Member Story

To complete my Americorps paperwork, I had to write a "member story." Supposedly some story that "encapsulates" your year as an Americorps volunteer. Cause one story could do that... yea right. But basically they want something they can use for promotion and so forth. So I chose one client who I was particularly close with, and this is what I wrote:


Member Story

As an Americorps volunteer I worked for Tides Family Services, a social services agency, doing outreach work with at-risk teenagers. While working with this population, I learned how important it is to be available for each clients individual needs, and that sometimes, one client needs someone to fulfill many varying tasks. For me, there was one client in particular for whom this was true. This client had been in our program for some time when I met him and had spent a few years in an alternative high school for teenagers with behavioral problems. However, he had turned his behavior around so much so that he had earned admission to a private, prestigious, college-prepatory high school. I met him at the end of the summer, as he was starting out on this very new path.

As part of my job with all my clients, I was to visit them in the afternoon and the evening. However, this particular client spent as little time as possible at home due to difficulties there. So, despite this being a time when he needed lots of support, he was rarely home at the prescribed times in order for me to give it. So, he and I came up with a deal, I would drive him the half-hour ride to school every Tuesday and Thursday. This provided more than just a chance to see him, but it opened many avenues for support. For one, we were able to have one-on-one time, I was able to meet his various teachers and academic supports in order to work together, and he was sure to get to school those days. This schedule worked so well, we used it until the very last week of school, even on the mornings when I had to go into the house, wake him up and drag him to school.

However, this school "taxi-service" was certainly not the only task I fulfilled in working with this client. I also supported his academics in other ways, such as helping him with many homework assignments, often working late at night. I worked closely with his academic support teacher to ensure optimum wrap-around services. I drove him to the store several times in order to get last minute supplies for projects. I chided him during his first semester when his grades were not optimum and applauded him when they began to improve. Finally, when I received word that he passed all his classes, I was lucky enough to be first to congratulate him.
However, he needed me for more than just academics. I also helped him fill out numerous job applications. I drove him to doctor’s appointments and social engagements. I found him and drug him home when he was breaking the rules of his home. I lectured him about bad behavior, and praised him for good behavior.

But what I really cherish about working with this client was getting to take him to Subway, his favorite restaurant, to sit and talk about what was bothering him, what was going well, or just life itself. I truly cherish going to his sports practices and games, when he needed me to simply hold his stuff, drive him home, or get a snack from the vending machine. While these tasks may seem insignificant in light of the others, it was at these moments when I demonstrated that he could trust me, and that he showed me he did. These times made the other tasks possible.
Not only has this client succeeded in his first year at this high school, he has grown by leaps and bounds. I consider it the ultimate privledge to have walked beside him throughout it. He is quickly showing that he is not the at-risk teenager he was before, but he has become, and will continue to grow into, an entertaining, smart, and ambitious young man. And along the way he has taught me more than I can say about humility, about appreciation for small steps forward, about laughing through difficulties, about patience and about how I can be more proud of someone else, and their victories, than my own.

At the end of my Americorps year, this client wrote me a letter thanking me for what I had done for him. I have never been so touched, nor is there anything I consider more precious than that letter. Through Americorps, I was able to reach this, and many other at-risk teenagers. And I can confidently say it was the assistance of an Americorps volunteer in his life, that this teenager was able to turn himself into a success story.