Breaking Out of the Bubble

I first heard about Jumpstart through my roommate. She had just been hired as a team leader and was telling me all about the kids she would be working with, the activities she would be doing, and the change she would be making in these kids lives. Without knowing anything else about the organization I knew that I wanted to be involved. I don’t have Federal Work Study, and I assumed that all of the positions had already been filled, but when I saw that Jumpstart was going to be at a non-Federal Work Study job fair, I thought I would stop at the booth and see if there was any way I could participate.

I walked up to the booth and met Stacia, the site manager, who told me that there were still a few positions available as a corps member. When I heard this I was thrilled. Immediately after the job fair, I went to my room and applied online for a job, and a few days later I met with Stacia for an interview. 

At the end of the interview I asked Stacia why Jumpstart’s preferred hiring college kids over established teachers. Stacia gave me multiple reasons but the one that impacted me the most was when she said that this was our opportunity to break out of the bubble of college life and make a difference in our community. 

I have been working with Jumpstart for three weeks now and already I feel that I am breaking out of the bubble. Twice a week I go to a school and teach kids the basics of learning in an attempt to break them from the cycle and give them the tools necessary to succeed. In breaking out of my bubble, I am also breaking them out of theirs.

~Celia Sacks

Corps member

Team Learning 1