They Call Us Millennials's...

by Alexsandra Buckner serving at the Jewish Coalition of Literacy, California

Above: Madeline, Shelley, Alexsandra, and Kelsey

I started reading a study put together by the Pew Research institute about my generation.  The Millennial Generation as we are called.  According to the study, Millennial’ s are confident, self-expressive, upbeat, and open to change.  I continued to read on, intrigued.  “[Millennial’ s] are more ethnically diverse than older adults, less religious, less likely to serve in the military, and are on track to become the most educated generation in American history.”   This study really left me thinking about my End of Service.

Based on what people say about my generation, how and where does this affect my future and what I do? Where do I fall on this spectrum?

I started to think about this millennial thing with more voracity, it really was eating at me.  Unlike generations before us that were plagued by the fear of going to war and being drafted, or like my parents, surviving the racial unrest of the 60’s and the threat of war, in my opinion, is no less in existence than it was 50 years ago.  As long as unstable dictators like Mugabe in Zimbabwe and in recent years, Bashar Al-Assad in Syria, keep killing people by the thousands, maybe even millions now, our generation will continue live in this fear of war, poverty, and political unrest.

It reads: Dear Ms. Buckner, Thank you for coming to our class room to read.

Am Not Going to Get Up Today. I especially liked the part when he said “you can call the police

but I am not going to get up today.” It was a funny book. Sincerely Carla.  3rd grade room 10, Hawes school (JCL partnership school). I think she nailed the drawing of me!

 



I started my Americorps journey in November 2013, which means I still have a bit of time to think about my plans for the next year.  Madeline Collazo is the newest San Francisco Americorps Vista and I am ecstatic that I have worked with her and couldn’t be happier.  Throughout my VISTA year it has been a wonderful experience to get to know her.  I feel like I am really passing the torch on.  Everything that I have worked hard on to accomplish will undoubtedly be continued with her, and that gives me a lot of joy.  That’s just it.  Americorps Vistas are a group of creative, inspiring individuals who believe in eradicating poverty.  They truly believe in having a social conscious, and take their year of service seriously.  And guess what? They are mostly, Millennial’s.

The toughest part of my service is already done.  Meeting with the different schools and growing relationships was exhausting in the beginning.  Nobody knew who I was or how I contributed to the growth of their program in collaboration of JCL.  As my relationships started to grow so did my heart for service and my interest to work even more in public schools.  I became attached to the people I met, and I could see the impact being made.  My passion lies with reaching kids and I have found through my service that I would like to continue with Public Health.
 

I have been researching a program called Revolution Foods and I have found that they deliver healthy and nutritious food to students in SFUSD and all throughout the country and as much as I love the non-profit world and I am comfortable here, I would like to try my hand again at for-profits who are socially responsible.  Regardless of what I do, I will be stepping out into the unknown and I think that’s okay.  I truly believe that if you do what you love you will find happiness and fulfillment in life. Maybe I am a bit optimistic on my situation, a little more than I should be; I suppose that’s what makes me an individual. Or maybe it just makes me a true millennial after all.

 

Work cited: The Pew institute: http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2010/02/24/millennials-confident-connected-open-to-change/




Catherine, my little men-tee’s graduation day! 
Americorps has inspired me to volunteer outside my organization.
Check out Juma Ventures for mentor opportunities!