VYDC Spring Newsletter 14 15

Vermont Youth Development Corps

VYDC Chronicles Spring Newsletter

AmeriCorps State Program

Inside this issue:

Taylor Curtis

2

Macy Margolin

3

Eve Bernhard

4

Jenna Carpenter

5

Sarah Bethel

6

Melissa Golden

7

Lucy Schmid

8

Elise Greaves

9

Emma Ohlund

10

Rebecca Stewart

11

Josie Raezer

12

Mid-Year Accomplishments

13

Mayors Day of Recognition

14

Contact our office to request assistance or an accommodation.

Greetings From the VYDC Team!

We are pleased to share with you the Spring 2015 VYDC newsletter. In this issue members will share stories of how their direct service efforts are improving the lives of youth in their communities by encouraging healthy and active lifestyles, engaging youth in civic discussions, and providing support for military youth and families.

We are very proud of the VYDC members and the positive impacts they have made on the communities in which they serve. We hope you enjoy their stories!

Sincerely, Katie Robertson, VYDC Team Leader

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Taylor Curtis VYDC AmeriCorps State Member The Collaborative South Londonderry, Vermont Wide-eyed and wobbling toward the goal Aiden shoots and scores. With the count tied it is up to the Varsity Broom Ball team, Michael, Justin and Aiden, to break down the opposing team’s defense. Three-two-one! Michael wins the face-off with a pass to Justin. He fakes left, fakes right, and passes the ball half way down the rink, bypassing their strongest player. Aiden pops up out of nowhere, sweeping the ball effortlessly out of the defenders path. Michael has sprinted on the slick ice calling, “YO! YO! MIDDLE!”. He slips, and lands hard, right in front of the goal. It’s too late! Aiden has already made the pass that will end in their defeat! What will they tell their parents? How will they show their faces in school?! But wait! Micheal stretches his arm out to make the swift, steady hit, right into the goal! With that, Varsity Broom Ball has done it again, another undefeated season. Just another regular Saturday night for an AmeriCorps member serving at The Collaborative.

Although being an AmeriCorps member isn’t always running around on ice, it has been one of the benefits for me. Broom Ball was just one of the many events I got to put on throughout the past few months. Through these events I know I’m providing fun, healthy opportunities for youth to enjoy activities they might not get the chance to do otherwise.

Youth at The Collaborative celebrate victories at Broomball Tournaments hosted by VYDC member Taylor Curtis

The Collaborative promotes the development of a healthy, involved community supporting substance free youth in a caring environment offering a variety of programs for youth of all ages. Programs range from leadership development and healthy role modeling to afterschool homework and summer day camps.

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Macy Margolin VYDC AmeriCorps State Member Committee on Temporary Shelter Burlington, Vermont I plan and facilitate the daily programming to enrich the lives of the kids that live at the two COTS family shelters. My office, a cluttered space overlooking Main Street in Burlington, smells like soil. Yesterday, I sprawled on the floor with three children to plant our first seeds for our new raised garden beds.

We have a youth snack and dinner program twice a week, where we make meals from scratch, and now we hope to supplement those meals with our own fruits and vegetables. I have rigged a grow light to my desktop computer to shower warm UV waves onto cells of soon-to-germinate seeds.

My office, a pseudo-greenhouse overlooking Main Street in Burlington, looks like a library. Academic tutors from a nearby elementary school have organized a bookcase of donated books—from Junie B. Jones to The Phantom Tollbooth—into twenty six reading levels. Tutors and reading volunteers make use of our donated library almost every day to provide academic support and improve reading skills with preschool and school aged children.

The programming is consistent each week, with committed volunteers helping to run the show and act as positive role models. I coordinate volunteers to take youth swimming, lead art programs, and cook dinners for kids. We have a yoga program and an exercise support group for parents. There’s a lot going on.

Because families can stay for up to six months, and usually stay for at least a few months, we have time to introduce kids to new foods, new ways to get active, and to build on healthy habits. Today one of the kids who helped plant the seeds stopped me in the hall when he got home from school. He enthusiastically pulled apple seeds from his pocket that he had saved from lunch. “Can we plant these?” he asked.

