Name & Project
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Project Description
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What would you do with $5000 and a week's vacation?
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Who or what inspires you?
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A Favorite Quote
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;)
Amie Arnoldussen
St. Norbert College
DePere
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I am working the the Center for Community Service and Learning. I coordinate the Youth Services Programs. We currently have programs with Boys and Girls Club, YMCA, Green Bay Area School District, and AFCS.
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Take my honeymoon. Not sure if this is going to happen without this miracle money.
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When I'm working with the youth and he/she has that "I get it" moment; that's the best motivator in the world to know that your were a part of that moment.
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"Throw a stone and watch the ripples grow."
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Alex Mazurek
UW-Stout
Menomonie
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Allen Voelker
Northeast WI Technical College
Artisan and Business Center
Green Bay
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I'm the first and only person dedicated to growing NWTC's newest facility on a full-time basis. We offer people the opportunity to discover a new hobby in a number of craft media and/or learn to establish a successful microbusiness so they can make money off of their talent.
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Part of me would be tempted to hop a plane to Guam or Mexico and see if I could hack it selling coconuts on the beach, but I would probably be more apt to put it in the bank and save for a house or grad school.
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I'm most inspired by people who stand up for others with less power/privilege. |
...self is a sea boundless and measureless.
-Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet |
Ann Watson
UW- Eau Claire
Eau Claire
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I am working in the Center for Service-Learning on the UW-Eau Claire campus. I have been working on a variety of projects ranging from bike repair programs to laying the foundation for a community school. |
I would probably just stay at home for the week and save the $5000 for grad school. |
I am inspired by people who are really passionate about what they are doing. |
For to be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.
-Nelson Mandela |
Charles Demler
Lawrence University
Appleton
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Charlotte Ericksen
UW-Whitewater
Working for Whitewater's Wellness
(W3)
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Working for Whitewater's Wellness-
I am working with the Whitewater community to help promote healthy lifestyles. W3 promotes physical, mental, social, and spiritual well-being by connecting individuals with the community. |
I would buy a tent and hire someone to drive my friends and I across the country visiting everything! And of course try all of the local foods and wines. |
I am inspired by a lot of little things that it would be hard to even begin to list them. I think it is very important to look at the world around oneself and really think about all the miracles that are happening right in front of one's eyes. |
"Be The Change: Move through the day today with a sense of reverence, whatever that means to you." Anon. |
Chris Meier
Nicolet Area Technical College
Rhinelander
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Dana Gill
Boys & Girls Club of Dane County- Family Voices
Madison
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I am working at the Boys and Girls Club(Taft location) with Family Voices to run a Saturday tutoring and mentoring program. I recruit UW students to come in, pair them with youth in the community, and we finish each session with a meal prepared by Slow Food. We're working on building the parent component now!
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BUY A CAR and just goof off with friends for a week :)
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-When guys want to be the father on paternity episodes of Maury.
-Mara's squirrel.
-Any instance, no matter how small, of good parenting!!
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"[There is always] something to do to make a sanctuary, no matter how small." -Lemony Snicket
"We may have come on different ships, but we're in the same boat now." -MLK?
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Dawn Vandenhouten
Waukesha County Workforce Development Center
Pewaukee
I am on the left with my daughter who is also currently a DPI VISTA serving in Madison, WI. |
Assisting unemployed individuals at the Workforce Development Center with sustainable programs that help with resume building or any related skill necessary to help them connect to employment. I also support the front end staff, work with Service-Learning initiatives, and I am currently brain-storming to develop other programs to aide unemployed individuals through the use of the Center and local Libraries connected to the Center. |
Give 10% to church and buy a new computer. I would also go to Leon's for a Super Hot Fudge Sundae and buy everyone in line with me one too. |
I am inspired when I hear a story such as the recent one where a woman randomly paid for 50 peoples lay-away Christmas gifts at K-Mart. |
"It is better to give than to receive." |
Deanna Meek
Wisconsin Institute for Public Policy & Service
Wasau
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Emily Black
Milwaukee School of Engineering
Milwaukee
email: blacke@msoe.edu |
I serve as a liaison between MSOE and a local non-profit after school program, Our Next Generation. ONG provides a number of programs that MSOE supports: Homework Club, Outbound Tutoring, High School Connection, and so on. These programs help address the very real need to have students in the Milwaukee Public School (MPS) system graduate with a degree. |
I'm torn between buying chihuahuas and going to Mexico. |
Friends, family, and the students I work with. |
"He died for me when I was yet a dark sinner: He will never forsake me after I have believed. (Rom 8:32)" Ryle |
Erica Steele
Mount Mary College
Milwaukee |
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Hannah Sievers
Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation
Madison
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I work in the Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery at UW-Madison on program outreach to the larger community. There are two main goals: one is to engage those underrepresented in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) with our programming and the other is help provide resources to traditionally underrepresented as business owners. |
I would hop a plane back to Freiburg, Germany where I spent a year of my undergrad. Then I'd travel as far as $5000 would take me in Central/Eastern Europe. |
I am inspired by many things, but mostly people and how resilient we are. Those that go above and beyond what is necessary and those that stand strong behind their beliefs are also inspirations. |
If you think you're too small to be effective, then you've obviously never been in bed with a mosquito.
