October 2020: VISTA Spotlight
Meet Michaela Mallory (she/her/hers). She serves at Berea College with the organization, Center for Excellence in Learning Through Service (CELTS).
CELTS is focused on being an active part of the Berea community and supporting everyone who calls this place home across generations. This organization has its own student-led programs that provide resources such as social justice outreach, tutoring, and mentoring. They also partner with other organizations in and around Berea. However, the organization also heavily focuses on the students that work and volunteer with CELTS by providing training, skill-building, and vocational opportunities.
Throughout her time with CELTS, one of her most impactful experiences has been when she had the opportunity to serve as both a supervisor and a mentor for a group of first-year students. She was able to take time to interact with the students during their participation in a park clean-up event. She shared her own collegiate experiences at Berea College, providing insightful stories and highlighting many campus resources and opportunities available to students. She also offered a few professional tips that will be useful when these students start applying to and holding new positions in the future.
She said: “If you want to change the future, you need to be a part of it.”
