Speedier Selection For Graduates , Seniors
A streamlined process for accepting college seniors for
VISTA service is now in operation.
Under the new method, students with a college degree
and those who will receive degrees during this academic
year are eligible for immediate selection, barring unusual
medical or legal problems.
The speeded process has been put into effect in response
to requests from students who wish to plan now what
they intend to do when they leave the campus.
VISTA staff evaluators, accompanying recruiters on
campus visits, will review new applications and will issue,
while there, invitations to qualified seniors and graduates
to enroll in VISTA training programs.
There are training programs open for almost immediate
i — T~
the vista VOICE
A publication of Volunteers In Service To America
entry, but students may, of course, defer training until
their academic year is completed.
Students who request selection under the accelerated
process will be able to indicate their preference for a
training program designed for the specific type of VISTA
assignment they wish to undertake: urban slum, rural
community development, migrant camps, Indian reserva¬
tions, mental health, or Job Corps camps. VISTA will
honor these preferences as far as it is practicable, in order
of the three areas of preference applicants will be asked
to list. Commenting on the new selection method, Thomas
Powers, VISTA’s Director of Recruitment, reported that
“college students have been requesting this move for some
time and we're glad to be able to respond.
"They have been asking both VISTA and the Peace
Corps to devise some system that would give seniors and
graduate students a chance to make plans that they can
count on, rather than being forced to come to some last-
minute decision,” Powers said. "VISTA recognizes this
need and is adjusting to it.
“Everyone stands to gain — both the student and VISTA.
The student gains time to make a meaningful decision.
VISTA, we believe, stands to recruit more Volunteers who
have a surer idea of where they are going and why.”
If you have your bachelor's degree or if you will receive
it this academic year, and if VISTA recruiters are not on
campus now, write for your VISTA application to:
Graduate Program,
с/ о
Thomas Powers,
VISTA, Washington, D. C. 20506
For Some VISTAs,
A Different Future
The college student or gradu¬
ate with a future career all
charted may be taking a chance
by becoming a VISTA Volunteer.
VISTA can shake you up a little.
But it can also help you to
reset your sights once your assign¬
ment is completed.
You may find that working
in poverty on a tight VISTA
allowance has its own rewards,
and ask for more. Thirty-three
percent of all VISTAS do— by
re-enrolling for another complete
year or extending their service for
a briefer period.
In its efforts to make your
search for a new challenge mean¬
ingful, VISTA’s Volunteer Infor¬
mation Service begins with the
knowledge that the successful
VISTA Volunteer is sought after.
Schools and colleges find that the
ex-VISTA is a more mature stu¬
dent. Social action agencies and
welfare service organizations know
that a lot of training time can be
saved by the employment of for¬
mer Volunteers.
Here is a sampling of our risk-
takers, and what has become of
them:
— JANE HILLYER, who grad¬
uated from the University of Cali¬
fornia at Berkeley and was one of
the first VISTA Volunteers, started
a tutorial program in a Pittsburgh
slum with local college students.
The city was impressed enough to
hire her as a full-time director of
"Medicare Alert” when she fin¬
ished her VISTA service. She
organized more than 80 can¬
vassers to bring the Medicare
story to the senior citizens of the
ghetto.
—HERB ALVAREZ, who at¬
tended the Borough of Manhat¬
tan Community College, was a
claims adjuster, making a good
salary, when he decided to join
VISTA. As a Volunteer, he
worked with a New York City
gang called the “Assassins,"
Puerto Rican youths whom even
the most devoted social workers
had written off as lost. Under
(Continued on page 3)
There are over 100 VISTA Volunteers serving in Alaska— the 49th state. Most live and work in
remote villages, accessible only by bush plane or dogsled. For the story of one Volunteer's
experience in the village of New Stuyahok, see page 4.
THE TOP TWENTY
The following schools lead the nation in per capita
contribution of Volunteers In Service To America:
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA at Berkeley
UNIVERSITY OF OREGON
UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA
SAN JOSE STATE COLLEGE
UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN
WAYNE STATE UNIVERSITY
UNIVERSITY OF UTAH
LOS ANGELES CITY COLLEGE
SAN FRANCISCO STATE COLLEGE
CORNELL UNIVERSITY
UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO
UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA (tied)
UNIVERSITY OF DENVER (tied)
PORTLAND STATE COLLEGE (tied)
SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY (tied)
TUSKEGEE INSTITUTE (tied)
UNIVERSITY OF OHIO
BAKERSFIELD JUNIOR COLLEGE
SANTA MONICA CITY COLLEGE (tied)
UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND (tied)
VISTA To Recruit On
800 College Campuses
VISTA launches this year the
most extensive recruitment cam¬
paign it has yet undertaken — and
the main thrust of this drive is
focused directly at the nation's
colleges and universities.
VISTA recruiters will have
visited more than 800 educa¬
tional institutions throughout the
country by the end of this aca¬
demic year.
College students continue to
respond increasingly to VISTA’s
challenge and a national effort to
wipe out poverty. A great ma¬
jority of the present contingent
of VISTA Volunteers were in
college or recently graduated
when they decided to join VISTA.
In all, 76 percent of all Volun¬
teers have attended college.
These Volunteers joined VISTA
fully aware that they would get
the hard work, long and irregular
hours, low pay and the frustra¬
tion that have — and continue to
be — promised to them. But there
apears to be general agreement
among the Volunteers that the
main attraction VISTA offers is:
Challenge, tremendous responsi¬
bility and an opportunity to make
a real and practical contribution.
Despite the disappointments
and setbacks that VISTA Volun¬
teers learn to expect, 90 percent
of VISTA’s alumni say they
would go through it again if the
same opportunity and circum¬
stances presented themselves.
But there is more concrete evi¬
dence of this commitment. On a
monthly average, 23 percent of
those Volunteers completing a
year of VISTA service re-enroll
for another full year, and an ad¬
ditional 1 1 percent extend their
service for several more months
— bringing re-enrollments or serv¬
ice extensions to just over a third
of all Volunteers who have com¬
pleted their first year of service
to date.
Now, once again, VISTA is
seeking out more young men and
women who are able and willing
to stay in the kitchen when the
heat is on. On the basis of recent
history, the search will be suc¬
cessful.
Item: The number of VISTA
Volunteers in service and in
training has doubled in the last
year.
Item: More than 160,000 citi¬
zens have written to Washington
expressing interest in VISTA —
nearly three times more than last
year at this time.
But the demand for Volunteers
continues to grow. There are on
(Continued on page 3)
