Graduation Recap

On Friday, June 10th, City Year Washington, DC Staff, Alumni, and members of the DC community gathered at Francis Stevens Education Campus to celebrate the graduation of our 140 corps members and the completion of their service year.

 There was an air of excitement and sadness as corps members burst forth into the graduation ceremony and performed PT for the audience one last time. Throughout the ceremony corps member speakers spoke of both the struggles and triumphs of the past year in an effort to accurately summarize the corps experience - an experience only completely understood by those who have gone through it themselves.

In an inspirational end to the program, corps members were addressed by Veronica Nyhan-Jones, a founding City Year corps member in 1988. She challenged the corps to keep service as a driving force in their lives because the skills and opportunities they have gained this year are invaluably transferable to today’s work force.

As the corps members gathered for their final spirit break, there was an overwhelming sense of pride and accomplishment as corps members reflected on all the accomplishments of the past year. These 140 corps members are now City Year Alumni ready to take on the world. Below is just a sampling of where some of them are headed:

• Levon Alston from the CSX Team serving at Turner Elementary School will continue to make a positive impact on society while working at the Fund for the Public Interest
• Peter Christophersen from The Case Foundation Team Serving at Simon Elementary School will continue with City Year as a senior corps member in Boston with Care Force (http://www.cityyear.org/careforceevents.aspx).
• John Elwell from the Walmart Team serving at Hart Middle School will serve with Communities in Schools at Hart Middle School through the Public Allies AmeriCorps program.

• Sarah Fuller from the Kimball Elementary School Team will be an Environmental Education Center Intern at the Conservancy for the Cuyahoga Valley National Park.
• Hannah Furgang from the Ferebee-Hope Elementary School Team will be attending Tufts University.
• Seth Green from the Serve DC Team serving at Malcolm X Elementary School will be teaching English in Thailand through the program Princeton in Asia.
• Ampson Hagan from the CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield HOPE Team will be attending Brown University for his Masters in Public Health with a concentration in Global Health.
• Whitney Soble from the CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield HOPE Team will be attending The Duke University School of Medicine.

• Thomas Spangler from the CSX Team serving at Turner Elementary School will be serving his country as an officer in the U.S. Air Force.
• Kendra Smith from the Comcast Team serving at Browne Education Campus will be teaching with DC Teaching Fellows.
• Patrick Tebisacci from the Stanton Elementary School Team will return to American University to complete his undergraduate degree in physics.
• Brian Witthuhn from The Acacia Group Team serving at Francis-Stevens Education Campus will be attending Columbia University's Law program.