Where has all the time gone?

Lila Milukas

Worcester Youth Center
Worcester, MA


I am more than half way through my year of service and I have come a long way. The first six months have been up and down for me but overall a very positive experience.  It has been great getting to know all the Corps members. We are all very supportive of one another and help each other get things accomplished.  It is amazing that people can go from being strangers to g-chatting on a daily basis in what seems like a very short time.


The Worcester Youth Center staff is also an amazing group of people. I enjoy working with my coworkers and they are very supportive of my goals and do their best to help me succeed.  Being one of the few full time workers at this organization, I have been able to get to know the organization well.There are already many highlights in these past seven months. Partnerships for Success has five outstanding matches and I hosted my first match event in February. I plan on having five more mentor matches before the end of my service year. I was able to successfully plan and put on a Thanksgiving dinner for the Worcester Youth Center. We had an outstanding group of volunteers from Notre Dame Academy in Worcester, setup and serve.  The Corps made it through service week, two field wide projects and a great retreat.  Through all these highlights I have gotten to work and learn with and from two intelligent and energetic groups of people.


Now it is time for the Corps to come together for the next field wide projects. Based on the outcome of the two in January, we will be able to come up with an event that will benefit the field of mentoring. Being past the half way point in the service year feels great! I have gotten a lot done and I still have time to get even more accomplished.  My next step is to think about how I am going to pass on Partnerships for Success to the next ambassador or another Worcester Youth Center staff member. 

Worcester Youth Center youth, matches and Holycross volunteers at a Holycross Basketball game.

It is so logical!

Patricia Hanson-Staples
Springfield School Volunteers
Springfield, MA

My mission is to take the wealth of training and experiences that I am afforded by Mass Mentoring Partnership during my service as an Ambassador of Mentoring and continue to utilize the education that I am receiving through structured and non-structured learning opportunities such as:  a college level leadership training at Wheelock College, city wide project planning activities with Corps members, monthly capacity building training, a mid-year retreat to reflect and refocus as needed, and my service at Springfield School Volunteers.

More than half of my service year is completed, and for me this is bitter-sweet. Bitter for the following reasons:  I will now have to pay for future leadership training.  I will now have to pay for my own three day get away to fabulous retreats.   I will no longer see my fellow corps members whom I have had the privilege of bonding with.  The thrill I get from the invigorating and sometimes challenging brainstorming sessions that invite me out of my cozy bubble will have to be found elsewhere.  The sweet part of my service year coming to a close is that I am on track to accomplishing my goals at my host site. I am proud of the work I have accomplished but my work is not done yet.   I am excited about beginning graduate school. I have completed my logic model for my life as a graduate student, and I am good to go!

So, the race is on to continue with my project scope of building capacity while working with my host site to achieve quality based membership with Mass Mentoring Partnership. I have been given an arsenal of tools and resources to accomplish this project, but by far, one of the most versatile and useful tools is the logic model. “Really?  Are you kidding me?,” were among my initial responses to having to learn about developing a logic model.  You see, I have always considered myself endowed with good common sense.  So, if I wanted to develop a project, I would just do it because obviously I had given it a lot of thought, and with my endowment of good common sense, I would be successful.  Why wouldn’t I be successful?

Well, when I learned a thing or two about logic models, I realized how limited my outcomes and impacts were without one.  I am excited about the opportunities I have had to share what I have learned, not only with my host site, but also with non-AmeriCorps members, friends, and acquaintances who have been sitting with a head full of ideas and a heart full of desire to do something in the community but didn’t know where to start. Armed with my new-found knowledge on logic models among other tools, I share with them the very important questions that begin with needs and end with outcomes and impact.  The thing about logic models is that they make it so much easier to communicate your initiative!

I will stop here as I was asked to blog and not write a book.  There is so much to share!

5 months to go!

After having already served for 18 months as an Ambassador of Mentoring, I can hardly believe that I now only have close to five months left. The gap from now until then will close in on me before I know it and the process is already bittersweet. Mixed feelings of both excitement and anxiety for one door to close and for an unknown to open are always on my mind. In the meantime, there are plenty of decisions to be made and things to get done. Serving as an Ambassador and as part of the Highland Street Corps for two years in a row has absolutely been the right decision for me. It has been a true learning experience in project and time-management, developing a professional identity, working with a wonderful Corps, and determining more of my strengths and where I can and want to improve. I’m excited to see what more I can bring to the table as I move on in my life and figure out where I want to go from here.

On the other hand, I already know how difficult it will be to say goodbye to a wonderful community at the end of my service year. I’ve grown to really love my host site, Roxbury Community College (RCC), and the people I not only work with, but the students we serve. One of the best things I’m looking forward to will be in May for the college’s graduation ceremony. Several students from our mentoring program last year have succeeded in pursuing their goals at RCC and are ready to graduate. They’ve come into my office with their good news, wide smiles, and arms wide for a congratulatory hug. I’m so proud of our students after seeing them really push themselves and strive towards their own potential with the caring guidance of their mentors. As many of the mentees in Mentoring for Success are first-generation college students, it’s even more special to share in the success of their educational goals. To see students throughout the year slowly gain confidence and realize they actually can do it, and then to see them share that with their families and friends is particularly rewarding. I will be sitting as close to the stage as I can get to see them walk across for their diplomas!

Mentors and Mentees in the RCC Mentoring for Success Program

Speaking of communities, another community that I’ve had the pleasure of being a part of is our Corps community – and I’m lucky enough to have been a part of two Corps now! When I first applied to be an Ambassador I wasn’t too sure what to make of the whole Corps experience. However, to sum it up, the Corps experience means being a part of a diverse set of talents, skills, personalities, and backgrounds. As a Corps, we overcome challenges, try to think outside the box to bring innovation and creativity to the field of mentoring, and provide support to each other through long service hours and tough living stipends. Through open discussions, goofy icebreakers, and Corps projects, we not only learn about each other and ourselves, but have fun while getting things done. This past week we all went to Essex, MA for a 2 ½ day retreat. I’m looking forward to a different type of “work” outside of my host site and for the opportunity to learn more about cultural competency.

So to sum it up, as I reflect on my second year of service, I know it’s been an exhausting and stressful time, but I also know how much I’ve gained and learned, and how worth it the service I’m doing makes me feel.  

Be sure to check out the next blog entry – you’ll get a glimpse into our retreat!