Washington State Community College

Dee Standish, with WSCC's Outreach program, asked two of Washington State's AmeriCorps guides, Audrey Hayes and Michael LaTorre, to speak with Lions Club about their work on campus. "The mission of Outreach is college, career and technical access for students in Meigs, Morgan, Noble and Washington counties," says Standish. "AmeriCorps College Guides on campus help assist in access for those students."

During December I gave six presentations to high school students who were visiting the campus. My first four presentations were for the Washington County College and Career fair which was held here at WSCC and included 750 tenth grade students from six high schools in the Washington County area. Most of the students were not college prep and don't see themselves as attending college, for one reason or another. For this event, I gave a presentation called "Not Sure You Can Go to College" where I talked about college roadblocks and how to navigate obstacles.

November marked the start of my first quarter of Post Secondary Enrollment Option (PSEO) advising. I started with a few PSEO students and several Early Enrollment Program (EEP) students. After the third day of transitioning to advising, I started with a full schedule of appointments.

October has been a busy month filled with service day planning, additional advisor training, and WSCC's very first Homecoming. The AmeriCorps College Guides have all been working hard to make our second Service Day as successful as the first. With the Make a Difference Day EVE Benefit Dance kicking off the Homecoming week on Saturday, October 22nd, I worked very hard to make sure the event was publicized to the campus as well as the community. This event was a great opportunity for us as it allowed the OCG's a chance to partner more with WSCC based groups. We worked very closely with the WSCC chapter of Phi Theta Kappa, as well as the One Step Ahead Group.

I can hardly believe how quickly the month of September has gone by. You would think I’d be used to time slipping through my hands like dry sand, but it always seems to surprise me. I feel we have come a long way since last year in regards to the AmeriCorps program here at WSCC. This month has made me even more excited about the prospect of continued growth and improvement for AmeriCorps in the community.

My first month as a second year AmeriCorps College Guide is complete and I can already hardly believe the differences. The first week here consisted almost entirely of training. We had a real host site orientation, which even included information and training that applied specifically to the two second year members. I felt very lost my first week here last year. I was very unsure I would learn everything needed to perform this job to my high standards. The majority of my first month was spent sitting in my office reading everything I could find about the school and trying to pick up as much of the lingo and procedures of the college that I could find. Though I have already spent a year on this campus, I did learn a lot of very useful information during the training sessions I attended this month.