-Unknown |
Jennifer Garcia
UW- Waukesha
Waukesha
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My project is with the UW-Waukesha Pre-College Program. The pre-college program promotes the future success of students in 6th through 12th grade through programming focused on higher education and post-secondary options. I am working to further market the pre-college program and develop new community partnerships.I am also helping pre-college and UW-Waukesha students realize the importance of civic engagement by organizing volunteer opportunities for both groups. |
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“Give a man a fire and he's warm for the day, but set fire to him and he's warm for the rest of his life.”
-Terry Pratchett
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Jessica Gamez
Waukesha County Technical College
Waukesha
800 Main St.
Pewaukee, WI 53072
Office: 262-691-5114
jgamez3@wctc.edu
Find us on
Facebook!
Me and my mom (on our way to the beach in Galvaston, Tx)! |
As an AmeriCorps VISTA at Waukesha County Technical College (WCTC), I coordinate new service learning initiatives and maintain our current service learning community based partnerships. The Office of Service Learning aspires to implement and maintain sustainable service learning projects that positively impact community needs.
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I would take my mom to New York City!
We would go out to dinner, take in some jazz clubs, see a broadway show and get spa treatments throughout the week. It's been our dream get-away for years. We'll make it happen someday! |
My family, my boyfriend and especially my mom! She raised me all by herself and managed to graduate college with honors and get her masters in Urban Studies. She's incredibly supportive and full of life. I want to be like that too! |
"Whatever you do, do something that is of some service to somebody else because if you do, you'll know that it mattered that you were born"
-Ann Curry |
Julia Zwak
UW Law School Pro Bono Program
Madison
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The University of Wisconsin Law School's Program Bono Program provides volunteer legal services to low-income residents in Dane County. Our program not only provides much-needed legal services to the community, but it also helps provide law students with valuable legal skills and a passion for volunteer service beyond graduation. This is the second year of the UW Law School's Pro Bono Program's VISTA contract, and we are focusing this year on institutionalizing our program for long-term sustainability.
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I would spend a week buying gifts for all the people that I care about. I love the feeling that comes from giving an unexpected gift that a person truly appreciates.
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I am inspired by the many heroes of the Civil Rights Movement. Not only the most remembered icons such as Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rosa Parks, but those who subtly influenced change in America when it seemed least likely to occur.
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"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."
-Edmund Burke
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Kala Grove
Morgridge Center for Public Service
Madison
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I coordinator Badger Volunteers, a semester-long program for UW-Madison students. We work with over 50 community partners, and have over 400 volunteer this fall. Each volunteer works in a group once a week, at sites focused on health, education or the environment. It's an amazing program to get students off campus and involved in the wonderful Madison community!
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I would gather friends, point to a place on the map no one has been, and start driving. (On the way, we would stop at REI for brightly colored gear and a convenience store for Twizzlers).
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My incredible friends and family.
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"Be brave enough to live creatively"
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Katey Szymanski
NonProfit Center of Milwaukee
Milwaukee
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Katy Launius
Carroll University
Waukesha
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I coordinate the day-to-day operations of the on campus Volunteer Center. We work closely with the Food Pantry of Waukesha County to address food insecurity issues in Waukesha County. Our campus has established a pantry garden. We also are an integral part of the Pantry's Food Recovery Program - the only one in Waukesha County.
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I think I'd head to Lake Atitlan and Panajachel in Guatemala. Across the lake from Pana, there's an awesome retreat center focused on mindfulness and yoga. I'd chill there for a week.
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My brother. He's serving in the Army and I'm inspired by his call to service and determination to serve his country.
