Written by: Learn and Serve – Michigan Team
The Michigan Community Service Commission has a strong commitment to youth service in the state and works hard to propel the efforts of young people and their impact on a larger scale. For many years they've benefitted from youth commissioners serving on their board in an effort to capture the voice of Michigan's young people.
Three of those individuals; two current MCSC youth commissioners and one former youth commissioner, recently sat down together to discuss their commitment to service and the impact it's had on them and others. Please read on to learn more about Ella Kate Wagner, Breannah Alexander, and Kari Pardoe - three leaders in Michigan's youth service movement.
Please introduce yourselves and explain your current involvement with the Michigan Community Service Commission.
- Ella Kate Wagner: This is my first year as a commissioner, but I've worked with the MCSC a lot. I was on the Service Learning Youth Council for five years. I am currently a freshman at Michigan State University studying elementary education.
- Kari Pardoe: I was a commissioner with the MCSC for nine years, starting my freshman year of college and I stayed on after that. I currently work at the Michigan Nonprofit Association as the Director of The LEAGUE Michigan.
- Breannah Alexander: This is the first year of my second term with the MCSC. My first term as a commissioner started in 2007. I'm currently a senior at Grand Valley State University studying public administration and criminal justice.
Why is youth service so important to you?
- Kari: For me, it's important for a couple of reasons. I wouldn't be where I am today without it. As a young person I thought I wanted to go into business and then I got really involved in the youth service movement - from grantmaking to philanthropy - and it totally changed and shaped me into who I am today. As a result, I changed my major in college and totally reevaluated what I wanted to do. Because of my experience, I want to provide those same opportunities to youth throughout the state of Michigan to help them get a taste for what [service] is and how they can integrate it into their lives and continue participating into adulthood.
- Breannah: The idea of youth service is important to me because I come from a family of public servants. My dad was a firefighter and my mom was a nurse, so of course the idea of helping someone else was important. Too often, your community doesn't succeed without its citizens helping those who can't help themselves. Youth service became a special issue for me when I joined the Youth Advisory Council (YAC), which is affiliated with community foundations that grant-makes to the community for youth-driven programs, but also does direct service as well. Prior to that I had never considered what an impact service has on a community until I realized what a group of 20 people could do as a collective unit to have a lasting impact.
How valuable do you believe service will be in the coming years?
- Kari: I think service is going to be invaluable to Michigan, especially as we try to move through these trying times we have and know will continue to have. Service and volunteerism are vital and crucial to the success and turnaround. We need to realize that Michigan is our home and we all need to give back in some way. More young people must get involved to be life-long leaders in this field so our nonprofits and foundations will continue to succeed.
- Breannah: I definitely agree that service will be crucial for Michigan. The engagement piece of young people is so important as our generations get older we'll need new people to pick up where they left off.
- Ella Kate: As time progresses and with budget cuts, Michigan is in some tough times right now - as a result, service will grow. I encourage everyone to get out there and serve with the nonprofits. I work with nonprofits in Lansing that are dying because they just don't have the people to help them get things done - and all they need are volunteers!
To continue reading this transcript, please visit the MCSC’s website: http://www.michigan.gov/mcsc/0,1607,7-137-6113-253421--,00.html
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