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SPOTLIGHT: A Homecoming for VISIONS’ Alaska 2012 Program Director

Feb 9, 2012

What distinguishes VISIONS among youth summer programs is the historically high caliber of our leaders and a 45% to 50% annual staff return rate. We wish we could keep all of our summer leaders in the field for the long haul. Thankfully, other equally excellent leaders come on board through the seasons to make their unique imprints on VISIONS. VISIONS leaders eventually move on to full-time vocations and avocations. Some take a a couple of years off and then return to direct another summer or two. Some stay connected as consultants and program liaisons to communities or as VISIONS representatives at camp fairs and in schools. A few, literally many years later, find openings in their “regular” lives to get back into the field for a “VISIONS fix”. Alex Bornstein, 2012 VISIONS Alaska Program Director, is doing just that.

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Barry Rivera, a Mississippi Staffer

Jan 24, 2012

Hello from breezy and mostly freezy Iowa! Last summer I was fortunate enough to [be a staff leader for] Visions Service Adventures. I had been working in the finance world and...yearned to do more with my time... I was hired to work on the Mississippi program. It was an all-around great and moving time. We repaired and repainted an entire house, built a nesting area for an endangered bird and accomplished other projects...

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Summer Program Staffer Remembers Montana Cheyenne

May 30, 2011

Another summer community service season on the Northern Cheyenne reservation draws near, after a few seasons' hiatus, and we could not be happier. We found this in our archives of staff and student volunteer writings. Haviland Staggers spent many seasons directing VISIONS summer programs in Montana. She wrote the following reflective piece when she was in graduate school completing her Masters in Education.

~ CHEYENNE SUMMERS ~ Northern Cheyenne Powwow

In May 1992 I graduated from college and became, suddenly, an adult with a fuzzy plan to move to Missoula, Montana. Before the actual move to Missoula, I accepted a job that would take me to the Northern Cheyenne Reservation where, with a group of teen volunteers, I would help build a playground and do other community service projects. My employer was a relatively newly established organization called VISIONS.

After staff training in Pennsylvania in mid-June, all the Montana staff piled into three 15-passenger vans and headed west to the St. Xavier Indian School on the Crow Indian Reservation in Montana. We drove straight through for two days until we landed on the reservation. After a poor night's sleep, two staff teams continued farther west with the vans. (There were four teams of six staff each destined for four different Montana reservations.) The other two teams stayed behind, one on the Crow, the other to work on the Northern Cheyenne. We leased small buses for both programs from the Crow tribe.

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Past VISIONS Program Director Attends White House Round Table for "Champions of Change"

Apr 29, 2011
"What is going to change the world today is the same thing that has changed it in the past: an idea, and the service of dedicated individuals committed to that idea.”

~Sargent Shriver, Peace Corps founder

Last month past VISIONS program director (Dr.) Joby Taylor was invited to an inaugural roundtable meeting at the White House for President Obama's "Winning the Future: Champions of Change" initiative. Joby joined a small group of Returned Peace Corps Volunteers, all civic leaders in their communities, from around the country for a conversation with senior White House staff about service and civic engagement.

Joby forged the foundation for VISIONS community service program in Guadeloupe as its Program Director from 1997 through 2000. He is a dear friend and occasional advisor to us. Joby, who was a Peace Corps volunteer in Gabon, Africa, is Director of the Shriver Peaceworker Fellows Program and Affiliate Faculty, Language Literacy & Culture at the University of Maryland Baltimore Campus. Joby’s profile and a short video are featured on the White House website.

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Spotlight: Wesley Hedden, VISIONS Southeast Asia and Cambodia Coordinator

Apr 28, 2011

We first met Wes Hedden in Vietnam in 2006 on one of our visits to lay the foundation of VISIONS community service program in Vietnam. His first summer with VISIONS was 2007 when he was on staff in Nicaragua. The next three summers he was on the staff team in Vietnam and was Program Director in 2010.

Wes moved to Southeast Asia after graduating Tulane University with a degree in philosophy and Latin American Studies. He has lived in China, Vietnam, Myanmar [Burma], and Cambodia, teaching English and world history while also working in various capacities for a number of NGOs.

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Spotlight on our Extended Volunteer Family in the Dominican Republic

Feb 24, 2011

VISIONS has been leading teen community service programs in the Dominican Republic since 1991. Our project partner since this program’s inception is the Lions Club of Sabana Perdida. Sabana Perdida has long been our home base neighborhood on the northern outskirts of Santo Domingo where VISIONS student volunteers are welcomed as family during their stay. Our dear friends and DR family, who participants will come to know well, are Santos, Lidia and Alberto Ramos.

