Checking in with AmeriCorps

Meet our new AmeriCorps Members: Ross and Lirra!

Ross Taylor spent six quarters in the Dream Project. He mentored at Renton High School for three quarters before becoming a high school lead there for three more quarters. Graduating in the June of 2014, Ross received a bachelor’s degree in molecular, cellular, and developmental biology. As an undergraduate, Ross was a member of the Husky Marching Band for four years, playing the trombone.

Lirra Zullo was a part of Dream Project for seven quarters. She mentored at Kent-Meridian High School and went on to mentor and become a high school lead for Global Connections High School. She has also served as a college and career readiness assistant at Showalter Middle School and as a camp counselor at Camp Colman. Lirra graduated in June of 2014 with a bachelor’s degree in psychology with a minor in mathematics.

Having served as high school leads during the past year, we are both extremely excited to continue our work with Dream Project in our new roles as AmeriCorps members. To us, Dream Project has become a second family that has opened our eyes to many educational equity issues that we may not have had the opportunity to see. We wanted to continue to contribute to this amazing program after graduation because we have seen the impact it has made in the communities we visit.

This year, instead of being on the front lines of the program, we are responsible for the behind-the-scenes work of Dream Project support; this includes scheduling transportation for our mentors, helping keep events organized, scheduling last-minute meeting rooms for leaders to use and working towards creating a stronger community within the program. With previous roles, such as high school leads, event committee leads, and college and career readiness assistant (CCRA), we understand the commitment and hard work that our students put into Dream Project. We hope to support Dream Project students in every way possible to help ease as much stress as we can. We are most looking forward to collaborating with and getting to know our leaders and mentors on a more personal level.

We are always here if you need any support, have any questions or just want to come by and say “Hi!”

—Ross and Lirra

2013-2014 AmeriCorps: Where are they now?

Michael Zhang was one of last year’s AmeriCorps members. He was in Dream Project for five quarters and mentored at Foster and Kent-Meridian High Schools. He graduated in 2013 with a bachelor’s degree in molecular, cellular and developmental biology.

Hello fellow alumni! After finishing up my 2013-2014 term as an AmeriCorps member with the Dream Project, I went on to start medical school at the Western University of Health Sciences (WesternU) in Pomona, California. As exciting as medical school is, I still continue to miss Seattle from time to time, and I think about the Dream Project every day. I cannot be more grateful for my experiences with the Dream Project that have prepared me for life as a medical student and as a future physician.

During my first week of medical school, one of my lectures was focused on personal branding. How do I want to be perceived as a physician, and what specific characteristics do I want to be associated with? During this lecture, all I could think about was a memory I share with some of my closest friends from the Dream Project. On one of my last days in the office, I spent over three hours with these individuals talking and reflecting about our experiences in the past school year. We lost track of time and sat at the round table in the front of the DPC and chatted about everything ranging from our successes at AWW to the time we all went to Azteca for a bonding event. I then realized that I wanted to be known as someone you can talk to about anything and everything. A good, active listener who is supportive, caring and empathetic to everyone. When it came to doing standardized patient encounters at WesternU, where medical students act through situations with patients who are actors, I found that I had no trouble building rapport and connecting with the actors in their scenarios. Without my experiences as an AmeriCorps member and learning how to support individuals with different personalities, I would have had a lot more trouble in these simulations.

One of the key things I learned as an AmeriCorps member was the importance of work-life balance. Stepping back to take a break and do something you love is a very effective way to relax, and I plan to continue that. As an AmeriCorps member, two of my favorite activities were making publications for the Dream Project with Adobe InDesign and supporting/planning events. Thus I am hoping to continue these types of activities at WesternU as a co-editor for the Humanism magazine and social activities chair for the Lambda Club, a student organization on campus.

Besides building professional skills, the year I spent as an AmeriCorps member proved to be one of the best years of my life—filled with laughter, joy and personal growth. Although I am not an AmeriCorps member anymore, I still feel supported by everyone from the Dream Project, even though I'm in California. Ultimately, I know that these experiences and people will continue to support me, no matter where my adventures take me next. Thank you for everything, Dream Project!

Jeremy Webb was the other 2013-2014 Dream Project AmeriCorps member. He was in the Dream Project for seven quarters and mentored at Auburn, TEC, Rainier Beach and Kent-Meridian. He graduated in 2013 with a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry.

As I toured the Washington State Capitol, many thoughts flooded through my mind. This is how it must feel to be a senator or the governor. This entire building was built with marble. It is beautiful. As I walked along on the tour, I thought about the journey I had taken to get to this point. It seemed like just yesterday I was pulling on that AmeriCorps lanyard with the Dream Project name tag hanging from it. I would sit at my desk, welcoming everyone who walked through our door, ready for the opportunity to assist a student leader or to answer a question from a mentor. Those days have been done for a few months now but they have left me with memories and insights that will last a lifetime.

Thanks to my service with Dream Project, I have been exposed to the world of nonprofits and the impact they can make, specifically on educational inequity in our region. Low-income, first-generation students are graduating high school and attending college at much lower rates than their higher income peers. Your future success should not be so heavily tied to what your finances are while in school. Dream Project is supporting efforts to level this playing field. Because of that, I am now serving as a second year AmeriCorps member with College Access Now as a junior college coach at Franklin High School. In this service position, I will get the opportunity to continue the work I did with Dream Project, but this time with a cohort of 35 high school juniors. As I support the students throughout the year, they will gain the skills and knowledge necessary to succeed during their senior year and to attend college.

With my reminiscing now over, I snapped back to reality as we left the Capitol building and headed out onto the front steps. The 20th anniversary AmeriCorps swearing-in ceremony was about to begin. As I listened to the speakers ranging from Miss Seafair to First Lady Trudi Inslee to a musical parody, everyone talked of the impact that AmeriCorps members had on their community. As I raised my right hand and recited the AmeriCorps oath, I knew what my future held. I was going to be an AmeriCorps member (again) and I was going to get things done.