AmeriCorps Experience
Dear Editor: My name is Mamie Ziegler and I have served with the Sitka AmeriCorps Program at Sitka Counseling’s Family Center this past year.
As the end of my service year is rapidly approaching, I have been taking time to reflect on my experiences in Sitka and how much I have learned and grown personally and professionally since moving here. The landscape is starting to resemble itself when I first arrived – with the fully emerged skunk cabbage, the tall shoots of fireweed, orangey-pink-red salmonberries dotting the bushes along our driveway, and olive and black-spotted banana slugs occupying lengths of the Cross Trail. This life and growth indicate to me that almost a whole year has passed since I stepped off of the plane from New Jersey.
I joined Sitka Counseling with the Sitka AmeriCorps program to gain hands-on experience in the mental health field and to learn how to serve and work with youths in this capacity. Not only was I able to gain experience and learn from professionals, I also had the opportunity to join an amazing and close-knit team whose first priority is creating a safe space for kids to be themselves.
Throughout my service year, I found my passion for this work developing as I began to wish I had a space like Family Center when I was growing up. I’ve discovered during my service year that what I like most about working with youths in this capacity is being able to connect with kids on a playful level – whether that’s engaging in pretend play, planning and working on art projects, putting on puppet shows, kicking the soccer ball around, or baking something to share in the kitchen.
I greatly appreciate the opportunity to create and foster a safe space for kids where we can work with them to practice skills from positive peer interactions, emotional literacy and regulation, collaboration, and much more. Watching the kids learn and grow throughout their time here and getting to learn from them is extremely rewarding.
I have decided to stay with the team and will be starting employment in August. I am excited to be staying in Sitka and for this next chapter, and I would like to thank the community for their support of my service this past year and beyond.
Mamie Ziegler, Sitka
