One of our Community Impact Project volunteers- Alana, from Austin, TX – shares about her experiences with AMIGOS and her service project about voting! Learn about the Community Impact Project here.

 

My name is Alana, and I was born and lived in Boston, MA for 11 years, but now I live in Austin, TX. I decided to join the Community Impact Project because it seemed like an amazing opportunity! I also wanted to do something with all my spare time and actually make a difference rather than waste my summer.

The virtual community in the Community Impact Project was great! It was hard at first when I was worried about not getting to know everyone, but the way it was designed was great. I loved the Language Cafes, which were dedicated times to practice Spanish with other students, including other people in Latin America. It was a good way to immerse yourself in the language and talk to others in Spanish.

 

My favorite moments were when we got to get to know each other in our small groups with our mentors. It was great to learn about everyone in my small groups and my mentor!

 

For my service project, I designed a social media brand that focused on nudging young people to vote by educating them on Instagram and helping them figure out how to cast a ballot and register to vote.

It’s called Young Votes Count, and you can find it on Instagram at @YoungVotesCount. There are resources on registering to vote, how to be an election worker, podcasts about the voting process, and more.

 

“The vote is… the most powerful non-violent tool we have in a democratic society, and we must use it.” – John Lewis

 

I plan on applying all the skills I’ve learned to future projects that are assigned to me in school and work and just using the knowledge I’ve learned to strategize.