Hello to the Rebuilding Together Southeast Michigan community! My name is Emma and I’ll be serving with Rebuilding Together Southeast Michigan for the next ten and a half months as an AmeriCorp Outreach Coordinator. Many people wonder why I would want to do an AmeriCorp service year. To answer that, during university, I really found my home through service organizations. Within those organizations, I became dedicated and passionate about doing meaningful strong direct service, being involved in my community, and working towards being an active citizen. So following my graduation, AmeriCorps seemed like it might just be the perfect fit for me. I joined hoping that it would give me a genuine opportunity to bring those values with me into the “real world”. Although I’ve only just completed my national Rebuilding Together orientation, I feel confident that this position will allow me to do that.
Some background on me: I just graduated from Grand Valley State University with a degree in Natural Resource Management. I have ambitions of working with environmental nonprofits, promoting environmental education, and working towards water and ecosystem sustainability. You may be questioning how these career goals lead me to work for Rebuilding Together. To be honest, this position does stray from the main focus of my aspirations. However, I chose to serve here specifically because Rebuilding Together is an organization that’s doing purposeful and personal work with their immediate community and it leaves a positive and helpful impact on the people they work with. Essentially, it’s an opportunity for me to do something I know will be beneficial for local communities while learning the ins and outs of a nonprofit.
This term, I’m particularly looking forward to getting to know the individuals in the Rebuilding Together Southeast Michigan community and making connections within the surrounding communities. I grew up in this area and I hope this position will give me an opportunity to get to know it a lot better. I’ve got a lot to do and a lot to learn this year, I can’t wait to get started!