The Ramos Family - Santos, Lidia, and Alberto
In many ways the Ramos’ are characteristic of Dominican families, warm and outgoing, loving, hard working, ready to laugh. In other ways, the Ramos family is unique. They are legendary in their community for their integrity and selfless service. For nearly two decades the Ramos family has been our family in the Dominican Republic. They embrace us, guide and advise us, provide loving wisdom and active support. Their contributions to their own community and to VISIONS embody the commitment to service that VISIONS strives to pass on to our participants. Indeed, the service model of the Ramos family transcends the borders of their or any other country.
Santos and Lidia are long-standing, still active charter members, and both past Presidents, of Club de Leones Sabana Perdida, El Milloncito (affiliate of the Santo Domingo and international Lions Clubs).

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Remembering Sargent Shriver, Peace Corps Founder and Service Leader

Jan 27, 2011
"What is going to change the world today is the same thing
that has changed it in the past: an idea, and the service of
dedicated individuals committed to that idea."

~ Sargent Shriver

Author: Joby Taylor, Director Shriver Peaceworker Center and former VISIONS summer director

Sargent ShriverSargent Shriver sits at the tip top of my list of great leaders who were also great human beings. His resume doesn't include "President" but sometimes, on a down day, just musing on that what-might-have-been scenario brings a smile. He's a true hero.

In a career spanning the second half of the twentieth century, Sargent Shriver created and led an array of programs that met our most challenging issues with courage, compassion, and creativity. The Peace Corps, Legal Services for the Poor, VISTA, Head Start, Job Corps, Upward Bound, Community Action, Special Olympics, and others remain among our nation's most effective programs for engaging citizens, transforming lives, and leading social change. Our own Shriver Center at UMBC has been leading this charge in his home state of Maryland for nearly two decades already, and the Shriver Peaceworker Program is proudly continuing his legacy in Baltimore, where I imagine Sarge standing alongside the City's great citizen sons like Frederick Douglass.

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Spotlight on Summer Program Leaders Ryan Durkopp and Annie Nagy ~ Guadeloupe, Now Ghana

Jan 10, 2011

What distinguishes VISIONS among teen community service programs is the longevity of service and high caliber of our summer leaders. We are blessed yearly with dozens of qualified applicants; the sheer volume makes the hiring process challenging, if not painstakingly time consuming. We speak to three work references for every applicant considered, asking over a dozen skills-focused questions. We ask even more questions of our applicants in their interviews in person, via telephone or Skype. Fortunately, the lengthy process is offset by an annual staff return rate of roughly 50%.

A characteristic shared by veteran VISIONS leaders is that they came to us primarily not "for travel and to see the world" but for their intentional attraction to our mission. Two exemplary leaders are Ryan Durkopp and Annie Nagy, VISIONS' long-time Guadeloupe co-directors. In their own academic and professional pursuits each is amazing. Together, Ryan and Annie have delivered an impressive one-two punch as stewards of VISIONS Guadeloupe, marrying their PhD and professional pursuits with their ongoing commitment to VISIONS.

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Former VISIONS Field Director is 2010 National Awards Honoree

Oct 25, 2010

Rich Webb, former VISIONS field director who established our program in Peru, is one of seven recipients of the  2010 National Awards for Citizen Diplomacy from the U.S. Center for Citizen Diplomacy. Honorees are recognized “for their extraordinary work to increase American citizen engagement in international affairs and their outstanding contributions in fostering cross-cultural understanding... Through their efforts, these citizen diplomats are building a reservoir of sustainable goodwill among the citizens of the United States and other nations and are excellent examples of citizen diplomacy at work.”

From 1997 through 2000 Rich worked closely year round for VISIONS doing student and family outreach, programming and planning. He spent five summers leading VISIONS programs. When he joined VISIONS his expressed goal was to learn as much as possible about and experience a sound framework created for volunteering overseas for teens. He also said in his job interview with us that he dreamed of creating such a program in Peru, his country of birth, to which he remains closely tied. VISIONS Peru was launched in 1999.

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Summer Director Featured in "Her" Magazine

Jun 8, 2010
Summers Off — No Way!
One Ralston teacher finds the perfect mix of volunteerism and adventure.
Trinidad. Australia. Virgin Gorda. What do these destinations have in common? For Mindy Podraza, these are a few of the exotic places she’s worked during her five summers as an employee of Visions Service Adventures.

So how did this Ralston Middle School teacher find such a unique way to spend her summers off? “I Googled cool summer jobs,” Podraza says with a laugh. That simple search led her to the adventure of a lifetime, where she ended up working in some of the most picturesque places on earth. Gotta love the internet.

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