WACC VISTA Member Orientation

Thank you all for attending the WACC VISTA orientation in September. It was great to get the whole team together and network with new and returning members. Although the training focused on increasing your understanding of VISTA and Washington Campus Compact, we also hoped to provide you with long lasting leadership and professional development skills that you can utilize in all areas of your life.

Through Moonwater’s conflict resolution course, we learned how to deescalate disagreement in the work place, but these same tactics can work in one’s personal life too. After Hannah taught us about leadership styles through the cardinal directions, we caught ourselves acting like stereotypical “northern” personalities or pointing out typical “eastern” traits during the dinner table conversation. Many of these development classes are meant to increase awareness of professional and personal development. Feel free to look back on our activities and incorporate them into your own orientations with future volunteers or student groups. The ice breaking activity called “VISTA Connect” can easily be transformed to be “Volunteer Connect”. If you like to be creative, create your own mascot like we did with Darwin Sprout and share him throughout your campus. We also hope you had an opportunity to slow down and relax in the beautiful and tranquil environment of The Firs resort. The VISTA lifestyle does not often include fireside dinners, Boundary Bay meals, or Costco muffins. Washington Campus Compact feels lucky to have such a great team this year, and hopes you thoroughly enjoyed yourself during the orientation, because we thoroughly enjoyed having you. ______VISTA TEAM Quarterly Stories Western Washington University – Beth Parker- The Viking Launch My capstone project this year was Viking Launch, Western's new early fall start program, for which I planned service-learning projects for 101 new to western students. I worked in collaboration with 7 community partners to identify meaningful service opportunities that benefitted the community. The projects also incorporated preparation and reflection. This year was a pilot year for the program; in the future even more students will have the opportunity to engage in service-learning within their first week in Bellingham. The foundations laid down this year will have a lasting impact on the future of WWU and the Bellingham community, as campus-community relationships are strengthened by this event..

Viking Launch Web Page Evergreen – Andrea Robbins- Freshman Orientation This year I am part of the planning for the event with is called community to community at Evergreen and has also been called day of caring by United Way. It is a volunteer event that we use to engage new students during their freshman orientation. Students volunteer at 17 different sites; some sites, students overlap with adults who are volunteering through our partner organizations. It is an exciting opportunity for students to get to know what is available in terms of community-based organizations in Olympia. Find out more in the Evergreen Center for Community-Based Action and Learning: CCBAL Newsletter

Whatcom Community College – Leah Congdon – Student Experiences Many students had very meaningful experiences which will shape their future plans. One student who worked with Nooksack Salmon Enhancement Association said, “I really enjoyed volunteering for NSEA. It makes me really want to be part of the Washington Conservation Corps. I really felt that that is where I need to be occupation-wise and I asked other people who are part of the WCC how they got there and what they went to school for.” Several students worked with an electronics recycling organization and commented on what a difference they felt like they were making, especially after learning about e-waste in their classes and watching a documentary on the consequences of sending such items overseas. One student said, “I really felt like I was getting something done. Even though it took about two hours for me to fully break down a piece of equipment, I found myself smiling with satisfaction knowing that I did a little bit to help clean up the mess greed and globalization has caused… My long term goal is to learn the ins and outs of this organization and propose a similar facility to my father, who owns a well-known computer and networking business in Wenatchee.”