The Siena College Bonner Service Leaders program has given me opportunities that would have never crossed my path had I not been in the program. From stepping outside of my comfort zone to creating and reaching new goals each year. It is a program that offers you space for improvement, to challenge yourself, to learn,…
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Prior to being accepted to Siena College’s AmeriCorps VISTA Fellowship Program, I struggled with determining whether I wanted to go right to graduate school after undergrad or if I wanted to peruse a full-time job. I felt that a one year term of service could be the perfect opportunity for me to grow professionally and…
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It has been 2 full years since the start of my service year as an AmeriCorps VISTA Fellow. I graduated from Siena College in the Spring of 2016 and was at a place that most 21st century college students can level with; applying to “entry level” jobs that somehow require more experience than the Bachelor’s…
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I began my experience as an AmeriCorps VISTA Fellow as a recent graduate with no real professional experience. My retail background did little to qualify me for the field of work I wanted to pursue and AmeriCorps seemed like the perfect opportunity to gain relevant experience while working around issues of poverty. In 2014 I…
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I have the honor of completing a year of of AmeriCorps VISTA service as a Program Coordinator at the Community Justice Outreach Center which is a satellite office of the Albany County District Attorney. Our District Attorney, David Soares’, slogan is “Fighting Crime and Building Hope”. While the main office “Fights Crime”, our office “builds…
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In my eyes, NEXT is the greatest program on Siena’s campus. It allows students to engage in real world problem solving for a great cause. NEXT stands for Nonprofit EXcellence and Transformation, which is the fancy form of non-profit consulting. Non-profits from the Capital Region will approach NEXT with a business problem they are having.…
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When I interviewed for the Bonner Service Leaders Program at Siena during my senior year of High School, I learned about the Global Service Internship for the first time. Being able to spend five weeks doing service abroad was enticing and was one of the reasons I joined the program. Fast forward to three years…
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My experience with the Community Policy Institute (CPI) has been educational and inspiring. When I first entered CPI, I was unaware of what path I wanted to go down and where my talents really lay. However, after being in this fellowship for four semesters, I have gained an immense amount of skills, from writing to…
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Can’t Escape ACE: From the Center for Academic Community Engagement to the Alliance for Catholic Education Felicia Comuniello (’17) earned her B.A in Sociology, along with the Certificate in Community Development last spring. Throughout Felicia’s undergraduate career, the Bonner Service Leader program played a large role in her daily life,…
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When I was in the seventh grade, I unexpectedly fell into a child modeling gig in Manhattan. My mom would take me out of school early about three times a week around sixth period and we would take the Poughkeepsie train down to Grand Central Station. As I expected from what I had learned from…
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