Nicole Chadderton has been busy in her new role at West Virginia University Potomac State College as the AmeriCorps VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America) representative for 2019-2020.
Since starting in her role at the beginning of the fall semester, Chadderton has helped with a Red Cross blood drive, put together a clothing drive for Mineral County, and coordinated a card drive and cookie delivery for first responders in the area on Sept. 11.
Chadderton will spend a year on campus developing and implementing service-learning partnerships within Mineral County. She will foster these partnerships using service as a learning tool to provide direct pathways to volunteerism, both in the classroom and in the community, thereby encouraging enrollment and enhancing the student experience.
“My main goal is to create relationships between Potomac State College and the community to allow for volunteer opportunities for the students, staff and faculty,” Chadderton said.
Chadderton will introduce iServe in the spring, a website used to track community service hours as well as allowing individuals to find service opportunities in the area. iServe is currently being used by the Morgantown campus and WVU Tech in Beckley.
“I want to get students interested in performing community service and volunteering their time in service to others. I will also serve as the advisor of the five-week Equity Across Borders Academy (EABA), which we recently received a grant for and will be implementing during the spring semester,” Chadderton added.
Another effort of AmeriCorps VISTA is to alleviate poverty thru service engagement, especially for low-income students. The VISTA efforts will enhance the number of innovative service-learning opportunities at the College.
Chadderton graduated from WVU Tech with a bachelor’s degree in biology. While there, she was a member of the Alpha Sigma Tau National Sorority. “This was a great experience for me because the sorority performed a lot of community service, and I truly enjoy helping others,” Chadderton said.
Her previous experience with AmeriCorps includes serving as a mentor last summer at Camp Horseshoe, in Parsons W.Va., where she spent the summer teaching life skills to youth, ages 7-17. Chadderton spent this summer in Charleston W.Va. working with the Girl Scouts camp as an educator and as the lead activities coordinator for children between the ages of 5-13.
“I’m very excited to be here and look forward to my year of service at Potomac State College,” Chadderton said.
Any non-profit organizations in the local area needing assistance can contact Chadderton at 304-788-7408 or at nmchadderton@mail.wvu.edu to discuss projects for which student volunteers may be needed.