Thursday, July 28, 2011

Hey Everyone!

Hey guys!
My name is Noel Rozum, and I am the new VISTA in the Service Learning Department here at Coe. I am really excited to be working here this year because service is one of the things that I am the most passionate about. I have done a lot of volunteer work in my young adult years. I have spent more than 100 hours volunteering at a rural Iowa nursing home. I love working with the elderly! I have also spent many summer hours gutting flooded homes in the downtown Cedar Rapids area. I love organic farming and have been apart of a local community garden. This is a great way to get to know your neighbors and to be a part of the local food movement.

Besides volunteering, some of my other passions are leadership development and public speaking. I have been a student and volunteer staff member of regional leadership schools. My favorite part of these particular experiences was helping to facilitate organizational and interpersonal communication groups. From these experiences I learned about the power of teamwork. It is amazing to me how much you can get accomplished when you work as a team, especially when you are working on issues that are in dire need of community Voice.

I also like to spend time with my friends and family. Relationship are very important to me. I spend a good deal of time playing with my cat Momodu. He loves people, so come play with him sometime! I also love to read and usually have several books open at one time. I love being outdoors on hiking and camping trips.

I am a recent graduate of Coe. I majored in Religious Studies and hope to go to grad school next year for Social Work. I would like to be a counselor and would love to work with refugees. I see this next year, serving as a VISTA, to be great chance to develop myself personally and professionally. I am excited about all of the people I will get to meet and work with. As always, I am super pumped about this wonderful chance to do something good for our Cedar Rapid's community.

So, now you know a little bit about me! I can't wait to get to know all of you. I look forward to being apart of Team Service Learning!

Noel Rozum