Goodbye and Hello!

Hey Friends of MCCOY!

This is Anne West and Danielle Guerin, the new Americorps VISTA members at MCCOY. Danielle is a 2012 graduate of Bradley University where she majored in Entrepreneurship. She was born and raised in Indianapolis and is excited to be back in Indy. In her free time she likes to read, take long walks on the Monon Trail, and engage in retail therapy. 

Anne is a 2011 graduate of the University of Michigan where she majored in Environmental Science. She was born in Indianapolis and moved to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula where she grew up on the shores of Lake Superior. She spent the last year working with college aged students in Thailand. In her free time she likes to read and bake pies. Yum. 

Together they are so excited to begin working for MCCOY and the Student Success Initiative. And they’re very thankful for the work of past VISTAs, Shahana and Kashif!

This is Shahana Ansari and Kashif Ahmed, the 2011-2012 Americorps VISTAs. As our AmeriCorps VISTA term with MCCOY concludes, it’s amazing to reflect on how much we’ve learned in one short year! Coming into last summer, we would’ve never thought that we’d be able to participate in a White House conference call, work with radio DJs to urge students to excel in school, facilitate workshop sessions at national and statewide conferences, collaborate with city councilors and the deputy mayor, organize a county-wide student art contest, and so much more! We know that we have accomplished a lot this year, but we also know that the support we received from all the MCCOY staff was an essential piece to our success. Not only did our coworkers’ support teach us the importance and benefit of collaboration, but also they showed us the power of compassion. MCCOY staff members have a true passion to make large scale differences for the benefit of youth and they accomplish this goal by appealing to the common compassion we all have for youth.

While sad to leave MCCOY, Shahana is excited to travel to India next year to work with a youth serving non-profit. Kashif will be getting married, traveling to Spain, and beginning medical school in the fall :)

 

JAI HO!