Carolyn Byrne transitions from AmeriCorps VISTA to student services specialist.

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 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.

Summer interns work for the community and gain valuable experience

By Karen Obando ‘13

This fall, 28 students returned to Chapel Hill for the new school year with a deeper understanding and commitment to public service due to their unique experiences as APPLES summer interns. To keep students engaged in public service beyond the academic school year, APPLES offers summer internships where they can continue impacting the community through both an enriching academic and service experience. With a stipend of $2,500, APPLES summer interns work with a nonprofit or governmental agency over the course of eight to 10 weeks while also reflecting on this work through an independent-study course guided by a faculty advisor. For summer intern Laura Moore ’12, the experience provided more than an opportunity for summer employment. Her internship with Dress for Success, a local nonprofit that aids disadvantaged women in their search for employment, brought a deep appreciation for public service work.

Service-Learning Initiative – engaging first-year students through service to local nonprofits

By Karen Obando ‘13

Before beginning their first semester at UNC, a group of incoming first-year students arrived to participate in this year’s APPLES Service-Learning Initiative (SLI), a pre-college experience that allows students an opportunity to explore and serve a variety of community needs. SLI offers participants a chance to understand the importance of service, reflection and maintaining sustainable partnerships in our local community in hopes of encouraging students to remain actively engaged in their community throughout their time at Carolina. This year, 48 participants and 14 site leaders took part in this unique, three-day experience before classes began in August.

APPLES alumna’s involvement comes full circle after 15 years

By Melissa Murchison-Blake ‘99

I can’t even recall at this moment what prompted me to apply for an APPLES Service-Learning internship during the spring of 1996, my freshman year at Carolina. It may have been the opportunity to spend a chunk of my summer somewhere other than at home. Or perhaps I was drawn to the nature of the internship—teaching in a summer enrichment program for rising middle school students who needed an extra push. I’m sure my orientation toward community service, initiated during my high school years as an International Baccalaureate (IB) student, had something to do with it. But this endeavor would not be an ordinary service project, then-APPLES director Mary Morrison explained to me. This exchange—a long-term, mutually beneficial relationship wherein service, reflection and growth would be shared by all involved—would be service-learning. I was hooked from the start.