Changing Your Life while Changing Lives: Reflections from AmeriCorps STEM Coaches

Each year, the Alaska Afterschool Network supports a cohort of full-time AmeriCorps STEM Coaches serving at out-of-school time (OST) programs across Alaska. AmeriCorps STEM Coaches facilitate science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) activities with youth, receive ongoing professional development, earn micro-credentials, and support their host site operations while earning a living stipend and education award. The goals of the AmeriCorps STEM Coach Program is to increase the number of youth engaged in STEM, while providing a supportive career pathway for AmeriCorps members into the youth development workforce. 

In the 2025-26 school year, Audra and Tamika served as AmeriCorps STEM Coaches in Eagle River and Fairbanks. The Alaska Afterschool Network deeply thanks Audra and Tamika for their 900 hours of service and wishes them all the best on the road ahead. Read about the meaningful impact serving had on their lives and communities below. 

If you, or someone you know, is interested in being a catalyst for positive community change, please encourage them to apply to be part of the 2026-27 AmeriCorps STEM Coach Full-Time Cohort!

Audra’s AmeriCorps STEM Coach Experience

Over the past six months, I have had the privilege of serving as an AmeriCorps STEM Coach with the Alaska Afterschool Network. Since beginning my service in November 2025, I have been able to bring hands-on STEM learning opportunities to youth throughout the Anchorage and Eagle River communities. This experience has strengthened my interest in out-of-school time programming and shown me how important it is for young people to have spaces where they can explore, learn, and grow.

Moving from Texas to Alaska for this role was a major change and a leap of faith, especially right before winter began. I didn't fully know what to expect at the start, but over time, the work and the people around me helped Alaska feel more familiar. Through serving youth and becoming part of the community, it has started to feel like home in a very real way.

Some of my earliest experiences in this role were with the Boys & Girls Club in Anchorage before its closure in December 2025. Even though my time there was short, it stood out to me how important consistent afterschool spaces are for youth. It was a reminder of how much impact these programs have, not only for students, but for families as well.

After that, I continued my service with Camp Fire Alaska in Eagle River. I found a supportive environment there that allowed me to continue focusing on hands-on STEM activities with youth. In these spaces, I've seen students try new things, work through challenges, and build confidence in ways that often happen quietly, but meaningfully over time.

Along the way, I also had opportunities to connect with others working across Alaska's out-of-school time field. At the Alaska Out-of-School Time (OST) Conference in November 2025, I met educators and youth professionals from across the state who are committed to supporting young people in different ways. In March 2026, I traveled to Sitka for the AmeriCorps Member Gathering, where I met other members serving in a range of roles, including those bringing arts programming to youth in Southeast Alaska. Hearing about their work gave me a broader sense of how service looks in different communities across the state.

In April 2026, I completed Youth Mental Health First Aid training through the National Council for Mental Wellbeing. The training gave me practical tools to better recognize and respond to youth experiencing mental health challenges, and reinforced the importance of being patient, present, and supportive in this work. I also earned three micro-credentials through the National Afterschool Association: Ensuring Equitable Participation in STEM, Creating a Positive STEM Learning Atmosphere, and Creating Informal STEM Learning Environments. These experiences helped me think more intentionally about how I structure STEM activities and how I can create spaces where all youth feel comfortable participating.

Looking back, much of this year has been shaped by small moments - conversations during activities, watching students figure something out on their own, or seeing excitement when something finally clicks. These are the moments that have shaped me, and they have also influenced what I want to do next. I plan to attend Alaska Pacific University to study Counseling Psychology so I can continue supporting youth in a way that also focuses on mental wellbeing and personal growth.

I am incredibly grateful to the Alaska Afterschool Network and Serve Alaska for the opportunity to serve in this role. I especially want to thank my AmeriCorps Project Director, Erin Moriearty, for her guidance and support throughout this experience. I would also like to thank Camp Fire Alaska for providing a welcoming environment and the support I needed throughout my service term.

I also want to recognize my peer, Tamika Lake, who served in the same AmeriCorps STEM Coach role in the Fairbanks area. As a fellow Alaska Native serving communities across the state over the past several years, her encouragement and shared understanding of this work meant a great deal to me throughout this time.

This experience has had a lasting impact on me, and I leave it with a deeper commitment to continue supporting youth and out-of-school time programs across Alaska in the years ahead.

Tamika’s AmeriCorps STEM Coach Experience

Joining Americorps didn’t just change my life–it reshaped it. 

Truth be told, I didn’t know what I signed up for. Before serving, I felt I’d never want to be a teacher. But AmeriCorps handed me the tools and placed me in front of students who needed someone to believe in them, and there I was teaching STEM.

As a STEM Coach, I worked with students whose hesitation turned into curiosity, and “I can’t” turned into “What if we try this?” I watched their spark grow with each lesson. 

AmeriCorps taught me that service isn’t about what you do - it’s about who you become while doing it. It’s about staying present long enough for those students to discover their own strength. It's about the quiet, steady belief you bring into a room, day by day, until that belief becomes theirs. 

I didn’t know what I signed up for at the start. But now I have a thought: I signed up to be transformed, and to help those students transform right along with me. 

Thank you AmeriCorps for all the support and encouragement.