Before this week I had never been to Philadelphia, so imagine my delight to be spending 4 days at a beautiful downtown hotel for VISTA training (or PSO for Pre Service Orientation as I’ll mention later)! Amazing things happen when over a hundred idealists are in sessions together, and idealistic we are, because to even consider bringing an end to poverty in this country you’ve got to be.
The first night set the mood for the entire conference. At dinner we met fellow VISTAs who were serving all across the country, from New York to Alaska, on a huge variety of projects. Some, like me, were focusing on education but others were providing services such as teaching fine arts to children in poverty and providing nutritious foods to families in need. We learned about what it meant to be a VISTA and talked about the motto, “Know, grow, change.” Our discussions focused mainly on how the motto will help us serve our communities, so what we need to know or learn, how we need to grow the programs, and what change we would like to see left behind. I learned a lot about other VISTAs and the projects they’d be working on.
During this process I met one of the most interesting people I’ve ever met in my life, and for the purpose of this blog I’ll call him Clancy. He stuck out in a crowd of young twenty-somethings, and I would estimate his age to be somewhere in the mid-40s. When Clancy arrived for PSO he had just finished his two-year term of service in the Peace Corps. I may never know what motivated Clancy to sign up for 3 years of service, we didn’t get to talk for very long, but dedication was awe-inspiring.
During the welcome ceremony we watched this movie about Americorps VISTA and member experiences, Enjoy!
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