My Year with SCC as a VISTA

Hello, my name is Jonathan Barczyk and I worked with the Southwest Conservation Corps for the past year as an AmeriCorps VISTA. My title was Sustainability and Communications Specialist VISTA, pretty technical eh? From my title you may assume I spent my year sitting in a chair staring at a computer screen. Although I did do that on occasion, the true task of my position couldn’t be described in so few words. Here is a brief compellation, off the top of my head, of some of the things I have learned and experienced while working with SCC:

I dunked my sweaty head into the Dolores River, I rode a train into the wilderness and forgot my sleeping bag, I organized an end of season BBQ, I met so many kind and intelligent people, I had fun filming a Veterans Green Corps Saw Crew, I learned how to properly buck a tree with a chainsaw, A mouse chewed a hole in my pack, I learned a lot about marketing, I watched a lightning storm in Chaco Canyon while eating a park ranger’s home-made blackberry pie, I met more people, I helped organize a light bulb exchange, I loaded up pack mules, I performed a juggling/comedy routine in front of my whole organization, I took a step back in time and visited the ruins of an ancient civilization, I met more people, I witnessed the differences between preservation and restoration while an SCC crew preserved one of the oldest pueblo communities in the USA, I met a Weatherization Crew, I ran into some mountain goats while visiting the SCC/Colorado Fourteeners Initiative crews, I learned about photo radar speeding tickets, I learned to be prepared,  I learned how to write a grant proposal, I learned about filming a group of people working on a project, and I learned how a non-profit functions.

Now that my year as a VISTA is over my professional bag of tricks feels heavier than ever before. Last week I started working for the Washington Service Corps as a VISTA Leader, and although I’m disappointed in the fact that I have to tuck in my shirt and shave my face every once in a while, I know the tools and confidence I have gathered while working with SCC will insure I make a positive impact.

I spent the last month visiting the national parks in between Durango, CO and Olympia, WA, and hiked many of the trails within those parks. Everywhere I looked I saw traces of a conservation corps. Weather it was in a rock wall, a trail system, the ocean shore, or a hazelnut orchard, conservation corps had been there. I often felt pride coursing through me, because I could in some way relate to this overwhelming presence of service and responsibility. Pride is nice, but there is a lot more work to be done, and for all those considering joining SCC, your short-term commitments will make a lasting contribution to our world and an even greater contribution to yourself. BUMP!