Americorps

Stressful times at work are going to be coming to a head soon. My boss is interviewing candidates for the supervisor job I applied for and I have a sinking feeling that they're going to hire from outside rather than promote from within. Sure, some of that feeling is paranoia and my own insecurity, but the fact remains that I have no idea how this is actually going to go. And when the future looks murky and unclear I usually have a pretty powerful urge to unmurkify it by choosing some other direction for my life to go in, focusing on something else. This week it was Americorps.

My supervisor at Richmond Place is an Americorps volunteer, as was the supervisor before her, so I know a little bit about the program and how it works. Basically you work for next to no money on a volunteer project for a year or so and then afterward you get a small scholarship to help you pay for your student loans (or you can opt for a stipend). Of course you get a year of experiences and helping people as well, which is the part that makes it enticing. In certain circumstances you also get to try living in a new city for a year, always an interesting option.

I've been talking to my RP supervisors about it for a few months and thinking about it in an abstract way, but this week when I was feeling all uncertain about the future I finally decided to go ahead and submit an application. I applied for a few programs that looked interesting to me and one of them sent me some more information. The part I looked at first was the money because you have to be able to make that work. The money is very, very little, in this case about minimum wage. They do that, I'm sure, because it's a social government program so they probably don't have much money to give out to begin with. They sell it as you living at the same wage level as the people you are helping, which makes it kind of awesome.

But still, there are practical problems with living at minimum wage, like how one pays their car payment, perhaps. I got out my calculator and did the math and no matter what I tried I couldn't make it work. Just couldn't do it. And that was frustrating and sad, but in a way also a positive thing. Because I really think Americorps is something I could do, something where I can go have an adventure and help people and try new things and learn a lot and I won't need to get my degree first. All I need to do is save up some scratch. That's the kind of situation that can not only give me something to look forward to, but imbue my tough, sometimes soulless corporate job with some kind of purpose, the very thing it has been lacking. Suddenly the future is looking brighter indeed.