AmeriCorps NCCC Alumni Testimonial from Emily:

I am a Newport High alumni and in 2019 I graduated from Portland State University with my bachelors of science degree. My major was arts & letters and while I had the education, I felt like I did not have enough real life experience to finally settle into a career. This led me to find AmeriCorps NCCC.

This is a 10 month service program for 18-24 year olds who are interested in traveling, earning money for college and getting a huge amount of work experience. This program has taken me to so many places I’d never been before and put me in so many situations where I was able to rise up and do good work to help the planet as well as those in need.

I am part of the Southern Region of AmeriCorps NCCC and on a team called River 1. So far we have done trail building in Connecticut and at the natural bridge state park in Virginia. My team was also deployed to do disaster relief in New Orleans after hurricane Laura. There we worked in non congregational shelters to provide support services to the displaced community members in Louisiana. My team also worked in Richmond, Virginia with the Enrichmond foundation. We worked in the evergreen cemetery working on the restoration of this land. The cemetery was left unkempt for over 50 years so my team went in and cleared debris, vegetation and dirt from hundreds of headstones that had not seen the light of day in decades.

My time with NCCC is only a little over halfway done but so far joining has been one of the greatest decisions. I have met so many wonderful people and learned so much about myself as well as the field that I want to go into. Right now I am planning on getting my nonprofit management certificate and working with a nonprofit after I finish the program.

I highly recommend doing a year of service either right out of high school, during a gap year from college, or after you have graduated. There are so many programs out there and I encourage those who either aren’t interested in college or are unsure of a clear college path to look into service work.