CYCO Corps Member Tom Valentine
Working for City Year has been a wonderful, challenging, and educational experience. It has been a challenge working with children that continually test my patience, however it has been wonderful building relationships with students and seeing their progress academically and behaviorally. I have learned how to work with and build meaningful relationships with children, as well as how to work effectively with my teacher partner. I have enjoyed working in a turn-around school and being an active part of making the school a strong learning environment—I can already see some glimpses of the fruits of our labor. Working with such an amazing group of individuals has been great, and I would not have traded my City Year experience for anything.
Being a member of City Year helped strengthen my resume and gave me much to talk about during my medical school interviews. After my residency training, I plan to continue serving others by volunteering at free clinics in areas similar to where we serve, and I hope to take trips abroad to serve in third-world countries. Through City Year, I have seen the need of those underserved and why service to such areas is important. Providing medical care to such a population would provide a much needed three-tiered support—helping the individual, helping the family unit, and helping the community as a whole. Such an impact takes time, and I am so excited to become part of a service-oriented medical school, Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine. City Year has helped me to develop professionalism, confidence with working closely with co-workers, working on time-management skills, and learn to work with students that can test my patience. I hope to continue my service, and I thank City Year for such an amazing experience this year.
-Tom Valentine, CYCO ’14-’15 Corps Member
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