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"To do justice. Love mercy. Walk humbly." - abridged Micah 6:8
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Kelly Knox
VISTA Leader
Madison
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Co-VISTA Leader with Simone, which means I get to spend my time supporting your awesome VISTA work around the state!
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Probably "extend" my vacation and take a long all-American road trip around the country and visit every silly landmark and festival I could find. |
Ordinary people who speak up and fight injustices- a few dear friends fall into this category
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"Imagine that every person in the world is enlightened but you. They are all your teachers, each doing just the right thing to help you learn perfect patience, perfect wisdom, perfect compassion." -unknown |
Kirsten Hyer
UW-Sheboygan
Sheboygan
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I work with professors on the UW-Sheboygan Campus to get them to add service learning to their classroom curriculum, and providing them with service learning projects. I'm also working within the community to help at risk, and GED students within the community see college as a possibility. |
I would take a friend (its no fun to travel alone) and fly to Ireland. I studied abroad there, and I miss it in the worst way. You could find me in Cork City on a Thursday night chatting in the pub, or maybe on a Saturday afternoon wandering the Giants Causeway. My homeland! She calls to me! |
An English major in college, I'm inspired by authors/ writers who have taken their way with words and used it to transform the world. I'm a firm believer that the pen is mightier than the sword, and to use it to tell truths is a wonderful thing. |
"Imagination is not only the uniquely human capacity to envision that which is not, and, therefore, the foundation of all invention and innovation. In its arguably most transformative and relevetory capacity it is the power that enables us to empathize with humans whose experiences we have not shared." -J.K. Rowling |
Lauren Devine
UW- Parkside (Boys & Girls Club)
Kenosha
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I have the pleasure of being the Community Liaison at UW-Parkside and at the Boys & Girls Club of Kenosha. Throughout my year of service, I will be forging new community partnerships at Parkside, strengthening the pre-established relationships the University already has within the community, and creating a sustainable mentoring program at BGC that will strive to increase awareness of college access. |
I would go back to UW-Madison for an entire week and hang out with my old college friends. I'd spend the week watching a Badger game and sipping on some great Wisconsin craft beers (Spotted Cow is my favorite!) I would donate the money to the Wisconsin Alumni Association to support my fellow Badgers! GO BUCKY!
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First-generation college students-- seeing kids break the cycle and overcoming poverty through education attainment is something I find both admirable and inspirational
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"Just know I chose my own fate. I drove by the fork in the road and went straight." -Jay Z |
Madeline Carrera
Gateway Technical College
Kenosha
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I am a Service Learning Specialist at Gateway Technical College where I work with faculty, students, and community organizations.
I am partnered with United Way of Kenosha County to calculate the largest needs of the community and find solutions for these needs.
I am also partnered with The Sharing Center to create a Back to Work Room to meet the need in Western Kenosha County for more available Job-Readiness help.
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I would take my husband to China and visit friends abroad, reconnect with old instructors, and tour the south of China. We would stay at hostels and donate books and supplies to schools we pass in rural China that need the assistance.
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History is my biggest influence and motivator. I enjoy reading historical fiction, especially about real-life people and situations. I find myself in their struggles and support in their successes.
My parents, sister, and husband are also huge influences on what to do and what not to do. :)
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"It is in today we must create the world of the future." - Eleanor Roosevelt
"Everyone is a genius. But if you judge a fish on its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing it is stupid." -Albert Einstein
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Mara James
Edgewood College
Madison
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I work at Edgewood College, in partnership with Mary at the Lussier Community Education Center, on college access programming. Some of our programs include science workshops through a science class, tutoring and mentoring through our new grant project LEAP 2 College, summer courses for high school students for free, and one-time events with athletics, arts, and theater. |
Buy a dog and just stay home. Help it get settled in and feel comfortable. Also, give the rest of my money to my parents to pay them back for all the start up money they gave me...not too exciting! |
My family and friends. They mean so much to me and have introduced me to so many wonderful ideas and places.
Also, this squirrel:
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"Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not."-The Lorax
"Do all the good you can. By all the means you can. In all the ways you can. At all the times you can. To all the people you can. As long as ever you can."-John Wesley |
Mary Muhammad
Lussier Community Education Center
Madison
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I work with Edgewood College to bring college to the community and also working to create other partnership to broaden the community's horizon. |
I would invest the money into a nonprofit that I would create. The rest would be spent on my trip in Puerto Rico. |
My 16 year old inspires me. she has worked very hard to overcome her painfully shyness and I am so proud of her and love her so very much.
