Travis Smith believes that all students should be empowered and independent.  The Michigan Service Scholars AmeriCorps program has provided the opportunity for Travis to work toward achieving this goal.  Travis is a first-year AmeriCorps member who recently completed his freshman year at Kalamazoo College.

Through the Michigan Service Scholars AmeriCorps program, Travis coordinates a service-learning program with the Kalamazoo community called Community Advocates for Parents and Students (CAPS).  CAPS is a grassroots, all-volunteer organization that provides tutoring opportunities to Kalamazoo Public Schools students from kindergarten to adult.  This program is made possible with assistance from a Civic Engagement Scholarship through the Mary Jane Underwood Stryker Institute for Service-Learning at Kalamazoo College.

The CAPS program, developed in response to the Kalamazoo Promise, meets at Interfaith Homes on Kalamazoo's north side, where it is open to resident children on Tuesdays and Thursdays after school, and on Saturday mornings. The program features a structured and fun environment with relationship-based homework help, literacy and math support, and information about getting into colleges.  Tutors include K College students, Western Michigan University students, & Kalamazoo community members.  There are occasional field trips, like the bus trip they took around Kalamazoo to educate Interfaith residents and their families about the African American history in the area.

According to the three community partners involved in designing, organizing, and leading the CAPS program, Travis has thrived as the first student-coordinator for the program.  Along with ongoing communication with the CAPS leaders, Travis recruits and coordinates about 20 Kalamazoo College tutors each quarter.  This includes scheduling, training, and orienting the college students, as well as facilitating reflection time.  During reflection, volunteers have the opportunity to share tutoring tips, discuss any challenges they're having while tutoring, and most importantly, relate their service-learning experiences to bigger issues of social justice in Kalamazoo and the world.

Travis has expressed a strong passion for educational, racial, and social equality, and works to attain these equalities through his involvement with the CAPS program & service-learning in general.  In addition to the responsibilities mentioned above, Travis tutors four children for six hours per week.  He took the initiative to start an on-campus book drive, asking Kalamazoo College students, faculty, and staff to donate books so that children could read at home.  Site Supervisor, Breigh Montgomery facilitates bi-weekly reflection sessions with a group of 20 Civic Engagement Scholars that work with the community on a weekly basis.  "During these reflection sessions, Travis participates in meaningful ways and is always a good listener," Montgomery stated.  "He is a hard-working, dependable, dedicated, and genuinely devoted Civic Engagement Scholar & overall great person."

For more information on the Michigan Service Scholars AmeriCorps program, please contact Program Director, Ryan Fewins at (517) 492-2448 or rfewins@connectmichiganalliance.org.  For more information on other AmeriCorps programs, visit www.americorps.gov.