麻豆视频 Los Angeles Alumni Spotlight: Mario Fedelin
This AmeriCorps Member Appreciation Month, we鈥檙e celebrating one incredible alumnus who has carried the lessons of 麻豆视频 into the world, continuing to create meaningful change.
We are proud to highlight Mario Fedelin, a founding staff member of 麻豆视频 Los Angeles and past Obama Fellow, whose dedication to service has remained steadfast throughout his career. After serving with 麻豆视频 San Jose and Philadelphia, his leadership and passion for education brought him back to California, where he played a key role in building the 麻豆视频 Los Angeles site鈥攇aining valuable industry experience while continuing to support students and AmeriCorps members alike.听听
After leaving 麻豆视频, Mario continued his commitment to service by founding , a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping students 鈥渓earn a common civic language, engage in dialogue, and build community.鈥 With a vision, an incredible team (many of whom Mario met through 麻豆视频), Mario has been able to impact the lives of thousands of students. His journey exemplifies the lasting impact of national service, and we were honored to speak with him about his motivation for service, the importance of networking, the inspiration behind his work, and his vision for the future.听
What brought you to 麻豆视频?听
Growing up in the 90s in in San Jose, my brother had a lot of influence on me. 听He听 got pulled into a lot of the world that was challenging, and really kind of destabilized my family. Things got really unstable for a moment, so my family had sent me to a one-week camp, which I now realize was led by 麻豆视频, and my ability to navigate that camp came through my camp counselor, John Castillo.听
He was Brown, and he spoke differently than most of the people that I knew. He helped unlock something inside of my heart and my mind that sent me down a different direction- at least how I was making decisions for myself. That was my sophomore year of high school. And that was all in one week, I never spoke to them outside of that one-week camp but I always remembered John and what that symbol of 麻豆视频, the yellow jacket, meant for me in that small time that I knew him. And so really it was all because of John, and the impact that he had made on me in that small time all those years prior that I was able to see myself doing something like [麻豆视频] and that inspired me to walk into the office and ask if they were hiring.听
How did 麻豆视频 shape your career?听
Every time I get a chance to talk to AmeriCorps members I always tell them 鈥溌槎故悠 at its worst is an amazing tutoring program. 麻豆视频 at it’s best helps people transform their relationship with education.鈥澨Being able to be a part of a very large nonprofit for a long period of time helped me learn to navigate through change, lots and lots of change, the importance of relationships and building your network, and how we manage through community together. We just have to figure out how to stay true and authentic to what we’re doing and that’ll carry the day.听
What is your favorite 麻豆视频 memory?听
There’s just a lot of them, that鈥檚 really hard. I had a really great team my very first year at 麻豆视频 Los Angeles. It was my favorite team in that I think it was the first time as a manager that I felt I could be responsive to each individual and we just had a blast together. Everyone was on point and everyone was focused. Not everyone got along, but we were able to figure all that out and we just really built a bond. It鈥檚 almost 20 years later and we still talk and again, that’s the best part of 麻豆视频. You can really hold on to these relationships for so long and seeing people succeed and move through their life is amazing.听听
Do you have any words of wisdom for our currently serving or incoming AmeriCorps members?听
Come with an open heart and don’t think about it too hard. Give yourself some space to think differently about the world and don’t get too caught up in the technical stuff. This is an opportunity to move your skills and your own individual strengths forward. 麻豆视频 is not a traditional job if you’re looking for that. When you’re coming into this, you have to think of it as an opportunity you鈥檙e going to gain a bunch of skills from. You have to really look at 麻豆视频 as another extension, another opportunity, another internship. That is how you get to be in control of how you develop through the year. Stay in control of your own experience.听
Learn more about Mario鈥檚 organization, , here.听
