Jubilee Consortium

2010-2011 Interns

Sachi Allen
Hi! My name is Sachi Allen.  I grew up in Altadena, CA, near Los Angeles.  I just graduated from UC Santa Cruz in June 2010 with a BA in Sociology.  A fellow sociology major encouraged me to look into AmeriCorps programs, which is how I found out about the EUIP program. I did not want to immediately go to graduate school, and the EUIP program seemed like a great way to give back to my community and also decide if pursuing an urban planning masters degree is the next step I want to take in my life.  I’m excited to embrace the challenges this next year will probably present, but am also excited for the personal growth I’m sure it will inspire.  In my free time I enjoy doing anything that takes me outside-hiking, running, exploring new neighborhoods, and flying kites.

Alyssa Crawford
My name is Alyssa Crawford, a 2010 University of Florida graduate from Gainesville, FL. It’s hard to say exactly where my hometown is since my family has lived up and down the East Coast, but during my university experience, Gainesville really grew to be my home. My degree is in Family, Youth, and Community Sciences, and I have two minors in Organizational Leadership for Non-Profits and International Humanitarian Assistance and Development. That whole mouthful basically explains why I applied to EUIP; I have a heart for service and helping others. My desire to serve has led me to places like Thailand, Brazil, Ecuador, and Mozambique. Recently, God has placed domestic service on my heart, and EUIP seemed like the perfect opportunity. An Americorps position I held last summer required us to live in close community, and it was an awesome experience. I am very excited to have a longer but similar experience with this amazing group of people!

Annalisa Dias-Mandoly
My name is Annalisa Dias-Mandoly, and I’m originally from Pittsburgh (Go Steelers!).  I graduated from Boston University in May 2010 with degrees in English Literature and Religion.  I decided to join EUIP because I have a lot of graduate school ahead of me, and I wanted to take a year to refocus my life before jumping back into what can sometimes be the rather selfish world of academia.  Faith and service are integrally intertwined and immensly important to me, so EUIP seemed like a perfect way to reenergize and to push myself to grow.  In my spare time, you’ll probably find me reading, hiking, or watching sports.

Megan Feeney
My name is Megan Feeney (yes, like from Boy Meets World), and I am arriving to the West Coast from Cincinnati, Ohio. I am a 2010 graduate of a small college in Kentucky called Georgetown with a degree in sociology. I anticipated a career in social work someday until a few weeks ago when a little girl at the YMCA made me reevaluate my entire future. Now I’m clueless as ever. While I don’t consider myself an avid sports fan, I am thrilled about the season the Redlegs are having and will certainly miss an orange and black painted winter! My #1 recreational goal while in California is to go whale watching, with my #2 being to figure out the public transportation system before August 2011.

I applied to EUIP because I have a passion for people–helping them, meeting them, talking with them, doing nothing with them, you name it. I am ready to grow, to be stretched and to be challenged more deeply and in more ways than I have been before. It also happens I really enjoy a good adventure. This year I will be living in Hollywood and working at Excel Charter Academy.

Katie Kimsey
Hi everyone!  I’m Katie Kimsey (my real name is Katherine but no one really calls me that).  I’m from a small town called Pope Valley in Northern California in the beautiful wine growing region of Napa County.  I graduated from George Washington University in 2004 with a BA in International Affairs.  I was also commissioned in the US Navy in 2004 and headed off for 5 years of service as a Surface Warfare Officer Nuclear option.  I got out of the Navy on July 4th, 2009 (pretty apt date I think) as a Lieutenant and moved back in with my parents.  I applied to EUIP because I love service and have wanted to live in community since I first heard about the idea.  My long term goal is law school (hopefully in the fall of 2011)  so I’ll be studying and taking the LSAT in October.

