April 2001
Spotlight on Members
Q1) What made you want to join AmeriCorps?
Sonia: I wanted to go back to school because I want to be a teacher in Special Education.
Isabel: Lots of things. I wanted more knowledge and experience. I also was working at Sanchez PALs and was familiar with AmeriCorps. It was a good opportunity to try something different.
Hilda: I found out about AmeriCorps last year working in the PALs program. I wanted the opportunity to work with kids and learn more.
Q2) What is your favorite part of your job as an AmeriCorps member?
Sonia: My children. To teach the children and see how they improve makes me happy.
Isabel: Helping the first graders. And I traveled a lot with AmeriCorps; we went to several conventions in Chicago, Washington D.C., and Corpus Christi. We went to present the PALs program and also were on national television.
Hilda: I like everything. It gives me so much enjoyment to see the kids respond, and I know that my work is helping them.
Q3) What do you hope to be doing in ten years?
Sonia: Teaching. And raising my sixteen-year-old daughter.
Isabel: I hope to stay in the educational field. My youngest child is in sixth grade, so I will probably stay in AISD.
Hilda: I want to continue studying and enroll in ACC to study English and computers. I think it is very important to learn more.
Q4) What is the best thing that has ever happened to you?
Sonia: Being a mother and having a daughter are the best things that ever happened to me.
Isabel: AmeriCorps gave me the opportunity to work. It was the first opportunity for parents to join, and it changed my life in a positive way.
Hilda: The best thing about AmeriCorps is that it gives me more ideas to help my daughter, because I use the same tips for her and my focus kids. It is also very important to me that every member is friendly and helps me so much.