From working with local elementary-age children to joining the “domestic Peace Corps,” there is a variety of humanitarian and volunteer programs that Binghamton University students can sign up for on campus.

Programs available to BU students include the Johnson City Mentor Program, Teach for America and AmeriCorps. According to Nancy Paul, director of the Career Development Center, the mentoring program provides students with two academic credits for mentoring a middle school student.

Paul said it’s important for students to think about what issues bother them when deciding what kind of work they want to do.

“It is important for all of us to be thinking about how we can make a difference,” Paul said. “Once they [students] can articulate what they care about, they can direct themselves towards opportunities both paid and unpaid.”

According to the CDC’s Web site, the program, which is a partnership between BU and the Johnson City School District, aims to offer both role models and provide additional academic support to younger students.

“The mentors are helping our leaders of tomorrow,” Paul added.

Over 500 BU students have participated in this program since it began in the spring of 1997, and more than 50 students are involved this semester, she said.

The program requirements include completing an application. Participants mentor for five hours per week and attend a one-hour weekly seminar.

AMERICORPS

The CDC helps students learn about short-term post graduation service opportunities as well, since some students might not be ready to make long-term commitments, Paul said.

“By doing something different they can find out more about their own interests while providing service for others,” she said.

One of these service organizations is AmeriCorps Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA). According to americorps.gov, the program is referred to as “the domestic Peace Corps.”

Participants in AmeriCorps programs serve for 10 months to a year. Assignments are chosen based on a participant’s personal interests.

Paul was an AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer after she had graduated college and was stationed in Utah to tutor kids in after-school programs.

“I felt I made a difference in the lives of the kids that I worked with,” she said.

CITY YEAR

City Year, which is funded by AmeriCorps, is another program students can join if they are looking to make a difference in the world.

Laura Hamm, executive projects manager of City Year New York said that the organization is looking for students who have a “true passion for service and building a better community.”

The majority of participants tutor and teach elementary and middle school students how they can help solve social issues in their communities, such as hunger and homelessness.

The program is unique because volunteers, who complete a 10-month stint, come from all different socio-economic, racial and ethnic backgrounds, according to Hamm.

“Any background that you can imagine, our volunteers come from,” she said. “Volunteers are more prepared for their next stage of life than someone who hasn’t had this year of service.”

TEACH FOR AMERICA

Teach for America is a full-time employment program that recruits recent college graduates. Participants are assigned to teach for two years at urban or rural public schools in low-income communities.

Fifty percent of students that grow up in a low-income area currently do not graduate high school, and recruitment associate Kayleigh Minicozzi said that teachers in the program are working to change that statistic.

“We are working to get intelligent leaders in the classroom,” Minicozzi said.

She said that TFA was making a difference by helping kids improve academically and subsequently allowing more students the opportunity to graduate.

Kara Montgomery, a recent Binghamton graduate and a 2008 TFA member in New York City, now teaches 11th grade environmental science in the South Bronx.

The BU alumna said she would recommend the experience to others with the disclaimer that it was the toughest thing she has ever done.

“You have to be willing to work hard,” Montgomery said.

Teach for America provides participants with certification and training, and also gives them the opportunity to obtain a master’s degree in education.