I mean, of course I had job description. However, these are sometimes intentionally ambiguous to allow the VISTA member to take ownership of the position. With all that fluidity, it is easy to get lost in Job Description Land, attempting to navigate on uncharted water. Yes, people have had my position before and they left a chart detailing where they went. This was somewhat helpful, but I would need to make the position mold to my personality and quirks. Then I attended VISTA Leader Pre-Service Orientation (PSO).
At PSO I was told I should find a role to play in my organization with our VISTA members. I told my moderator I was worried I wouldn't be the kind of leader my members needed. He told me I would make a perfect coach.
“A coach?” I responded.
He told me, “Think of all the Olympic athletes’ coaches. Do you think that their coaches are as talented as the athletes?” I tried to think of a coach who I could say was as gifted as the athlete in their sport, but I could not.
My moderator responded, “be a coach. Bring the best out of the athletes by working with them and giving them advice and by sometimes just being an ear to listen to them.”
I hope that I was a coach for my members. They are a group of highly talented individuals, all with their quirks and habits that I often found both endearing and irritating at the same time. As a coach, they pushed me to go beyond my limitations.
I still believe that no one starts out in the world already knowing how to read—they must first learn letters, and then words. We are constantly learning new roles each day. If you aren’t, then I suggest you take on something new so you will not get too comfortable in your role and forget how to learn something new.
AmeriCorps*VISTA will always be a way for anyone to learn a new skill, trade, and way to look at the world around them. It is not an easy job, but learning something new never should be. I will now go on to a new adventure in which I will once again struggle to tell everyone what it is that I am doing and why, but I will do the best I possibly can.
I would like to take a moment to thank everyone who supported me in this new endeavor, who allowed for me to make mistakes and helped me to learn from them. Good luck to the new group of VISTA members who will be taking over our positions next year. I hope you are ready to learn!
AmeriCorps*VISTA will always be a way for anyone to learn a new skill, trade, and way to look at the world around them. It is not an easy job, but learning something new never should be. I will now go on to a new adventure in which I will once again struggle to tell everyone what it is that I am doing and why, but I will do the best I possibly can.
I would like to take a moment to thank everyone who supported me in this new endeavor, who allowed for me to make mistakes and helped me to learn from them. Good luck to the new group of VISTA members who will be taking over our positions next year. I hope you are ready to learn!
