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GR A DU AT ION by Danielle Delp and Alyssa Jackson photographs provided by Alicia Stern
“I had a lot of great opportunities throughout my life,” said RIT alumnus David Kraines over the phone. “I got to go to RIT, get a great education, and receive a lot of opportunities that not everyone gets. I grew to love Rochester and the people and I wanted to help and serve the community.” Many RIT alumni, like Kraines, have chosen to give back to the community after graduation whether it was a community nearby or in another country. There are many organizations that help people find these short term or long term opportunities to give back including AmeriCorps, Teach for America and Peace Corps, each of which provides opportunities to help the community grow while growing, yourself.
AMERICORPS
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ccording to the AmeriCorps website, the program is “a network of national service programs that engage Americans in intensive service to meet the nation’s critical needs in education, public safety, health and the environment.” The program’s main goal is to promote community service projects, and according Kraines, it does so in a way that is very appealing to students who are exiting college. After graduating from RIT with a degree in New Media Publishing in 2010, Kraines worked for AmeriCorps from August 2010 until 2011 in the Rochester Youth Year program, a mission run out of the University of Rochester. This program specifically looks at capacity building in organizations so that the group can expand its ability and sustain itself after the volunteers have gone. The program appealed to him because of his Christian faith and the other benefits that come along with participating in the program. For example, AmeriCorps will freeze student loans for a year, including the
interest on the loans, and at the end of the year that you spend with them they will pay $5,000 toward the loans. The downside: AmeriCorps pays you $10,000 for the year that you spend with them. Kraines explained that this wasn’t a difficult monetary situation for him because he was allowed to apply for foodstamps and other government aid. “When you really think about what you need to buy in a year, in comparison to what we spend money on, that amount is more than enough,” Kraines said. “They encourage it because it brings you closer to people you’re serving.” Kraines explained that there are a multitude of opportunities within AmeriCorps, and that not all of them are a full year long, like the program he participated in. He said that there are summer programs as well and that some of the volunteer opportunities include cleaning National Parks. Another program he talked about, RiseGo, looks for individuals to teach kids about business and other important subjects so that they can better their communities. AmeriCorps programs are offered nationwide.
Because many of the programs are summeror year-long, Kraines stated that AmeriCorps doesn’t require a career commitment. Basically, you can test it out for a few months and decide if it is something you want to continue to be a part of. He also said that the experience allows you to meet a plethora of people to add to your connections and network. And after living a year with such little funds, one really knows how to manage a budget. “You don’t get many opportunities to take your life and invest it into something positive like this,” Kraines said. Kraines encouraged other students to consider becoming involved in the program in some way, citing his own positive experiences as reason. Students that are interested can find more information on their website, http://americorps.gov.
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