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If it aint broke don't fix it. |
Meg MacNair
UW-Parkside Center for Community Partnerships
Kenosha
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I am the Capacity Building Coordinator at UW-Parkside's Center for Community Development's Nonprofit Development Program. I work with Community-Based Learning and two federal grants that provide capacity building assistance to local nonprofits. I also work under the Planning Director at the Racine/Kenosha Community Action Agency as a fund developer.
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I would invest it in a little house outside of Aix-en-Provence, France. It's the most beautiful little city in Europe and it's where I spent five months during college.
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My parents, my younger sister, and my grandfather. Cliche, I know, but my grandfather tried to join the PeaceCorps when he was in his mid 20s with three young children. With that kind of commitment to serve others, he can't not inspire me.
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"When you move like a jellyfish, rhythm don't mean nothing, you go with the flow, you don't stop" - Jack Johnson's Bubbletoes
And...
"[The French] spend as much of their income on their stomachs as the English do on their cars and stereo systems" - A Year in Provence by Peter Mayle because that's how I want to live my life.
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Mike Raunio
UW-Superior
Superior
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I am working with the University of Wisconsin-Superior and the United Way of Douglas County on an Early Childhood Literacy campaign.
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I would take a trip to Japan. I'd love to visit friends, eat real ramen, and to catch a baseball game or two.
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I am inspired by people who work for what is right and just. I studied history as an undergrad and found inspiration in the stories of ordinary people that took a stand to make their communities better.
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“When you are right you cannot be too radical; when you are wrong, you cannot be too conservative.”- Martin Luther King Jr.
Some men see things as they are and say,"Why?" I dream of things that never were and say, "Why not?"
- Robert Kennedy
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Nicky Glaser
UW-Milwaukee
Milwaukee
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I am the program coordinator at UW-Milwaukee's Center for Volunteerism & Student Leadership. Currently, I am working to provide student service opportunities related to helping UWM's older adult neighbors and other older adults city-wide. I'm also working to establish and grow our Rising Stars Program, which provides UWM students opportunities to mentor high school students in the area by providing them with homework help and college readiness.
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I would definitely take a trip to Switzerland. My best friend and favorite person ever lives there, and I'd love to spend the week with her. I'd also give any money I don't use on airfare to my supervisor and try to bribe her into letting me have another week of vacation....
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My friends definitely inspire me. I have some great friends that really push me to do things I'm sometimes afraid to do, and they are really good at making me realize when I'm over-worrying. My grandma also inspires me. She is an amazing lady, and is always thinking of other people.
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"When I look back on all these worries, I remember the story of the man on his deathbed that had a lot of trouble in his life, most of which never happened."
-Winston Churchill
"Never trust a man in draw-string pants"
-Elliot Stabler, Law and Order SVU
"The meaning of things lie not in the things themselves, but in our attitude towards them." -Antoine de Saint Exupery
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Pheng Xiong
Gateway Technical College
Racine
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Rachel Messenger
UW-Parkside, Workforce Development Center
Kenosha
I'm the one representing in the WiSkullSin shirt. |
I am working on a total of 5 programs having to deal with workforce development issues in Racine County. Three of the youth-focused programs will pilot in January 2012, one professional development course will take place in March-April 2012, and the last one is now a part of a state-wide awareness program. I will provide links to all of these programs on here once their websites are ready since they are all a bit too complex to explain in such a little box. |
Couchsurf in Brazil during Carnival! |
Life, love, the pursuit of happiness. Everyone has a right to all three and I feel it is everyone's duty to make this a reality through volunteerism and giving. |
To me, it's always a good idea to always carry two sacks of something when you walk around. That way, if anybody says, "Hey, can you give me a hand?"
you can say, "Sorry, got these sacks."
--Jack Handey |
Simone Mishler
Wisconsin Campus Compact
Madison
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I serve as a VISTA Leader supporting the outstanding members of Wisconsin Campus Compact. That is why I am so happy in my picture!
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I would probably buy a one-way ticket to Ireland and see how long it would take before someone realized my "one week" was over. |
A good book never fails to inspire me. Closing the Leadership Gap: Why Women Can and Must Help Run the World by Marie C. Wilson is one of my favorites.
And this kid: http://youtu.be/eaIvk1cSyG8 |
"If they give you ruled paper, write the other way."
