On Monday, Aug. 15, the energy in the College Possible Wisconsin office was buzzing as we welcomed our 2022–23 cohort of AmeriCorps coaches to the office. For some, this was the start of their very first service year and for others, their second year, but for all, this day marked the very beginning of Welcome Weeks!
Welcome Weeks offers three weeks of orientation and training for coaches.
It is a time for them to acclimate to their roles and prepare to support College Possible scholars in the coming school year. Amid all the meetings and training sessions, there has been room for fun! Together, the coaches and leadership have built community and bonded as a team while playing mini golf and enjoying great conversation over hamburgers and hotdogs at the welcome social. Once these weeks come to an end, coaches will dive straight into working with Wisconsin scholars, whether spending their day at a Wisconsin high school or connecting virtually with college students.
Says Recruitment and Operations Coordinator Lauren McDuffie, “Welcome Weeks is such an exciting time at College Possible Wisconsin! It’s really energized our AmeriCorps members and leadership team as we all prepare for the upcoming program year. We have such a great cohort of AmeriCorps coaches, and I can’t wait to see all the amazing things our scholars will achieve this year with their support.”
This year, we have a strong team of 19 coaches who bring their own unique insights and contributions to the College Possible Wisconsin team, some as alums of the program and others as returning coaches. Last year, Dominic (DJ) Villamin served as a high school junior coach and now he returns as a high school senior coach to continue working with the same students. Anticipating the year ahead, he says, “I’m ready to restart the school year and continue on this meaningful journey with the students I worked with last year. We made a lot of progress in their junior year, like taking the ACT and learning more specialized information about college access. So I’m excited to see how it comes together in their senior year through submitting college applications.”
Coaches begin work with scholars in their schools beginning the first week of September. If you are interested in visiting a school and seeing programming in action, please email Carolyn Muckelberg at cmuckelberg@collegepossible.org for more information.
