Elizabeth Myers wasn’t always a small town girl. She grew up in Wheaton, Illinois. Embedded in “Chicagoland,” the town has a population of over 55,000 people and more churches per square mile than any other city in the United States.

It was when Myers was in high school, after her family moved to South Carolina for her father’s job, that she came to appreciate the comfort of pint-sized populations.

Myers has lived in Oberlin for five years, and she’s still not ready to leave.

Next month, she will conclude her one-year position as joint AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer with the Bridge and Oberlin Community Services (OCS). If all goes according to plan, she won’t be moving far for her next employment endeavor. Myers hopes to pick up a job at the Oberlin Public Library for the coming year.  

Oberlin Community Services has not yet hired her replacement. They are continuing to accept applications.

Myers’s position required her to serve part-time as the America Counts Tutoring Coordinator at OCS and part-time as the Youth Programming Coordinator at the Bridge.

Located across the street from the public library, the Bridge is Oberlin’s Community Technology Center, the town’s equivalent to a Mudd or Science Center computer lab.

According to its website, the OCS is an agency that has consolidated “a variety of social services for Oberlin and southern Lorain County under one umbrella,” including the middle school math tutoring and Meals on Wheels programs. 

Myers said she enjoyed coordinating the tutoring program because of the responsibility it provided her — she had to make it work. In the program, College students are paired with third through eighth graders to help them review basic skills.

The children are enrolled by their parents. Myers said that 60 percent of the 30 tutees receive either free or reduced-priced lunch, which is a measure of income in the Oberlin public schools.

Myers said for those interested in local volunteering but not in making a one-year post-graduate commitment, tutoring is a rewarding option.

The rewarding nature of such jobs is what led Myers to Oberlin. After graduating, she felt as if she hadn’t refined any specific skill, as if she hadn’t “done anything.”

As a VISTA, however, she has learned to interview and hire employees, to train them and to write grants for projects. She said she feels more qualified to “do whatever she decides to do.” 

According to Myers, one advantage to doing a program such as this in Oberlin is that you already have a support network.

“Your living environment is still comfortable, you’re just dealing with a new working environment,” she said.

AmeriCorps volunteers receive numerous benefits, including $850 per month, a $4,725 education award, deferred student loans and health coverage. For the reasonable cost of living in Oberlin, Myers said the stipend is more than enough for one to support him or herself.

Myers values the opportunity she has had to interact with members of the community while working at the Bridge. She said many townspeople asked her why college students are so unfriendly toward them. She never knew how to respond. 

Oberlin students often only see the college side of Oberlin, she said. When she was a student, she too never took advantage of volunteer opportunities such as the America Counts tutoring.

When she looked at Oberlin through the lens of the VISTA position, however, Myers gained perspective. 

“It feels much more like a town now.”