Why I returned to City Year

My name is Dave and I'ma 2007 grad of TCNJ. After spending my freshman and sophomore years going to class, having fun with friends and working the occasional shift at the Tutoring Center, I decided I was interested in becoming more active on campus, trying to leave my own mark upon the school.

I began to get involved in a bunch of political organizations and campaigns. Eventually, I was involved in bringing fair trade coffee to the library café and eventually the student center, hosting a lecture by Howard Zinn and working on an environmental campaign to improve the school’s recycling. However, I knew that the extracurricular work I did at TCNJ wouldn’t be enough to satisfy my appetite for change.

Luckily, I stumbled across City Year, which gave me the opportunity to continue working not just for myself, but for others as well. Last year I served with a team of fellow idealists at Kensington High School in Philadelphia. I spent my days tutoring and mentoring students, running after-school programs, engaging parents and teachers, setting up college fairs and fashion shows, and everything else my team and I could do to improve the academics and climate of a struggling urban high school.

I decided to come back to serve a second year largely because of both my successes and regrets from last year. My team and I ran an evening college fair that a third of the entire student body attended—after our principal told us the school wouldn’t have had the resources to host one without us. More personally, I worked directly with a number of students whose lives I was able to impact through tutoring and mentoring. For some, I was able to help them get into colleges like Penn State and Temple after spending the year working on their writing skills. Despite these successes, I knew I could do more. I needed to return to City Year for a second year of service.

The experience has been nothing short of life-changing. A few years ago, I certainly couldn’t have imagined that I’d be living in Philadelphia and making an impact in some of the city’s toughest—also, most inspiring—schools and communities. As much as I’ve expanded upon my professional and leadership skills, the impact I’ve been able to make is what I’ll always take away from these two years. If you’re interested in spending a year working to improve the lives of students in this country, I strongly recommend that you think about a year of service with City Year.

Dave, 23, service leader, DVHS Volunteer Management Team