Sunny Yang, Sociology, Class of 2014

In the summer of 2001, Yang was a Summer VISTA member with AmeriCorps for 9^th Grade Transition Academy in Portland which assists entering 9^th graders who are not at the same literacy and math levels as their peers. Yang worked as a teacher’s assistant, a tutor, and a mentor in the classroom. “My involvement with AmeriCorps and the field of education are greatly valuable to me because the experience exposed me to the most fundamental element of education: personal interactions with students and being involved in their lives,” she says.