Andrew Kishman
My name is Andrew Kishman and I grew up in Vermilion, Ohio outside of Cleveland. In May I graduated from Grinnell College in Iowa, by way of Wake Forest in North Carolina. I majored in philosophy and especially enjoyed reading Spinoza and Kierkegaard. I decided to do EUIP because I’m discerning a call to Christian ministry. One day I think I’d like to be a minister at an urban UCC Church. I’m also very interested in Buddhism, and during college I spent a semester in Sri Lanka studying Buddhism. This summer I’ve been working at a beautiful organic farm in Nova Scotia. On the farm we grow the largest pumpkins in Atlantic Canada and operate a tofu shop which makes over 2 dozen varieties of tofu products!

In my free time I like to run, meditate, walk dogs and obsessively follow Congressional politics. I can’t wait to start work as St Luke’s Community Outreach Organizer and learn the inner workings of a progressive, urban church community.

Katie Lewis
I’m Katie Lewis and I’m from Oakland, California.  I’ve been feeling excited about living in community and working at a non profit since I graduated in 2008 (from Washington University in St. Louis, with a Printmaking degree).  It’s been hard knowing exactly what to do after college–I worked at a thrift store for almost a year, taught English in the Czech Republic, and most recently ran a day camp– but now I’m so confident that this experience is where I need to be and what I need to be about.  I plan to spend this year at St. Joseph’s, and the rest of my life wherever He takes me, loving people God loves.

Allison Meyers
I’m Allison Meyers, and I just graduated from NC State with a degree in English-Creative Writing.  I spent my college years in Raleigh coaching at a year-round swim club, reading and writing a lot, and getting lost in downtown Raleigh.  Having never mastered Raleigh streets, I’m quite looking forward to getting lost in L.A. on a daily basis!  I’m a fourth-generation Floridian, but I’ve lived in North Carolina for the last 11 years, excepting a brief jaunt in Florence, Italy, where I morphed into a terrible coffee snob.

I lived off-campus most of my time at school and therefore enjoyed becoming a part of the Raleigh community, and I’m hoping my time at EUIP will expand my community-living skills and help me to reach out to a wider and more diverse population.  I’m also trying non-profit work on for size to see if it’s a true calling for me.  I can’t wait to get to know the other interns and the families and staff at Salvation Army-Alegria where I’ll be the Children and Youth Programming Intern for the next year.

Lucy Miller
My name is Lucy Miller. I was born in Northern California and moved to Southern California when I was five and have been here ever since! I went to college in Washington State at Western Washington University and played soccer my four years there. I really enjoyed getting away from Los Angeles and experiencing a new area for a while but I am definitely glad to be back home. I graduated this past June with a degree in Psychology and plan to get a teaching credential after this year.

Before my senior year in college I decided I wanted to take a year off before getting my credential and starting looking around at options. My father is a retired Episcopal priest and my mom is a 2nd grade teacher so I grew up learning the importance of service and helping others. I was involved with a few volunteer programs in college through my soccer team working with children with disabilities and their families and I decided I wanted to continue serving communities in any way I could. So when I heard about EUIP I knew it was something I wanted to do!

Jess Nelson
My name is Jess Nelson and I’m from St. Cloud, Minnesota. I graduated in 2009 from the College of Saint Benedict–which is a private college near my hometown–with a double major in biology and peace studies. I spent part of the past year doing an internship at a women’s development NGO in Kathmandu, Nepal and the other part of the year living at home and working at a group home for people with developmental disabilities. I plan to eventually go to grad school for public health and would like to concentrate on global maternal/ child health.

I applied to EUIP because I wanted to do a year of service and reflection before going back to school and EUIP sounded like a program that would provide the personal growth and insight I am looking for. I am most excited about meeting everyone and starting my placement at Common Ground.

