Learning to Serve with AmeriCorps

Only 8 percent of low-income students will earn a college degree by age 24, according to data from the nonprofit College Possible.

For some young Pacific University alumni, that statistic is an opportunity to change lives — to use their own educations to inspire and prepare others for the chance to learn and grow.

Several recent Pacific alumni have taken time after graduation to work for AmeriCorps, a national organization that places volunteers in nonprofits, schools and public agencies for extensive community service work.

Tyler Oshiro ’13, Korina Kaio-Maddox ’12 and Kathleen Rohde ’14 all chose AmeriCorps positions that allowed them to work with youth and education.

Oshiro, a high-achieving chemistry major at Pacific, spent a year working for Intel after graduation.

Then, he said, “I wanted to get back to community service, try to make things better for underserved people.”

While preparing to apply to medical school, Oshiro worked with All Kids are Scientists, an AmeriCorps program in Portland. The program targets elementary students in high-diversity/low-income areas, hoping to inspire students to pursue science by making it hands-on and fun. Oshiro managed volunteers, helped with training, and worked to solicit donations to take the program to more schools.

“I always wanted to work with kids and never got the opportunity, but this gave me an opportunity to focus on kids and have fun,” he said. He hopes to become a pediatrician, and this experience gave him meaningful experience with children.

“If it doesn’t work out, I want to stick to science education or something that involves science,” he said.

Kaio-Maddox and Rohde, meanwhile, worked with College Possible, an organization that seeks to make college accessible for low-income students. Coaches with the program help high-schoolers apply to colleges, seek out scholarships, and prepare for college entrance exams.

“College Possible definitely gave me a lot of experience, and I honed some of those skills that I can apply in the future,” said Rhode, who hopes to someday start and run her own nonprofit organization.

But even more, she said, it has allowed her to learn and grow while helping others do the same.

“It’s interesting that generations of Pacific alumni are taking steps to give back to America as a whole,” she said. “I think that’s really beautiful."