goals on the rock wall, and visiting nursing home residents for the first time.

I watched many of the students mature this year, and as we tried new things together on our service trips I’m pretty sure I was growing right along with them.