The national service program that has placed thousands of Americans in service jobs will visit IU to talk to students about opportunities from 6 to 9 p.m. Wednesday at the Indiana Memorial Union fire pit. “S’mores with AmeriCorps” will also bring alumni of the program who are currently attending IU.
AmeriCorps Week for 2015 is to celebrate and get the word out about AmeriCorps and national service.
“I think AmeriCorps is a really great chance to both learn a lot and develop personally and professionally, while at the same time giving back to a community,” said Sarah Rosenbaum, president and founding member of AmeriCorps Alumni Association at IU.
AmeriCorps places people in jobs, including work for nonprofits, schools and community based programs, according to the group’s website. These are full-time jobs that last for one term of service, varying from a summer to more than a year.
Rosenbaum participated in two years of AmeriCorps, first through National Civilian Community Corps based out of Denver and through AmeriCorps VISTA as the volunteer services coordinator for Habitat for Humanity of Monroe County.
“What really attracted me to NCCC was that I got to have an adventure,” she said.
She then came to IU as a Master’s of Public Affairs student in the School of Public and Environmental Affairs, which she said was influenced by her service experience through AmeriCorps.
Last year, Rosenbaum helped found the AmeriCorps Alumni Association at IU as a way to connect with other people who had participated in national service and had similar interests. Their mission is to provide networking and social opportunities to all AmeriCorps alumni, ?Rosenbaum said.
The group meets at 7 p.m. the second Wednesday of every month at Yogi’s Grill and Bar to share different service opportunities.
Some of their activities include volunteering, a fall camping trip and a winter potluck. “S’mores with AmeriCorps” is their last big event for the semester.
“S’mores with AmeriCorps” gives undergraduate students or anybody in the IU community a chance to get their questions answered about the opportunities AmeriCorps has to offer, she said. The AmeriCorps Alumni members at IU will be at the fire pit to talk about the different programs they took part in all across the world.
“AmeriCorps has been hugely influential in my life personally, professionally and educationally,” ?Rosenbaum said.
