New student services position has a familiar face

By Carolyn Byrne

As I begin my third year with the APPLES program and the Carolina Center for Public Service, I am grateful for the opportunity to continue much of the work I began as a North Carolina Campus Compact AmeriCorps VISTA in my new role as student services specialist. One of my favorite aspects of this position is working with APPLES community partnerships. Building on projects from the last two years I have been able to orient new and returning partners to our programs through six community partner orientations. These sessions have helped to cultivate new opportunities for service-learning courses and internships. I look forward to working with the APPLES internship committee to maintain the program growth of the last two years and deepen the academic component of the summer internship program.

In addition to continuing the work I did as a VISTA, I have also begun new work with APPLES’ alternative breaks and alumni relations programming. This year APPLES will fund six fall break, two winter break and five spring break experiences in the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic. Much of my work has been advising those student leaders in program preparation including logistics, participant selection and group reflection. Adding a break experience for Service-Learning Initiative students makes alternative fall break 2011 the largest group yet, sending 72 students into local communities. Additionally, the alternative spring break co-chairs and I have been working with Health Behavior Health Education graduate student Dane Emmerling, and the Office of Undergraduate Curricula to re-shape the course component for students participating in an APPLES spring break experience.

Perhaps the most exciting part of this new position is the work I’ll be able to do with APPLES alumni. Dedicating part of my time to those efforts will yield new and exciting initiatives for program graduates. I'll use previous alumni surveys to plan events for our alumni, many of whom are still in the area. Based on previous feedback one project I’ll be working on this year is an alumni alternative break. Currently slated for Memorial Day weekend 2012, we hope to send a group of former organizers to Bertie County to assist in the tornado relief efforts there. More details to come!

I have greatly enjoyed my first two years with APPLES and can’t wait to see what the next two will bring!

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Carolyn has fun in the APPLES office with members of the 2010-2011
cabinet.

Carolyn interacts with students on a daily basis.