- Juan Ramon Jimenez
"Thumbs up for rock 'n' roll!" (see inspiration)
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Stephanie Thompson
UW Credit Union
Madison
My sisters and I this past summer in Northern Wisconsin. Can you tell who hates photos? |
I'm the program coordinator for a free tax preparation program in the Madison area. We provide free tax help to income eligible people for specific employer groups. So tax law jargon has become my native tongue. Dividends, deductions, distributions oh my!
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Road trip across the States?! Sounds like a plan to me - bring along my favorite friends, good music, and snack on junk food from the East to the West Coast.
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Mom, of course.
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"Laugh as much as you choose, but you will not laugh me out of my opnion."
~ Pride and Prejudice; a must read for me every year. |
Traci Higgs
Waukesha County Workforce Development Center
Pewaukee
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The Workforce Development Center is a host of ten private/public agencies that provide free or low-cost services for employers and job-seekers in a One-Stop Employment and Training environment. We are also host to health care and food needs case workers. My position is to improve all of it, all the time. ;) |
I would put $4,000 toward my student loans and take the rest on a mini road trip around my lovely home state. I missed out on camping this year! |
I'm inspired by those who maintain the positive attitude that may have motivated them to serve in the first place. So many people get burned out when working hard to help create and sustain uniformity within their community. When I feel this way I look to others to help keep me strong and focused. Their ability to cultivate ambition is enriching. |
"Some people never go crazy. What truly horrible lives they must leave." |
Trevor Peterson
UW-Stout
Menomonie
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I'm awesome for America doing community building at the Phelan Park and Dunn Co. Jail Gardens in Menomonie, WI - where we are starting from the ground up; turning compostable waste into rich soil into garden plots into healthy food and educational experiences for students, teachers, inmates and community members. Here We Grow Menomonie!
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I would purchase touring bicycles for friends and take them on a trip across the state of Wisconsin during the summer from the northern tip of the Upper Peninsula to the confluence of the Wisconsin and Mississippi Rivers - stopping for cheese samples all along the way.
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I'm inspired by the farmers and families in my city, those that have grown in this region for so many years before I moved to Menomonie and are willing to teach and guide me during my time here as a VISTA.
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"Let my words, like vegetables, be tender and sweet, for tomorrow I may have to eat them." |
Tyler Schroeder
UW-Stout
Menomonie
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I'm working to increase technology literacy in Dunn County. At UW-Stout, I'm working to assist local nonprofit organizations in improving employees' computer literacy, develop websites, and create social media outlets in order to reach out to a new generation of volunteers. In addition, I'm working to create a unified campus volunteerism calendar in an effort to establish a sustainable program through which area non-profits can seek to fill volunteer positions, thus keeping agencies up-to-speed with the ever-changing technology sphere. I'm also working to create a community technology night series, in which volunteer instructors will hold workshops open to the community at large aimed at increasing capacity through technology literacy.
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Hookers and heroine, Charlie Sheen style (just kidding!). I would go camping with friends, enjoying copious amounts of wine, s'mores, and spooky ghost stories. |
I find inspiration in the little things.
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"Live each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influences of each."
--Henry David Thoreau
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Xee Xiong
Lakeshore Technical College
Cleveland
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I’m the Service-Learning Coordinator working to build partnerships with community organizations, working with faculty to get service learning implemented into the curriculum/course work, and starting/creating the service-learning program (with my site supervisor) and making sure it lasts forever. |
Half of this would go to travel. I want to backpack in Europe, Asia, and the USA! We’ll see how far and much $2500 will get me! ^_^ THEN, I would use the rest to pay my school loans. Lame, I know! |
I find inspiration just about everywhere: The students and teachers that I had the privilege to work with for Schools of Hope
THE CUTEST COUPLE I SAW OCCASIONALLY WALKING HAND-IN-HAND IN MATCHING CLOTHES, BACKPACKS, RAINCOATS & HATS & UMBRELLAS (on UW-Madison campus...they’re very old, but you can tell they’re deeply and madly in love with one another.)
&& My family! My parents, Grandma, relatives; but most especially, the kids I love and care for! They keep me on my toes and make me want to be my best. They also love me unconditionally ^__^ as I love them. |
“Smile, you’ll live longer.” Smiles are contagious; why live your life without them? Share them with the world; it’s free and effortless. And it makes you/me look less scary! Why would you want to look scary?! |
