AmeriCorps Alumni Feature: Ernesto Vasquez '15-16 and Morganne Harper '16-17

Photo credit: Christine Galvizo

Ernesto Vasquez
College Access Corps at Mt. Hood Community College, 2015-16

"My service year with Campus Compact of Oregon was from 2015-2016 where I served as a College Access Coordinator. Upon completing my service year, I gained employment within Evergreen School District to support English Language Learners within the classroom and enrolled in Concordia University’s Master of Arts in Community Psychology program, which I completed this past August. I became passionate about conducting research while in graduate school and completed a thesis entitled,Minority Students in College: Finding Sense of Community. I hoped to understand if ethnic and racial minority students in college reported a lower sense of community within predominately White college campuses, compared to their majority peers.

​In addition to my personal research, I was able to take part in other valuable and exciting research throughout my time in graduate school. I provided consultations for an international, non-governmental organization focused on the mental health of Syrian refugees and Jordanian nationals in the Kingdom of Jordan, as well as for a local non-profit organization focused on improving the number of Native American caregivers. Currently, I am conducting research on transfer student recruitment in college. I am also a member of the Public Policy Committee within the Society for Community Research and Action (Division 27, American Psychological Association), which focuses on enhancing the relationship between community psychologists and policy makers to inform policy decisions. My time since AmeriCorps has been wonderful as I have been able to use my knowledge and skills to support organizations doing valuable work."

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Morganne Harper
VISTA Member at Portland Community College, 2016-17

"At twenty-two years old, fresh out of college, and having never lived outside of Wyoming, I moved to Portland, Oregon to serve a year as an AmeriCorps VISTA at Portland Community College with Campus Compact of Oregon. I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect, but those eventful 365 days taught me more than I could have ever imagined. Not only did I gain a vast amount of new, valuable career skills, but I also grew immensely as a person, fostering a continued sense of compassion, empathy, and vulnerability.

After finishing my service term, I moved all the way across the country to Washington, D.C., where I explored my previous passion for childhood education, securing a job as a Lead Infant Teacher at a daycare. While my new position was wonderful and fulfilling in so many ways, I soon realized that I had a strong desire to return to higher education and work on a college campus.
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Without a doubt, I can attribute my desire to work in higher education to the year I spent working as an AmeriCorps VISTA at Portland Community College. And now, one year later, I am beginning a new position at the George Washington University in Washington, D.C. – something I never would have imagined before my time with Campus Compact of Oregon."

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