VISTA service provides real world experience and deepens interest in community psychology VISTA service provides real world experience and deepens interest in community psychology

Louis Medvene, professor of psychology at WSU, shares his experience serving as an AmeriCorps VISTA (Volunteers In Service To America) in the 60s and how it contributed to his decision to become a psychologist. During his first graduate program, Medvene joined VISTA as a break from academic life. But his service helped inspire his interest in community psychology, leading him to his current vocation.

Medvene's VISTA experience with an anti-poverty agency in Phoenix, Arizona, in the late 1960s provided him an opportunity to work with struggling youth, help with a community that needed change and develop lifelong friendships.

"There were 40 of us who were serving as VISTAs at Phoenix Union High School, an all minority school," said Medvene. "60 percent of the students were Hispanic. At the time they forbid Spanish to be spoken in the school. There were no Mexican-American teachers or Spanish content in the classroom."

The goal of the VISTA project was to work with the youth and decrease the drop-out rate, which was over 50 percent.

Medvene said: "We worked with eight to nine high school students who had gotten kicked out or were in jeopardy of getting kicked out and developed a guerrilla theater group that dramatized how kids were getting kicked out of school because they spoke Spanish."

The performance shed light on some of the issues in the high school for the parents.

Medvene served as a VISTA member for a year and a half.

"When I left there were Hispanic teachers, content and a Mexican-American had been elected to the school board," Medvene said. "It was a very successful organizing experience."

Medvene returned to graduate school and finished with a master's degree. Thanks to his time with the students at Phoenix Union, he also knew that he wanted to be a psychologist. The successful experience led him to pursue a Ph.D. He earned a doctoral degree in social psychology before coming to WSU in 1992.

"There is a lot to be learned when serving as a VISTA," Medvene said. "I finished my undergraduate degree and started my grad program. I was ready for a break. I was interested in having some real world experience. The community organizing experience was what I wanted to do. I graduated from college in 1967 when it was the height of the anti-war movement and civil rights. I was active politically on my college campus. VISTA gave me a chance to continue my interest in a more real life way. My interests changed and the experience taught me a lot about myself."

The WSU VISTA Fellows project coordinated by the Communtiy Engagement Institute currently has some opportunities in Wichita, Hutchinson, Kansas City, Lawrence, Manhattan and Topeka. To apply, applicants can complete an application at http://www.my.AmeriCorps.gov.

To view a list of positions, go to http://www.communityengagementinstitute.org/vista. For questions, contact Angela Gaughan at angela.gaughan@wichita.edu.