The Alumni Analysis
Carla Ruddock- Walking in Their Shoes
Once an AmeriCorps member, always an AmeriCorps member. After successful service, many AmeriCorps Alumni continue to give back to their communities and the program. This is very true of our next Alumni Analysis feature, Carla Ruddock.
Carla served two terms as an AmeriCorps member with PMSC in 2000-2001 and 2001-2002. She served at the Cambria County Conservation District and the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy, both focused on environmental conservation. In her role as an AmeriCorps member, Carla focused her time on community outreach, environmental education, and water sampling. When she was asked about her time in the program, Carla said, “Serving as an AmeriCorps member, I gained valuable experience in the environmental field while serving my community to the best of my abilities. Without my AmeriCorps experience I would have never gotten where I am today and I try to pay that forward.”
Carla does pay it forward and continues to support the AmeriCorps program as a host site supervisor. She is currently the Field Technician and Project Manager at Mountain Watershed Association where she supervises the AmeriCorps members there. Carla is able to relate the members and guide them as an alum while she also provides professional development as a supervisor. In addition to working for a non-profit, mentoring AmeriCorps members, and improving the environment, she also gives back through volunteering with the Boy Scouts of America every summer where she serves as Cub Scout Day Camp Director.
Because Carla has walked in the shoes of an AmeriCorps member, she is better able to guide and mentor the members she works with today and together, they continue to Get Things Done.