Alia Jackson serves as an AmeriCorps member with Campus Compact K2H Civic Futures at the University of Wyoming.

Tell us a bit about your project!
At my site, I provide support to their ongoing projects; currently, I have two main public engagement programs I am assisting on, which are the Malcolm Wallop Civic Engagement Program and Saturday University. I am also engaged in the University of Wyoming’s COVID-19 response, where I’ve been working with volunteers and others at the university to monitor and check in on students and employees who are in quarantine or isolation.
My main project right now is under the Malcolm Wallop Civic Engagement Program and is called the Wallop Civic Engagement K-12 project, where I am helping create a virtual catalog of resources for K-12 social studies teachers through the development of videos and resource guides by UW professors and other experts on a variety of topics that align with Wyoming’s K-12 social studies standards.

What have you learned from your AmeriCorps K2H service?
During my AmeriCorps K2H service so far, the most important thing I have learned is how to find fulfillment in service and work. It has been a learning experience to be more isolated from my site than I would be in a normal year, and not be working with others face to face; however, it has really imparted on me the importance of noticing how helping others brings joy and fulfillment. Service to others, whether that be through work with my colleagues on my site, to the University of Wyoming community, or to the larger Laramie and Wyoming community, is how I am able to connect with people during these times of virtual engagement and brings joy to not only me but others.

What is your proudest achievement from your time with AmeriCorps?
In December of 2020, the Wallop Civic Engagement K-12 Project launched, sharing virtual resources with social studies teachers around the state of Wyoming. It has been rewarding to help create this resource and see it be utilized. It feels especially vital in these current times, where there is a growing need for virtual resources and engagement. I am continuing to assist in expanding the reach of this project, with a second set of videos and resource guides set to be completed in February, and a second virtual public engagement project in the works, and I am excited to continue to see the impact these resources make for engagement across Wyoming.

Alia Jackson