 Welcome to another CTN member highlight. I'm Leslie McVane and today my guests are from learning works I have Ethan Schechter who is the director of learning works Ames High AmeriCorps. Thank you Yes, and Erin Kilbride and Hannah Hassan welcome. Thank you. You two are both Volunteers in the program. Yes. Well, why don't we start with you Ethan? And talk a little bit about what the AmeriCorps program Ames High program does. Sure So AmeriCorps is a national service program that engages Americans of all ages to serve in communities across the country and work on addressing community issues. Our program the AmeriCorps, the learning works AmeriCorps Ames High program is working in five schools across the state of Maine. Here in Portland, we are working in two different schools East End Community School and Riverton Elementary. Our what we do is place AmeriCorps members in schools to work on ensuring school success working with students through one-on-one mentoring tutoring students both inside and outside of the classroom running after school programs and also leading community service and service learning projects. So you work with all aspects of the children's education after school, right? It's not just one thing or another. It's it's enrichment It's exactly. It's it's it's educational enrichment. It is outreach to the broader community, outreach to parents, and our the goal of our program is to provide AmeriCorps volunteers in school to really be just an army of an army of service and volunteers to the schools whatever the specific challenges may be in a school. So everybody sort of works together for the betterment of these kids to give them a better chance. Exactly. Yes. And these are two of the wonderful people who are working with this with the kids. Do you each want to say a little bit about what you're doing and how it's enriched your lives as well? Sure. So I'm the lead AmeriCorps member at Riverton. I've been involved since September, so I'm there full time. I feel like I kind of live there and I love it. I think the most exciting part for me has been how diverse every day is part of my time is spent in the classroom, and that's probably the best part. But I also get to work with different community organizations. I get to work with parents groups. I get to work with parents from I think 17 different countries the last time we counted and it's really exciting to be a part of a child's sort of development and education overall. So I get to work with a little boy from Iraq during the day on his reading, but then also work with his mom on her English literacy skills after school and being able to be a part of that whole thing and him knowing that Miss Erin also knows mama is really exciting. And I think it definitely, when students know that you're committed to not just teaching them how to read and how they do on a test, but when they know that you want to be a part of their whole life, that that's where we see the most success and that's what's so much fun for us is that there's so much diversity in how much we can be involved in whatever our members sign on with whatever kind of experience they have. We can find a fun way to use that in a way that's been really great for both sides, I think. Oh, it sounds wonderful. And Hannah, how about you? I joined the American Python learning works not long ago. May, you could say? May. And I loved it. If I've known, I would have joined sooner, but circumstances allowed me to join now. And so far, it has been a great source to connect me back to the community. I mostly add rivet elementary school, but not limited. I'm also involved with the study center where I tutor. I go to Ducsi where I also provide some tutoring services and reading for young kids. And also, I'm involved with the Boys and Girls Club as well. And it's just taught me a lot. You know, the kids also learn not, we only learn from them. You know, they also learn from you as well. It's like both way of relationship. It's been great so far. And to really open up to the whole community what you're doing, I think, is so key to success. Absolutely. What else would you like to let us know about as far as what you're doing and how you're going forward? Sure. Well, so our program is part of a three-year grant that, through the main commission for community service, we've just completed our first year of the program and are going into our next year and we're currently recruiting new members for our second year. To be a member, you need to be at least 17 years or older, which means that if you are going into your senior year of high school here in Portland, you can serve as a member as part of one of our two school programs, either at Riverton or East End Community School. But we take people, there is no age limit. We take people of all ages. My age. Absolutely. And there are a number of benefits to being an AmeriCorps member in addition to serving your community. It's a great opportunity for an individual to get experience in an educational setting if that's something that interests them. It's a great way to learn leadership skills and other skills that will benefit an individual throughout their lifetime in their own career and whatever it is that they may be doing. As well, there are some other benefits AmeriCorps members who complete their term of service. When you sign on, you sign on for a certain amount of service hours. And does that vary depending on what the program is? That varies. We have three levels of service. At a minimum AmeriCorps members sign on to 300 hours of service over the course of the year. And that service can be spread out so that it is only an hour to a day which makes it possible for people who have other work or career or other things to fit it into their schedule. At the end of your service, AmeriCorps members are also eligible to earn an education award which can then be applied to future educational opportunities or can be applied to student loan debt. Fabulous. And we were talking earlier in the case of someone my age who may not be needing an education fund or something. You can use it for your children and we're not sure but maybe grandchildren. That's exactly right. People over the age of 55 are able to transfer their education award onto their own children. So how long is your term that you've each signed up for? We are sadly both finished August 14th. Oh no. That's when the first year of the first cycle will finish. So I've been doing this for about 10 months and Hannah just signed up. So because she's doing the 300 hours she's kind of packing all her hours in in just a few months because I was full-time, mine were fairly spread out. But then that means that the next year will also start August 14th. Now can someone re-sign up again over and over as many times as you would like? Yes, that's right. AmeriCorps members can sign on for a second and even a third and I believe a fourth term of service are allowed. I think you're capped off after four terms of service. Now did you start out, were you AmeriCorps volunteer at one time? No, I came to this program because I saw the great potential for impact on communities and that was very inspiring. And I think there are AmeriCorps programs all over the country. What's really unique to the program that we're running here in Maine and specifically here in Portland is that we're recruiting community members to work in their own community. There are AmeriCorps models across the country that recruit people to go to other communities. I think what's so inspiring about this is people are working with the people that they know and see every day and I think there's tremendous potential for building social capital. Oh, yes. Well, I think we're very lucky as a community to have all three of you being a part of the program and I thank you all. And one more time the telephone number where people can reach you. So if you're interested in serving as an AmeriCorps member you can call me at LearningWorks. The number of our office here in Portland is 775-0105. You can also look on our website which is learningworks.me or you can email us at aimshigh, all one word, at learningworks.me. Sounds great. Thank you very much and I think it sounds like a wonderful program. Thank you very much. Thank you for having us.