COTS provides emergency shelter, support services, prevention assistance, and housing for people who are homeless or marginally housed in Vermont. We believe: in the value and dignity of every human life; that housing is a fundamental human right; and that emergency shelter is not the solution to homelessness. COTS offers the following programs for individuals and families: emergency shelter for single adults, emergency shelter and services for families, support services and case management, transitional and permanent housing, and homelessness prevention.

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Eve Bernhard VYDC AmeriCorps State Member EarthWalk Vermont Plainfield, Vermont Building a fire in the snow is not easy . . . especially when you have to use friction to make the flames. The youth at EarthWalk could tell you how to do it though, in detail from gathering wood that passes the snap test, to crafting a tinder bundle from cedar and birch bark, to producing a good healthy coal with a bow drill. In the meantime, they could tell you all about the “Three Cares”: take care of yourself, take care of others, and take care of the earth.

The physical and mental benefits of being outside -- tracking wildlife, building shelters, knowing wild edible and medicinal plants, carving (kids are so thrilled to be trusted with knives at “school” that they are very careful and no one gets hurt), sharing folktales, giving thanks, being outside in the sun and the wind and the snow -are indubitably enormous. If natural history, wilderness living skills, and community engagement were academic subjects, then these kids would be top of the class.

As an AmeriCorps member at EarthWalk, it’s my responsibility not necessarily to teach but to share these invaluable experiences with the youth. It’s my goal to be infectiously joyful, to be receptive to the creativity and joy that the children innately have. According to the kids, they all learn a lot of useful things here, like “how to learn while having fun”. One youth told me that EarthWalk taught him “how to be more open and not as sad.” We like to sing: “Every little cell in my body is happy, every little cell in my body is well.” And skunks are coming out, creeks are flowing, sap is boiling and the sun is shining. Welcome in, spring!

EarthWalk Vermont's mission is to inspire and empower children, families and communities to reconnect with and care for one another and the earth through long-term community and nature-based mentoring. Its education programs serve over 300 families and individuals from 30 Central Vermont towns.

VYDC Member Eve Bernhard, Earthwalk Vermont, teaches Vermont youth how to build a fire

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Jenna Carpenter VYDC AmeriCorps State Member University of Vermont Extension 4-H: Military Kids Vermont Burlington, Vermont In the state of Vermont there is no central hub of military families, they are spread throughout the entire state. So one of the main goals of Military Kids Vermont (MKVT) -formally called Operation Military Kids- is to unite the youth of Military families and do this through fun, meaningful activities.

Another goal of MKVT is to educate and inform the community of the realities of being a military family, specifically being a youth in a military family. One of the programs that we do through MKVT that encompasses both of these principals is called Speak Out for Military Kids. Our Speak Out for Military Kids (SOMK) group consists of both military and civilian youth. This year our SOMK group is learning all about the value of community service and doing some service work of their own. For MLK day we partnered with Essex CHIPS and they cooked the community brunch at the event. At our next meet up, the youth were encouraged to create a service project. After a weekend of hard-work and brainstorming they decided to create a field day for Military families and Veterans that will happen this summer.

SOMK is just one of many programs that my site offers for military youth, we have also conducted babysitting courses, a healthy cooking class, a book making class, STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) focused camps, and more. These different programs all allow for youth to hone valuable life skills such as presenting in front of peers, working as a member of a group, and problem solving. With a specific target audience of military youth, MKVT has also helped youth connect with and build relationships with others in the military community.

VYDC members Jenna Carpenter and Josie Raezer with youth from Speak Out for Military Kids

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Sarah Bethel VYDC AmeriCorps State Member Schoolhouse Learning Center South Burlington, Vermont Here at the Schoolhouse Learning Center, the majority of my service year has been dedicated to developing healthy futures for our students. I believe that giving kids direct access to their food system, teaching them about nutrition, and showing them how to grow fresh food empowers them to have a little more control over what they eat. In our Farm, Food, Forest program, the students grow and harvest food from the garden and a near by farm, then they bring that food into the kitchen and learn how to make tasty and nutritious meals. I think this is so important; the habits the kids are forming now will be with them for a long time. I want to give these students all the information they need to develop the healthiest habits. Its one thing for a student to be able to say that an apple is a healthy snack, but its more meaningful and long-lasting for that student to be able to tell you WHY it is a healthy snack. To achieve this, I have looked at USDA recommendations with the students, we have had discussions about how we can make our plates healthier and tricks to tell right away (How many different colors are on your plate? The more colors, the healthier!). I hope that this knowledge and empowerment will stay with the students, and they will share what they have learned with others!

