Name: Mike Bucaria
Volunteer Program: Augustinian Volunteers
Location: Ventura, CA
Hometown: Rockville Centre, NY
College: Villanova University, 2014, English
Major
How did you
first learn about post-graduate service? I was always
aware of the positive impact of post-grad volunteering since my mom spent a
year with the Jesuit Volunteers in Omak, Washington, but I became more
consciously aware during my sophomore year I went on a fall break service trip
to Birmingham to work with their Habitat affiliate. There one of the
construction site supervisors was a guy I went to high school with back on Long
Island who was a few years older. We pieced our connection together and from
there I learned that he was spending a year after graduating volunteering
through AmeriCorps. This was the interaction that made me aware that spending a
year volunteering post-grad was an option apart from going straight to work or
grad school. Not only that, but that trip, sponsored by Villanova Campus
Ministry, challenged and motivated me in ways that showed me I wanted to learn
and do more to meet people and serve communities.
What other options were available to you,
and why did you decide on your service program? I applied to
a few jobs and a few volunteer programs to keep my options open, but none of
the opportunities I had seemed at all like a better choice than going with the
Augustinian Volunteers. I was ultimately convinced that a volunteer year was
the right choice because, through talking with friends who had also deliberated
a volunteer year and family as well, I gained the perspective that a one year
gap in between college and work was not as daunting as I initially thought. How
long is a year? For me, I knew that as long as I did something worthwhile with
my time there was no rush to get a job and just move into the seemingly endless
phase of working life. And since doing something worthwhile was the baseline, I
wanted to something incredibly worthwhile. And the Augustinian Volunteers
allowed me to do that by living in community with other volunteers and engaging
a community with meaningful service.
Share about your service placement and
volunteer community experience. Having a
good time in Southern California is not challenging, but living in community
with other 20-somethings can be. However, my community and I all fully leaned
into this experience and knew that it was as instrumental to our service's
impact as our individual effort. We all wanted to live the same simple
lifestyle and dive in at our service sites, and living with other people of the
same mindset (not to mention budget) provided a strong context to the volunteer
work itself. Plus, we experienced the positive and fun parts of our community
together and not just the sections and subsets needing a little TLC, which gave
us a more holistic look at our host city and our place in it.
I worked at
St. Bonaventure HS in Ventura, CA for their Christian Service program. I
planned service projects, helped students find volunteering opportunities
pertaining to their interests, and conducted reflections to help the students
think about their experiences in different ways. But, volunteers always find
new ways to get involved, and I also worked in Campus Ministry helping with
retreats, with student events, and (my favorite) chaperoning trips and dances.
The most
impactful facet of my year was with Many Meals, a weekly opportunity to reach
out to the community with dinner and the community of a dinner table. Even
beyond bringing students, I found this experience unique because of the
relationships volunteers could build with guests over the weeks. When I think
about the aspects of my year so essential to my overall experience - living in
community, being useful to the school, and connecting with both students and
those we served - I cannot think about any one apart from the other.
What benefits have you gained from this
experience that you might not have received otherwise? The support
of the Augustinian Volunteer program allowed my community and I not to be too
bogged down in the challenges of moving to and living in a new city. Rather, we
were able to work full time and treat our positions as they should be, with
complete engagement. My first job was imbued with purpose, which is more than
what a lot of people my age can say. My enjoyment also encouraged me to be more
involved, which in turn increased my exposure to different professional areas
of the work I was doing. But, most essentially, at three months out of college
I was able to live with other young people but work in a diverse workplace, and
that experience began my growth and prepared me for working alongside people
other than other 23 year olds.
What advice do you have for someone
considering post-graduate service? Consider all
the reasons for and against doing a volunteer and then weigh each of them
against the impact it will have on you beyond just the year you spend and the
year or two after. I worried about maintaining friendships while moving far
away, and I thought that I would miss out on too much being far from where my
friends and family lived. But, with so much time ahead to work toward your
personal, educational, or professional goals, why not just take a year for a
productive and intense way to do something different? It really is not that
long, just think about everything that happened three years ago and what a
distinct time capsule that seems like compared to what you are doing now. How
can that one year head start on getting a job compare to the education,
capability, and personal growth you gain from an experience like a post-grad
volunteer year. It is easy for me to say this in hindsight, but the cost of a
spending a year in an unconventional way against the benefit of a lifetime of
lessons and memories would not even be a question at this point. Come to think
of it, I kind of want to apply again...
To learn more about post-grad service opportunities, check out our RESPONSE directory, listing thousands of opportunities across the United States and abroad.
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