10/22/2018 What does it mean for Brent Kie winning the VISTA National 2018 Excellence Award?Read Now We are very proud to announce that on September 13 the Americorps/VISTA Brent Kie has been awarded a National 2018 Excellence in AmeriCorps Award for his work Building Capacity for STEAM Education in New Mexico with our partner organization CNM Ingenuity. Growing up on Laguna Pueblo, Brent did not always have access to education. Now he is helping lift people out of poverty at Central New Mexico Central New Mexico Community College’s Deep Dive Coding. Brent Kie started his third VISTA service in March 2018. He found out about the AmeriCorps VISTA program through a friend in college back in 2013. He chose to do service with STEAM NM because of the organization’s drive to incorporate art into traditional STEM fields to create STEAM. His service at his sub-site is about finding ways to recruit people in poverty to gain new skills so that they can find higher paying jobs to bring themselves into a higher income bracket. It is also about providing information to those interested in these programs so they can have an understanding of the tech workforce upon completing programs offered at Deep Dive Coding. Brent has been a VISTA member at CNM Ingenuity with such unparalleled commitment, enthusiasm and dedication that prompted his supervisor, Andrea Sisneros Wichman, to submit his name for the nomination of the VISTA National Excellence Award. Brent was somewhat shocked when he heard that he had received this award. He explains:” I rarely receive awards on such a high level. My family was excited for me. My mother was in tears at the award ceremony. They felt like it was well deserved because they know how much passion I have toward helping others”. When asked if the receipt of the award created any changes in his life he replied: “One thing I have noticed is that my confidence has boosted since receiving the award.” His views about the Americorps VISTA program are unchanged: “I think it is a great program for those who want to help others while also learning how building capacity can be done in different ways.” Comments are closed.
|