Developing students and empowering them to reach their full potential

NASPA and City Year have a lot in common. Both organizations want to ensure that the populations they work with have the experiences, skills, and knowledge to be successful in and out of the classroom. I’ve been lucky enough to witness this throughout my post-graduate career, which harmoniously combines my passion for the field of student affairs and the non-profit sector.

My first position in student affairs was as an AmeriCorps VISTA member with North Carolina Campus Compact at Elon University. I had the honor of working in the Kernodle Center for Service Learning. It was there that I first learned from my colleagues in the office and throughout the university about the power of student affairs to change students. One of my many projects at Elon University, was to help students learn how to stay involved with service after they graduated from college. A colleague told me that I should make sure to include City Year in the presentation. 

I did a lot of research on City Year and found that they also focus on changing students’ lives by pairing corps members with teachers and staff at their partnering schools to help students increase their attendance, reduce behavior problems, and improve their performance in math and English/language arts with the overall goal of helping ensure more students graduate high school ready for their next steps in life.

Around the time I was researching City Year for the presentation, my time at Elon University was coming to a close and I was at a crossroads. I knew I wanted to focus my career on student development, but was unsure what age group I wanted to work with (younger students in K-12 or those in college) and thus unsure if I should apply to a masters programs in higher education or get hands on experience working with younger students.

I decided to put grad school on hold after applying to and being accepted to serve with City Year Miami. I was excited that I would be able to gain experience working with a younger population while helping students with their academic skill sets. I felt that the City Year experience would help me determine what age group I wanted to focus my career of student development on. Long story short, with a change in plans in how I would serve with City Year, I ended up serving in a recruitment type capacity. In that role, I worked with students graduating high school and college as they applied for and prepared to serve with City Year. After my AmeriCorps term with City Year, I became an Admissions Member helping select and prepare AmeriCorps members who would be serving at City Year Miami.

As a City Year staff member working in Admissions, one of my responsibilities is to help support and prepare our incoming AmeriCorps members with their transition from high school or college to City Year. We have to think about where they are developmentally and what they need from us so that we can help them help themselves so that it also builds their skill sets. Our incoming AmeriCorps members have to do things like find housing and roommates in a city they may never have been to and it is often their first time doing it. One way we help them is by have developing and continuing to improve the various housing resources we provide to incoming City Year AmeriCorps members.

We want to prepare our incoming AmeriCorps members without doing the task for them so they can learn without being overwhelmed with things like securing housing. These are skills our AmeriCorps members have begun building as a result of their involvement with student affairs programming and will continue building throughout their time with City Year. Our alumni are then even more prepared to be successful in a variety of fields, including going back to grad school to become a student affairs professional, like Aisha Folkes, and several of our other alumni who are working in student affairs.

I realized that while I was doing student affairs type work, that it was time for me to get my graduate degree in student affairs so I could be more knowledgeable and skilled at helping City Year’s AmeriCorps members transition from high school and college into a service term. I am thankful for all that I learned and experienced as a masters student at Florida International University. It has made a positive difference in my personal and professional lives. Putting that knowledge to work in my position with City Year is helping me be a better supporter to those that I serve.

I cherish the appreciation notes I have received at both Elon University and City Year from young adults I have worked with letting me know the difference I have made in their lives. This motivation helps keep me going to help others that I interact with.  

City Year’s last application deadline is April 30, before moving into rolling admissions. If you are interested in serving with us, or know someone who is, we encourage applications to be submitted asap. Want to ask Katharine questions? She can be reached at [email protected] and (786) 406-7930.

About the Author:  Katharine McCune is a staff member at City Year and a graduate of Florida International University’s Higher Education Masters Program.