Partially, this blog will serve as the blog AmeriCorps require me to keep while I am in my service this summer.  So many of my posts will be prompted and about certain subjects or reading material or documentary.  Which is fine.  Because I love my work, and I love the issues we deal with as part of our service.  The first thing they want is an introduction to myself, which you will find below. Warning. This shall be boring. There comes a time, usually right as you're entering the "real world" that describing yourself is actually like repeating a well-memorized speech.  You've done it so often, on job applications, social media sites and profiles, to teachers and parents and anyone else you meet ever. It starts to sound boring even to you.

My name is Nicole, a 22 year old graduate from Marietta College.  I chose to double major in Environmental Studies and Political Science there because it has long been clear to me that I was supposed to dedicate my life to environmental causes.  I remember very clearly the day, in a Kroger's parking lot in early high school, when I looked at my mom and said, "You know, I don't think I want to be an Astronomer any more," (my life ambition for a few years at the time). She asked me why and I repeated the revelation I had just experienced in my head a mere second ago. "If I'm going to spend my life doing one thing, I think it should be something that makes the world better."  Now, don't get me wrong, astronomy serves that purpose too! I still love astronomy and if I ever restarted the Game of Life and had to pull a different Career Card, I would want it to be Astronomer. (Man, the Game of Life really should incorporate some cooler careers.....).  So I told my mom I wanted to be an environmental scientist instead.  And I will be.  I studied Environmental Studies in college, which is void of almost any science, but when I was describing my epiphany to my mom, environmental scientist was the only term I knew.  But now, I'm going into grad school in August, where I really will be studying Environmental Science so I guess I was right from the beginning after all.  Oh the power of God.

Anywho, this summer I'm an AmeriCorps VISTA Associate, which means that my service term is only 10 weeks and not an entire year like a full VISTA.  The organization with which I was paired is Harvest of Hope here in Marietta.  HoH is a faith-based nonprofit whose mission it is to increase the quantity and ease of access to healthy foods for the area's hungry and underprivileged.  This area of Ohio has a lot of need and is one of the poorest areas of the state.  You wouldn't know it by the area around the college though....
HoH is run by an incredibly sweet and invigorating retired woman named Karen Kumpf.  She started the organization in 2005 when the local food pantries were facing too much demand and couldn't meet the needs of their customers.  She works for no pay and has learned everything about running an organization on her own.  Now, HoH is much bigger than here, with many different programs, a team of dedicated volunteers, and board of directors.  She is really inspiring to be around because she is so full of energy, and so gifted and passionate;  she is a natural leader for this organization.  Her clear mindedness, wisdom and patience, and her inspiration make her a force to be reckoned with.  She says all of that comes from God and that she couldn't do anything with HoH if she wasn't God driven.  Well that really shows.

I was really glad to be paired up with Harvest of Hope because so much of what they do touches on my own passions for healthy, sustainable living.  There is so much overlap between environmentalism and, well really any other cause you can think of, but especially with poverty, hunger, and health.  Community gardens give nutritious foods to cultivators for basically free while strengthening local economies, communities, and reducing the demand on the industrial, emission-heavy, polluting agriculture business that dominates American culture today.  I jumped at the chance to apply for my school's AmeriCorps VISTA Associate position because I knew I wanted to do some sort of AmeriCorps job anyway, but I was having trouble finding a year long commitment that worked for me; plus I was really vacillating on whether I should delay grad school for a year or not.  So I waited to see what would happen; what would be placed in front of me, and which path would be made clear to me.  It got really difficult because everything came down to the wire, but then everything happened at once and I knew it was going to be ok.  A grad school offered me a financial aid package which, combined with its location, I just couldn't turn down, and I was awarded the Associate position.  A full VISTA job is still in my mind for the future maybe, but I feel good about this year's outline, which is really about as far down the road as you can think at this point, practically.  AmeriCorps, and nonprofit work where I intend to spend a lot of my professional career, both appeal to me because of the element of direct service.  I've been involved in grassroots activism...forever...and it has shaped me to truly believe in and be excited about community and people power.  So if I get to think about and work to improve the real issues of people's lives (and these are issues that are universal which makes it all the more awesome) and I get to help people help themselves and build big, systemic, and important changes from the bottom up-what better job is there??