Wesley Norvel
I am from Ohio, southeastern Ohio, a little town called Jackson which is close to Athens where Ohio University is.  That particular part of Ohio is not so mid-west in culture, it’s very much southern.  You may hear my accent come out at times, especially when I pronounce certain words like “color.”  I graduated from The Ohio State University in 2007 with a degree in Social Work.  My area of interest is at-risk teens and eventually when I finally start working on my master’s in the LA area I will continue on that track by getting a Master’s in Clinical Social Work.  Less than a month after graduation I left for Honduras to work as a Peace Corps Youth Development volunteer where I worked in a variety of different areas while living in a village of about 700 people. After serving and finishing my two years of service in September of last year, I decided to stay longer and work at a private bilingual school teaching math and science.  It was hard to make the choice to come back.  Now I’m back to my original plans: graduate college, serve in Peace Corps, serve in AmeriCorps, and then to grad school.

After reviewing several possible openings on the AmeriCorps website, I found out about EUIP.  The program as a whole seemed to be exactly what I wanted/needed.  I would be back into true Social Work while living once again in a Christian community, something I missed greatly while living in Honduras.  I am very excited to find that I will be also living in Long Beach, one of the most if not the most culturally diverse cities in the US and working for Families Uniting Families helping youth in their emancipation process.

Sarah Schramm
My name is Sarah Schramm and I’m from Holland, Michigan (a town located right on the beautiful shores of Lake Michigan). I graduated from the University of Michigan in 2010 with a major in biology and minor in women’s health. Currently, I am applying to medical schools with the hope of becoming a physician and spending time after my studies with an overseas program such as Doctors without Borders. I have many hobbies which I enjoy in my spare time, including painting, fishing, horseback riding and watching Michigan football . . . Go Blue!

Volunteering has always been a big part of my life. Over the past five years, I have traveled to Cameroon, Boston and the Dominican Republic on service trips which mainly focused on improving the health of poor communities. I am very much looking forward to working with EUIP, which I am confident will allow me to both serve people in need and to gain valuable experience allowing me to better help people in my future career. I was especially drawn to this program’s commitment to a strong sense of community between volunteers, which I believe is an important aspect to the volunteering experience.

Katricia Smith
My name is Katricia Smith. I’m a recent graduate of Duke University in North Carolina where I studied International Comparative Studies (with a Middle East concentration) and Arabic. Outside of college, I’ve lived my whole life in the metro Detroit area of Michigan. I was drawn to EUIP because I have been strongly considering a career in the sphere of public service and also see serving others as an important part of practicing faith. I’m looking forward to growing more spiritually and learning from others in their journeys as well. Last but not at all least, I foresee my time working at Common Ground being an intense but undeniably worthwhile experience!

Sarah Strosahl
My name is Sarah Strosahl. I grew up in Connecticut and now live in New Hampshire; I’m a New Englander through and through, with a heart for the world.  I graduated in May from the University of New Hampshire with a dual major in Music Education and International Affairs, and minors in Latin American Studies and Spanish. I decided to do EUIP because my faith has always been closely intertwined with service, and I’m excited to see how God will use this year as I discern His call in my life.  I have a passion for mission work and have traveled to Dominican Republic, Haiti, and most recently spent a summer living at a domestic abuse shelter in Mexico. I enjoy music, the ocean, ice cream, the Boston Red Sox, and collecting rocks shaped like New Hampshire.

Susan Wang
My name is Susan Wang. I was born in Wuhan, China and moved to Nashville, TN when I was 13. I came across EUIP when a college friend of mine introduced me to the program. I took a close look and felt that is what I want to do for the next year. What I hope to gain the most is communication skill through my internship opportunity. I went to Rhodes College in Memphis, TN. After my graduation, I continued my journey in Memphis as a Medical Scribe at the Methodist University Hospital and as a math teacher at the Soulsville Charter School. My future plan is go to medical school. But I am also very interested in a degree in Public Health.

Music has always been my passion. I played violin and piano and is classically trained in voice. During my free time, I love to explore new places — visit museum and symphony halls and eat at different restaurants (both ethnic and local). I also love watching movies.