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School Engagement Coordinator

About Project MARS
Project MARS, an AmeriCorps program, helps K-12 students across Western North Carolina schools succeed. Project MARS members provide support to K-12 students and schools through Mentoring, Academic Assistance, and Resources for Success. Our mission is to provide students and schools with hands-on resources in areas where they need them most. Specifically, in rural and charter schools, our members serve closely with school staff and give extra support to students to help them succeed both behaviorally and academically.
Since Project MARS’ inception in 2015, 270 National Service Members have served over 8,000 children. 93% of whom have shown improvement in Academic Engagement both Attitudinally and Behaviorally while contributing over 350,000 hours of service to the communities served in western North Carolina.

What You’ll Do
As a Project MARS AmeriCorps member your service will be focused on three different areas; Mentoring, Academic Assistance, and Resources for Success.
You will be matched with a “Little” through Big Brothers and Big Sisters, one of most effective and established peer mentoring organizations in the U.S. You will meet with your Little weekly in 1-on-1 sessions to guide in school work, social-emotional skills, and serve as a positive role model.
You will provide Academic Assistance to students and classrooms who need it most. Working alongside your team of school staff you will assist in providing enriching activities, lessons, and tutoring.
You will be keen to seek out any additional Resources for Success to lift up students or the school as a whole. This may include recruiting volunteers to help in your school or through BBBS.

Your Role and Responsibilities
As a full-time member, you will receive a 2-week training at the start of the year to prepare you for serving at your site. Presentations from school officials, DSS first responders, and Big Brothers and Big Sisters staff will prepare you for challenges that schools and their children are facing every day. You will learn the basics of conflict resolution, how to be a mentor to your “little”, and how children’s mindsets affect their learning habits. Alongside helpful school staff, members can expect to take on a wide range of roles and responsibilities depending on their school’s needs.

Mentoring:
  • Guide healthy conversations and help Little talk through problems.
  • Listen to and address possible needs with the help of their teacher.
  • Remain a consistent and reliable figure to your Little.
  • Help Little with supplemental studies at the direction of their teacher.
  • May work to maintain or coordinate a peer-peer mentor program.

Academic Assistance:
  • Work with identified students 1-on-1 and in small groups.
  • Coordinate after-school activities for identified students.
  • Assist with guiding behaviors of students.
  • Collaborate with teachers and team members to collect, record, analyze and monitor individual student progress.
  • Provide guided activities designed to provide additional learning experiences for identified students.
  • Help build a safe, healthy, and supportive classroom environment.

Resources for Success:
  • Develop/implement effective recruitment and placement of compassionate and caring community volunteers and groups.
  • Ensure the best match between the skills, qualifications, and interests of the volunteer and the needs of the school/organization.
  • Support whole school initiatives to increase engagement with students and their families:
  • Coordinate outreach to community organizations for food, clothing, school supplies, and health services.

Culture and Values
When you join AmeriCorps you are serving alongside more than 250,000 individuals who dedicate themselves to a year of service to make a difference in their communities. Through evaluation and performance measures, members are able to quantify and measure the impact they are making at their service site. No small task goes unnoticed as AmeriCorps members are appreciated by their service sites year-round and recognized during National Volunteer Week and AmeriCorps week. Steeped in history, a cultural hub for the arts, and a recreationalists dream, WNC is a wonderful place to call home during your service year.

Life After AmeriCorps
AmeriCorps North Carolina provides online and in-person training to its members on how to carry their learned skills and experiences onto their next career path. Members who choose to serve a second year with AmeriCorps also receive a list of benefits. Members are awarded different opportunities to participate in national service, take on leadership roles with project MARS, and are more likely to be offered a full-time job at their school site after their term.

Project MARS Benefits
You will receive:
  • Health and Dental Insurance
  • ASC AmeriCorps Member Assistance Program
  • Free in-person or telehealth counseling services
  • Bi-weekly living stipend
  • Workers’ compensation
  • SNAP food assistance benefits

AmeriCorps and other federally-issued Benefits
You will be eligible for:
  • Segal AmeriCorps Education Award
  • Child care benefits paid by AmeriCorps
  • Loan forbearance and interest accrual payments for qualified student loans
  • Time accrual toward the U.S. Department of Education’s Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program, (see Reduction of Education Costs)
  • Income-based Loan Repayment Plan (IBR)
  • Education award matching grant at qualified colleges

Eligibility Requirements
  • Four Year degree from an accredited institution of higher learning
  • Satisfactory results of the three-step National Service Criminal History Check
  • United States citizen, a national or a permanent legal resident, and at least 18 years of age

Applicants must:
  • Have a passion for working with at-risk youth and community volunteers.
  • Demonstrate patience in the provision of Academic assistance to at-risk youth.
  • Take a caring approach to learning and to recruitment/recognition of volunteers.
  • Be open to learning new things.
  • Work effectively as part of a team, is a problem solver, and self-starter.
  • Demonstrate flexibility and adaptability.
  • Have outstanding skills in communication, leadership, planning, and organization.