2019-20

Brittany Ricketts is a 2016 Marketing alum who spent a year with Americorps. She currently is finishing her final year of law school at SCU. We had the chance to ask Brittany about her experience.

Why did you decide to take time off to work at Americorps/City Year?
What is City Year?
I always knew I wanted to do a year of service after I graduated; I just didn’t really know where that would be or what that would look like. Social justice is really important to me, and I knew that I would have the time and bandwidth to dedicate a year to an important cause right after I graduated. I didn’t really know the options, so I googled “Programs like Teach For America” and City Year came up. In short, City Year is a nonprofit organization dedicated to closing the achievement gap in schools across the nation. Their motto is “Make Better Happen.” I worked as a volunteer teacher on a team that was placed in an elementary school in East San Jose.

What was your role at City Year, what did you do?
Officially, my role was an “AmeriCorps Corps Member.”  How it works is, City Year is organized by school team. Each school team consists of an Impact Manager, a Team Leader, and anywhere from 5-12 Corps Members. As a team, we work directly with our school partners, in the school, everyday, alongside the teachers and faculty. During the day we would facilitate tutoring sessions for students who needed extra support with English and Math. Then, we ran the free after school program. There, I was in charge of the second grade classroom. We helped with homework, provided free snacks, hosted playtime and then taught STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math) lessons. So essentially, I wore many hats: I was a tutor, a teacher, a mentor, role model and guide.

Could you share some of your highlights and low lights working at Americorps?
I am really not exaggerating when I say that my year with City Year was one of the best years of my life. It was such hard work, but it was so worth it. We would work 12 hour days, every day, and then some more volunteer work on the weekend. We were tired and stressed out 99% of the time, but your team is like your family, going through it with you, together. I made lifelong friends and did important work that matters in our community. I loved spending time with the kids and seeing them grow over the course of the school year. I honestly miss it a lot!

Who should consider doing a Year of Service?
Everyone! Again, that year was monumental for me in so many ways. Like Santa Clara, City Year cares about the growth of the whole person and is dedicated to our personal and professional development. I learned how to work effectively on a team made up of different personalities; I learned conflict management skills, organization and leadership skills. I can talk for days about all that City Year has given me. Not only does this experience look great on a resume, but it’s great for the soul as well.

What are you doing now?  Did your experience at Americorps help with what you are doing now? Right now I am in my last year of law school at SCU. My experience with City Year definitely helped lead me to this career choice. I loved the work I was doing for my community and I wanted to see what other ways I could continue to help people. Law was that choice for me. I was at City Year when I studied for the LSATs, my team was so supportive of my future. It was really a great experience. 

Anything else you would like to share?
I would recommend a year of service to everyone who is slightly considering it. I can’t even articulate what a wonderful year my experience with City Year was. When I try, I say it was like summer camp, studying abroad, and your first year of college all rolled into one. Although there were some hard times, I learned so much, gained so much, and wouldn’t have wanted to do anything else after graduating. It was the right choice for me and I hope that others decide to give a year of service as well.