Jed Rufner, sophomore

Jed Rufner’s College Corps experience is focused on climate action as he volunteers at Tanaka Farms. There, he teaches kids about farm etiquette and helps to keep the farm clean. Rufner said, “The whole farm is a very educational environment for people of all ages who are learning about farm life and the various environmental aspects of a farm.” He has enjoyed making an impact on the community through the work he does and being able to teach people about the livestock and crops at Tanaka Farms. Throughout the year College Corps students go to three symposiums and meet with students from other schools who are also helping their communities. Rufner has enjoyed “hearing their perspectives about the program” and “seeing how many students are helping to serve their community.” He concluded and said, “It's something even bigger than us.”

Jessi Borton, sophomore

Jessi Borton engages in climate action at Tanaka Farms as she helps to take care of the livestock and teach visitors about the produce and animals. Borton says the best part about being involved in College Corps is the community. Jessie said, “Yes, the money is good, but that's not what I was focused on when I joined.” “I was really interested in Tanaka Farms and the job itself,” Borton added, “I was just lucky that there was scholarship money involved.” She spoke about an experience where a little boy came up to her while she was pulling weeds and asked to help. He asked her questions about what she was doing and about the cows nearby. “It was great being a part of his education about the farm and seeing him interested in the work being done,” she said. 

Kayitochi Onyemma

Kayitochi Onyemma has taken a leadership role in her second year with College Corps, serving as the student director at Concordia’s Heritage Garden. Her project during her time with College Corps has been to develop a sustainable composting system on campus. “Working at the garden has been a lot of trial and error. The first year was a lot of planning, but as we got into the second year, we started laying out the foundation for our compost bins by digging the holes, putting the stakes in, sealing it with cement, doing the fencing, and doing the tarping,” said Onyemma. “The brunt of the work has been collecting greens from the cafeteria. Think of all the scraps in the salad bar. We take all of that and we mix it together.” Onyemma and her team work hard to maintain the compost bins and the garden, especially facing unpredictable weather over the last few months. “The hope for next year is to have the compost properly mature so we can start distributing it,” she explained, “whether that’s to Heritage Garden or to other host sites, or to community gardens such as Tanaka Farms.” 

McKing Nguyen, sophomore

McKing Nguyen serves as a tutor with The Wooden Floor in Santa Ana, a K-12 educational program and dancing studio. “The goal of the Wooden Floor is to get all of these students into college,” said Nguyen. He tutors students ranging from fourth grade to a sophomore in high school, which has been an interesting challenge to observe different learning styles. “I get four students every day, and that normally consists of them bringing their homework, whether that be a project, or studying for a test, or even just chatting and building connections.” Nguyen was grateful for what his tutoring experience has taught him. “Stepping into this new area with these new kids, they really teach me things that I haven’t learned, about Santa Ana, where they’re from, or traditions in their family. To me, being in College Corps and being a fellow means to build a community, and to work hard, and to push others to be their best selves.”

Tags: service project

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