Changing the face of their community (and the Sea Lab, too!)  AmeriCorps comes to Dauphin Island

If there were ever a time the publisher of this newsletter longed for four-color pages, it would be now. How else could we do justice to the hard work and amazing efforts of the nine AmeriCorps volunteers who came to the DISL and painted this stark former Air Force base into a rainbow of inviting, Caribbean-hued buildings?

But that was only the most visible project the AmeriCorps team worked on; these dedicated individuals rolled up their sleeves and threw themselves into projects as diverse as planting marsh grasses and supervising environmental games with children during the Sea Lab’s Discovery Day and Earth Day. They planted sea oats on Robinson Island to help preserve dune habitat; they helped at the St. Jude bike-a-thon; and they pitched in at Dauphin Island’s elementary school, the Little Red Schoolhouse.

AmeriCorps is a full-time service program for men and women between the ages of 18 and 24. Working in teams of 10 to 12, AmeriCorps*NCCC members take on a variety of projects during their 10-month term of service.

It wasn’t all work for the AmeriCorps team – they also went on a cruise around Mobile Bay aboard the R/V A.E. Verrill and learned about the history of Dauphin Island.

“These young people are superb examples of the kind of citizens we should try to produce,” commented Dr. John Dindo, Chair of K-12 Programs at the DISL. “Their hard work, enthusiasm and positive attitude made them a joy to work with and to have here on campus.”

“They’re the kind of kids you never hear about,” said Plant Ops Supervisor Steve Ruf. “They do good things every day, and don’t care about the credit – just that they’re making this community a better place.”

The DISL would like to thank our volunteers: Tamara Amakobe, Greg Atkinson, Michelle Avila, Sarah Day, Kimberly Ferguson, Lillianne Harris, Eric Jones, Nichole Raster, and Cynthia Trantina.