City of Lakes AmeriCorps

Meet Gaozouapa Vue our new City of Lakes Americorps Coordinator. She comes from Minneapolis Public School's Early Childhood Program. This is her second year with MPS. Welcome Gaozouapa!

Meet COL member Ian Lockhart, serving 8th grade ESL students at Justice Page Middle School. Ian decided to serve with CoL because he wanted to give back to the community where he grew up in and to make sure that education is the right career path that he wants to pursue.

Meet COL Americorps member Clayton Delp, a second-year member serving 8th grade ESL students at Andersen Middle School. Clayton had taught English in the CDF's Freedom Schools and music at a summer camp. He hopes that COL will give him a better sense of direction as to whether teaching is in his future.

Meet COL Americorps member Caden Salo, serving 6th grade ESL students at Andersen Middle School. Caden speaks multiple languages and thought that working with EL students was a great opportunity he didn’t want it to pass up.

Meet Max Sheck, COL Americorps member serving 8th grade ESL students at Anwatin Middle School. Max wanted to gain more experience by serving and plans to travel abroad to teach English in Japan.

COL Americorps members delve deeper discussions into national immigration time line. Indigenous and African American specific policies/events, MN specific language/education policy, immigration patterns, and resistance.

Meet Katya Spielvogel, COL Americorps member serving 6th grade ESL students at Justice Page Middle School. Katya wanted to serve with COL because she's passionate about working with EL students and has had first-hand experience learning a second language. She believes that serving with COL would further develop her skills and provide the experiences she needs to achieve her career goals.

Meet Finn Hawkins COL Americorps member serving at Northeast Middle School. Finn loves working with youth and seeing their progress. Finn likes seeing himself and his students grow this year and feel a sense that he’s done something of a positive impact on others. Finn says what he loves about middle schoolers are how funny they are.

Meet Lu (Tom) Yang our new COL Americorps staff member this year. He's been in the education field for many many years and enjoys working with students, staff, parents, and families. His hobbies include singing, fishing, exercising, and hunting.

A big thank you to former COL alumni members for coming today to share your knowledge and experience with current COL members on various career pathways such as youth work, counseling, teaching, and classroom supports. We really appreciate it!

We're hiring! Visit http://col.mpls.k12.mn.us/apply.html to learn more.

Applications for the 2022-23 program year are now open on My AmeriCorps (https://my.americorps.gov), Service Year (https://serviceyear.org/city_of_lakes/english-language-tutor/2xKqOZ/) and Handshake (https://joinhandshake.com/). Visit http://col.mpls.k12.mn.us/apply.html to learn more!

Thrilled to be meeting students at today's Minnesota Private Colleges Career & Internship Fair! Swing by Booth N20 to learn how to grow personally and professionally through a service year.

Meet Michael! Michael is serving at Andersen United Community School this year to determine if education is the career path for him. Read more about Michael and other CoL members at https://docs.google.com/document/d/1o4ck3WSdBs5HS9PdVG1FGOFI9iUzuij6ZulhMQ15QB8/edit?usp=sharing

Public Service Loan Forgiveness Update! Below is a summary of some of the changes. Many different payments, payment plans and types of loans can now count BUT the current deadline is Oct 31, 2022.

Bonus for teachers - if anyone did the Teacher Loan Forgiveness ($5k or $17k after 5 years), the payments made during that time can now count for PSLF.

Many more details available at https://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/fact-sheet-public-service-loan-forgiveness-pslf-program-overhaul

Join us in training!

CoL Members are participating in an online Youth Mental Health First Aid training provided by M Health Fairview on the morning of Friday, February 11th, and additional spots are open. This training is free and open to those living in Minnesota and Western Wisconsin.

Participants must first complete two-hour online, self-paced pre-work before attending the 4.5 hour virtual class via ZOOM. CEU's are available and a certificate of completion will be provided by The National Council for Mental Wellbeing.

Interested? Register here - https://www.eventbrite.com/e/youth-mental-health-first-aid-virtual-friday-february-11-2022-registration-227953062747

Each year, AmeriCorps honors MLK's legacy with a day of service on MLK Day. Yesterday, City of Lakes members had the honor of supporting the annual Powderhorn Park MLK Day event.

Looking for resources to use with youth this week? Check out these video storytimes recorded by last year's members for MLK Day -

https://youtube.com/channel/UCFx1pf7mlBrnwHRRtpXHDpQ

Congratulations to Michael D. Smith on his confirmation as the Chief Executive Officer of AmeriCorps! We look forward to working together to advance . Read our full statement here: https://www.statecommissions.org/michael-smith-americorps-ceo

Image Description: An image of Michael Smith smiling at the camera and wearing a suit with a US flag in the background.