HIGH POINT, N.C., August 13, 2020 – Nine recent college graduates are dedicating one year of service to the High Point network as AmeriCorps Vista. For the eighth year, High Point University is VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America), which will provide thousands of hours of service to local organizations.
Each VIEW will be placed in a city nonprofit organization to build sustainable systems in a domain of interest. HPU invests more than $200,000 consistently with the year to provide housing, meals, workplace mastery, and student volunteers to carry out projects with their spouses’ agencies. They are consistent with the supervision of the Reverend Mary Beth Foust, Deputy Director of Civic Responsibility and Social Innovation at HPU.
“Our AmeriCorps VISTA HPU members have the exclusive opportunity to serve this year amid a global pandemic,” says Mary Beth Foust, Deputy Director of Civic Responsibility and Social Innovation at HPU. “I’m sure your individual strengths and collective skills will have a lasting effect on High Point netpaintings. I know that our netpainting partners would not be able to make their smart frames without our VIEW. It’s a marvel I’m glad to be able to paint along our members and watch them grow and bloom.
HPU has expanded its VISTA program to one of the nation’s largest single-site projects, which also represents a federal investment of more than $150,000 in High Point.
This year’s VIEWS are:
Clarice Sigsworth is the VISTA leader of AmeriCorps VISTA’s HPU cohort 2020-2021. Last year, Sigsworth served as VISTA Education on Washington Street and collaborated with the Hayden-Harman Foundation and D-UP, Inc. to provide jazz education to Point’s best children. This year, you will use what you have learned through this procedure to advise 8 new VIEWS in your year of service. Sigsworth graduated from High Point University in 2019 with a degree in strategic communication and trombone performance and is active in Triad’s professional music scene.
“Working on the grid last year was a transformative experience,” Sigsworth says. “I have learned a lot about the strength of collaboration and mentoring on the net, and I look forward to applying this wisdom this year. I am extremely happy that this incredibly brilliant and motivated organization of other people is starting its own adventure as APU VISTA. »
“After graduating, I knew I was looking to use the skills I had developed at HPU in my career and be able to help others,” Tyndall says. “Having this opportunity to paint as VISTA is very rewarding because I paint with a network that I have called home my educational career.”
Douglas McCollum is from High Point and graduated from HPU with a bachelor’s degree in strategic communication. McCollum likes to tell stories. His affinity for storytelling led him to oral poetry and helped him win a first-generation scholarship: Say Yes to attend High Point University in 2016. McCollum learned that talking and sharing parts of himself allows others to do the same. You will serve your home network in D-Up and the Washington Street Community Writing Center.
“I was lucky not only to grow up, but also to go to school and paint in the High Point community,” McCollum says. “Extending my roots in the VISTA program to continue learning and running next door is something I’m looking for.”
Avery Moon, originally from Connecticut, graduated from HPU in May with a bachelor’s degree in International Relations and Sociology and Anthropology. As an HPU student, Moon is an active member of the HPU Government Student Association, Model United Nations, the Alpha Phi Omega service fraternity, and participated in several semesters of service learning courses. Now, as AmeriCorps VISTA, she will serve as Coordinator of school and community associations in the city of High Point.
Natalie Marie Ward attended High Point University before earning two master’s degrees from the University of Manchester in the UK. Ward is preparing to begin his first year of service as HPU AmeriCorps VISTA. His project is to assist in studies and pilot systems with the Hayden-Harman Foundation and the Greater High Point Food Alliance to improve food protection in the city of High Point. Ward’s pastim for food safety began his time at High Point University, where his mentor, former HPU anthropology professor Dr. Chelsea Wentworth, invited Ward to lend a hand in his ongoing studies on child malnutrition in the Pacific Island nation, Vanuatu.
“Shortly after graduating from the University of Manchester, COVID-19 declared a foreign pandemic,” Ward says. “I’m in the process of figuring out my next steps and still couldn’t help thinking about the other people and establishments at High Point who encouraged me all those years ago. I look forward to learning more about this community. During this crisis, everyone was called to help each other and reconsider our health care systems. So many people before me have done this task and I am revered for getting the relevo.
Kayla Quick, a High Point resident, attended High Point University as a first-generation fellow and in May earned a degree in nonprofit leadership and control with minors in civic duty and African American social innovation and social innovation. Quick will spend her year running at Northwood Elementary School, focusing on equity in education. His daily work is accompanied by a commitment to netpaintings through the expansion of access to global services based on netpaintings. You will work hard with PTA and communities in schools to inspire support, links, and service advertising within Northwood.
“I look forward not only to give back to my city, but also to keep people in my city informed of what they need,” Quick says. “I need to give voice to the deaf. My main goal as HPU VISTA is for the deaf to locate their voice through the company and offer them many opportunities to use it.
Jenny Carpenter of Winston-Salem, North Carolina graduated from Appalachian State University with a bachelor’s degree in Cellular and Molecular Biology. He works at the Hayden-Harman Foundation and the Greater High Point Food Alliance. His daily work comes with the creation and support of farmers markets and network gardens in the city of High Point, while selling service opportunities.
“I’m so excited to have the opportunity to serve as VISTA for the High Point network that I called home my first two years of undergraduate studies,” Carpenter says. “I look forward to advocating for access to healthy foods and their role in disease prevention and treatment.”
Aliyah Suggs, originally from Kinston, North Carolina, graduated from UNC-Greensboro with a degree in social work. In her senior year, she completed an internship with Communities in Schools and was placed at Fairview Elementary School. After running with the community, it became HPU AmeriCorps VISTA for next year at Fairview. Their day-to-day jobs and day-to-day work comes with the involvement of parents in the community, encouraging students to stay in school and pursue higher education, and protecting their interests and rights.
“As HPU VISTA, I’m delighted to see what this wonderful opportunity offers me,” says Suggs. “I look forward to helping netpaintings and empowering the academics I will paint with. This year will also help me grow as an individual and in my professional skills.
Wilson Haworth will work with the Greater High Point Food Alliance in the city of High Point. In the spring, Haworth graduated from Guilford College with a degree in political science with a major in food insecurity. Wilson has lived at High Point for years of training and has a deep love of networked paintings. In addition to working with the food alliance, Wilson is also on the network paint board of LEAP, a food research group founded in Greensboro.
“Food security is about building the world we want to see,” Says Haworth. “If we want to create a better future, start by making sure everyone has the food they want. I care deeply about my network and look forward to the possibility of helping to build a network in which everyone has undeniable and equitable food they want to thrive”.