Sarah Bethel, VYDC member serving at Schoolhouse Learning Center, teaches youth about the food pyramid

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Melissa Golden VYDC AmeriCorps State Member Washington County Youth Services Bureau/Boys &Girls Club Basement Teen Center Montpelier, Vermont The Basement Teen Center is an afterschool drop-in space for youth ages 13-18. From its conception, the Basement was developed out of youth efforts, and continues to empower youth to be the leaders of the space. Each month, we have a teen council, where everyone stops what they’re doing, gathers around, and discusses what they would like to see at the Basement to directly impact the next month’s programming. The Basement is a space where teens can be teens, but more than that – it is a space where, with a little leadership and initiative, they can let their imaginations manifest into real, executed ideas.

The Basement strives to offer a healthy and safe space for all youth by being as barrier-free as possible, and by maintaining an environment of respect. We have an open kitchen that is available to all youth who walk in our door. Whether they grab an apple for a snack, or blow up the kitchen making breakfast burritos, all that we ask is that they clean up after themselves. One part of my service is developing programming – I try to offer a breadth of opportunities, from photography, to mad science projects, to playing sports on the lawn of City Hall (when we’re not trapped in the heart of Vermont’s winter) in the hope that we’ll engage youth and help them make healthier choices with how they spend their time and treat one another.

What is most important to some of the youth, perhaps, is the support and community we offer them. We form close relationships with the teens, and them with each other. They know that whether they face challenges, achievements, tough decisions, or exciting ones, the Basement Teen Center community is there for them, and they can always find support.

Melissa Golden, VYDC member serving at the Basement Teen Center, helps youth at Drop-In

The Basement Teen Center ensures that healthy opportunities are made available to youth in Washington County by providing a safe place for teenagers to come together and participate in activities that encourage positive growth. The Basement Teen Center is overseen by the Washington County Youth Service Bureau/ Boys & Girls Club.

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Lucy Schmid VYDC AmeriCorps State Member Maplehill School & Community Farm Plainfield, Vermont At my AmeriCorps site, the Maplehill School and Community Farm, my service looks different from one moment to the next. If you were to visit, you might see me in the kitchen, cutting up some fresh fruit or writing the vocab word of the day on the whiteboard, while listening to a student vent about her challenging weekend. You might see me playing enthusiastic interpreter between youth and senior at the senior center, or encouraging a shy youth to join his peers in an improv exercise in drama class.

You might see me laughing on the chairlift with my fifteen-year-old snowboard buddy as he tries to convince me that his hoody is warm enough (“You look so cool, dude” I said, “cool as in cold!”)

Throughout the day, no matter what I am doing, I will set it aside just to sit with a youth and listen.

This is the common denominator to my service, to everything that I do at Maplehill School. I strive to make myself present and available to be one more person who cares about the youth, who won’t judge them for the things they have to deal with, and who at some point, hopefully, becomes one more person they can trust.

I know that I am making a difference in the lives of my youth when they begin to seek me out to talk about the newest developments in their lives, or to ask me if I’ll be snowboarding with them again this week. Part of the Maplehill School’s vision is that “relationships inspire learning,” and I hold this ideal at the heart of my service.

It’s the relationships I’m forming with youth, through small daily interactions, that help me to help them enact healthy changes in their lives, and ultimately, to get things done for America!

Lucy Schmid, VYDC member, helps make and serve a homemade lunch to the students at Maplehill School

The Maplehill Community Farm provides a substantial portion of healthy food for the school lunch programs, and provides youth with opportunities for hands-on learning and job skills training such as food production, distribution, and preservation. Additionally the school provides outreach services to community elders.

