Originally from Chicago, I moved to Atlanta in grade school and call both cities home. I now live in rural, Southeast Georgia (never saw that one coming). I initially came here to attempt college in the fall of 2001 right out of high school. I got super involved with all parts student life, with the exception of the whole 'making satisfactory academic progress' thing. I've gone to school on and off ever since and have finally found a way to integrate my academic studies with the meaningful work I do.
In college, I participated as a senator in the student government association, and in the student leadership programs. I've also worked for the University, first as an intern in the Office of Student Media with the magazine, then as an employee and managing editor, then in advertising sales for the student newspaper and deejay for the campus radio station. In selling advertising for the campus, I met a lot of great people which didn't hurt in landing me a 'real job' as an event manager for the institution. I developed a pretty good reputation and worked as a long-term temp for both our post-secondary readiness program and in Career Services as Career Events Coordinator (managed the career fairs and grad school fair); I substitute taught at an elementary school for two years, and later got a permanent gig in the Division of Continuing Education and Public Service back at the University where I worked in the Conferences, Facilities, and Non-Credit Programs unit. At some point I got burnt out with working full time and trying to balance school, so I quit my conference coordinator gig, managed a summer camp and decided to start my nonprofit to inspire community improvement and foster social change on my long journey back into the classroom. I realized that with all the experience I had, I'd still never get a good paying job without the degree, and that I could be doing my supervisors job and really some of my director's job too, but those were masters preferred or required jobs for which I had completed high school and some college. Go figure!
That was about 2 years ago. I've since developed relationships with a lot more folks in the community and agencies, and became a Hands On Georgia affiliate last Spring. To make money until I raise enough to fund not just the volunteer programs, but my salary and a larger office space, I've gone back to work on my own terms for the University working in the divisions of Academic Affairs and Student Affairs in Admin. Coordinator long-term temp positions for the Federal TRiO and Educational Opportunity Programs (Upward Bound, Educational Talent Search, McNair Achievement Program, and America Reads), Academic Advisement & First Year Experience, and now I just proctor standardized exams for the testing office. It's hardly any money, but it gives me the flexibility to devote a lot of my time to work on organizational development for my nonprofit and coordinate volunteer services for my community with partner agencies. I've got an interview with a Medicaid service company in a few weeks for a temp assignment as marketing manager for the region to make ends meet.
I now have a Youth Action Center (a student-led volunteer center) at the local charter school, and hopefully this fall I'll onboard the 4 other high schools in the county. I work with the students for one to two hours each day on building their capacity to be volunteer project leaders. They generally provide direct service and indirect service for our Hands On partner agencies 3 days each week. The other two days, they learn about project management, recruitment/recognition/retention of volunteers, and how to design and coordinate meaningful volunteer experiences for their peers. I'll also probably go back to the Arts Center in town where my office was once located to be House Manager for the performance season of the theatre. That's another of the freelance gigs I've done in the past for that facility and the one on campus.
I'm also back in school. I should finish sometime in 2009 if I stay on track. I began as a Technology Education major, but in 'finding myself' at odds with the way the academic program is structured, I have decided to pursue our interdisciplinary studies program instead. I'll have a concentration in education which will utilize the courses I've already taken in technological literacy, and am adding sociology to the mix plus a leadership studies minor. I'm looking at areas of student development and human resource development in general. I've finally come to the point in my knowledge of how the system works through working in it and having relationships with virtually everyone in it, that I realized I could pretty much chart my own academic course. It's a nice feeling that's taken too long to experience, but now that it's finally happened I'm on a roll.
12 of the 14 hours I'm taking this semester are off-campus credit when means that I'm tying my community improvement work to the academic study. I'm doing a directed study in curriculum development, a sociology field instruction, and a survey of preparing student for university service (a class I could teach on how to be an effective paraprofessional and student advisor). I'm also finishing some incompletes from a while back: a directed study in writing for social justice, and classroom writing strategies (the National Writing Project workshop). It's great to be able to work with folks that I've gotten to know as peers and friends to create fitting course structures and titles that wok for me. At an institution of roughly 17,000 and 2,000 faculty and staff (which I coordinate the staff & faculty social club ;-\ ) , I'm doing the unheard of and have full approval to do so. It gives a new spin to 'non-traditional' student.
Last fall I was selected as a delegate for the Nonprofit Congress National Meeting and have been advocating for that organization ever since, as you might see on Razoo in the form of causes & groups! I've also been fairly active with Hands On Network, newly merged with the olints of Light Foundation & Volunteer Center. Though not an affiliate at the national level, I am structuring my nonprofit to support the work of the broader community of civic action centers so that we can be in the future. In Georgia, I have become a participant in my nearest DOV, the Savannah Council of Volunteer Administrators and hope to start one for the area I serve as well as a Corporate Volunteer Council, and 211 information & referral service. Those are all on the to-do list.
This past New Years, though I'm hardly one to resolve anything, I did affirm that 1000 days from that day, I'd be done with my bachelors and the nonprofit would be in a sustainable condition to turn over the keys to the next 'adequately compensated' executive director if I chose so that I could take on another challenge in a larger market; I miss living in the city with culture so badly I can almost taste it. September 23, 2009 is just around the corner!
That's me at the moment, trying to do my part in the movement.
Thank you
Posted: 11/16/07
by Gerard Oballim
Like what you did
Posted: 09/26/07
by Jamie Vijay