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Elise Greaves VYDC AmeriCorps State Member Essex CHIPS and Teen Center Essex Junction, Vermont When I tell people I serve with AmeriCorps, the usual response is something along the lines of, “what do you do, exactly?” Answering these questions can be difficult, considering the many different forms that national service with AmeriCorps can take, as well as the many aspects of my own position. When answering these questions, I find myself focusing primarily on the youth I serve, as they are at the core of what I do at Essex CHIPS. Our goal at Essex CHIPS and Teen Center is to provide youth with an environment that is safe, offers a sense of belonging, and, of course, is packed with fun activities. Programming in our Teen Center is focused on instilling good habits and helping our youth explore new interests. One of the ways we do this is through activities that focus on physical activity and nutrition. We bring in local instructors several times a month to do yoga and Zumba with our group, introducing many of them to new and exciting forms of exercise they participate in directly.

Each day, we gather as a group to enjoy a healthy snack and some precious moments of “tech-free” time. The teens enjoy experimenting with new snacks like hummus and almond butter, and are always up for helping us make the snack shopping grocery list, as well as snack itself. Our monthly “family dinner” that gets them measuring, mixing, and cooking up a meal for the whole group to share. In February they happily made pancakes, scrambled eggs, and sausage for our “breakfast for dinner” theme. Quickles (quick-pickles) are another group favorite to prepare and eat. These activities help engage and model healthy food choices and exercise for our Teens and Tweens, all while fosterMelissa Golden, ing a greater sense of community within our center.

VYDC Member at the Basement Teen Center, helps youth at Drop-In

VYDC member Elise Greaves with youth at the Teen Center during a workshop with a local cartoonist

Essex CHIPS (Community Helping to Inspire People to Succeed) is a nonprofit community coalition of youth and adults dedicated to strengthening the lives of teens in Essex, Essex Junction, and Westford, Vermont. Essex CHIPS serves more than 1,500 youth annually through the combination of after-school hours, weekend and evening programming, off-site events, and community initiatives.

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Emma Ohlund VYDC AmeriCorps State Member Bristol Hub Teen Center & Skatepark Bristol, Vermont

While jotting down notes on what to write for this at my make-shift desk space in the kitchen (the home of my service at the Bristol Hub Teen Center) a frequent drop-in youth approached me. “Emma, can you cut up some more apples for me?” It made me smile for comic timing purposes and also because I’ve come to learn that youth (and probably adults) are far more willing to eat things when they are cut up and become finger food. Many of the teens that come in have complicated home lives and are coming here for various forms of respite. They are not receiving healthy meals at home especially in situations where food stamps go much farther when purchasing inexpensive processed foods.

In other scenarios the parents are too busy working to take the time to prep food or they are deeply entwined in addiction leaving them unable to provide healthy food options, if anything at all.

When I arrive at my service site I am called upon to put my efforts into making snacks for the teenagers that come in. I am able to take the time to prepare snacks for the teens to come and eat after a long day of school. By serving here, the teens have one more adult support person/role model in their lives. I notice on the daily that the youth confide in me, trust me, and are happy to ask for more healthy snacks

The Hub Teen Center provides an alternative to traditional after school activities where teens socialize, study, use the internet, skateboard, hear and play music, explore other interests, feel safe, eat nutritious food, learn to garden, and experience the support and supervision of adults who respect the challenges of young adulthood.

VYDC member Emma Ohlund, cuts fruits and vegetables as an afternoon snack for youth at The Hub

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Rebecca Stewart VYDC AmeriCorps State Member City of Winooski Youth Programs Winooski, Vermont At Winooski Youth programs I have the ability to spend time with youth from different cultures and backgrounds. One thing that I have found in my six months of service is that no matter where the youth are from they often find that they have things in common. One of the main things is a love for soccer. I have had the privilege of coaching the youth programs indoor soccer team for the past 3 months. The team is comprised mostly of Nepali, Thai, and African refugee youth ranging in ages from 15-20 years old. The youth have formed a bond around the soccer team and often find it as a way to form new friendships. When the soccer team first formed the majority of the youth did not come into the center, I didn't even know them and figuring out the language barrier and their names was a real challenge.

Now the youth come in almost every Friday, when I see them at school the language barrier is no longer as present and some have nicknamed me “boss.� The youth on the team have said repeatedly how this program has helped them do something they love, many of them even though they are in high school are over the age of 18 so they do not qualify for the high school team. This seems to be the one opportunity they have to play a sport they love in an actual competition setting.

Winooski Youth playing indoor soccer, coached by VYDC member Rebecca Stewart

The City of Winooski Community Services Department provides programming for youth that focus on healthy futures (nutrition education, physical activity opportunities, academic success, and job skill development) The majority of youth served are new Americans, many from Somalia and Nepal. The Youth Programs provide dynamic, engaging, and results-driven programming and services for children, adolescents, and teens in the local community.

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Josie Raezer VYDC AmeriCorps State Member University of Vermont Extension 4-H: Military Kids Vermont Burlington, Vermont At Military Kids Vermont, our primary goal is to create a space for military youth to foster relationships with their peers. Because of the scattered geographic dispersion of military families throughout the state of Vermont, many military youth have limited opportunities to see one another. By planning events where youth can interact, we can accomplish this goal while also increasing their knowledge and skills in areas such as nutrition, the benefits of physical activity and civic engagement. As facilitators at the events, we also seek to be a welcoming face and represent another caring adult in the lives of the youth we serve.

Our mission is best exemplified in a story from our weeklong “Crime Scene Investigation� camp. On the first day, it was apparent which youth arrived with their friends and who arrived not knowing anyone else. Those with friends had the boisterous confidence to raise their hand and fully engage in group activities, whereas those without hung back from the crowd. As the week progressed, I watched a pair of girls welcome another girl into their friendship. They made her switch tables to sit by them and would play together during breaks. On the last day of camp, I saw them hugging one another and saying how much they were going to miss each other. Though the focus of the camp was crime scene investigation (science skills), I am deeply happy to know that friendships were made between youth who may not interact with many other kids who experience the same things they do as members of military families. Knowing that they also learned something about using a microscope is just an added bonus!

Military Kids Vermont creates opportunities for kids to connect with other youth in similar situations. Through the program they are given the opportunities and resources to seek friends and adults who can empathize and help them cope with their new world.

VYDC members Josie Raezer does an arts and crafts activity with youth while serving with Military Kids

Left: VYDC Members Celebrate AmeriCorps Week 2015 Top & Bottom: VYDC Members Collaborate with VYT A*VISTA Members at a Training

Mid-Year Accomplishments by the VYDC Team: VYDC AmeriCorps Members have served 2,001 individual youth in their first 6 months of service 540 youth participated in 47 programs and activities promoting physical activity developed and implemented by VYDC members A total of 1,095 youth have participated in nutrition initiatives led by VYDC members VYDC members have served 150 youth whose parents are in the military or are veteran's of the military VYDC members initiated and formed 229 partnerships with community stakeholders including local food shelves, veterans organizations, VYDC Members have recruited and managed 450 community volunteers who gave 4,358 hours of service which has a monetary value of $92,655

Program Director: M. Kadie Schaeffer vyt.vydc@gmail.com

Vermont Youth Development Corps

Assistant Directors: Kirsten Brewer kbrewer@wcysb.org Patrick Scheld pscheld@wcysb.org Aubrey Mertens amertens@wcysb.org

VYDC AmeriCorps State Members and other Vermont AmeriCorps Members with Mayor Hollar of Montpelier and Mayor Lauzon of Barre on Mayors Day of Recognition of National Service 2015 (Mayor Hollar’s son servers as a VYT A*VISTA member)

VYDC AmeriCorps State Program Contact our office to request assistance or an accommodation.

P.O. Box 627 / 38 Elm Street Montpelier, VT 05601-0627 802.229.9151 phone / 802.229.2508 fax https://sites.google.com/a/wcysb.org/vydc/ The opinions expressed in the articles in this newsletter belong to the individual writers and do not necessarily reflect the views of the site where the AmeriCorps members serve, Vermont Youth Development Corps, the Washington County Youth Service Bureau/Boys and Girls Club, SerVermont, and CNCS.