Vandy Faces: Michelle Soto promotes a culture of community service
Aaron Kraft
Editor-in-Chief
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Michelle Soto is an individual that has amassed an amazing list of accomplishments and experiences in a relatively short amount of time. A sophomore Special Education/Elementary Education major, she has taught for Americorps, worked with Nashville Peace and Justice and Community Heartbeats, and has started two organizations, the Truth and Reconciliation Project and Students Helping Staff.
Michelle grew up in Framingham, Massachusetts, where she attended boarding school. After high school, her best friend decided to take a year off and Michelle decided to do the same after deferring her admission to Vanderbilt. At boarding school, she realized that she "took her classes and environment for granted" and it was time to give back in some way. She applied for Americorps, a decision that would greatly affect her outlook on service work. She knew she was very passionate about community service and figured it was a good time to take the step in that direction.
Michelle was placed as a full-time third grade substitute teacher in an inner-city elementary school in Washington, D.C. Her experience was not ideal. She loved her students but ultimately felt too constricted by tight regulations. Her mandated daily uniform of creased paints was non-negotiable and enforced to the point of sending her home if not dressed accordingly, regardless of whether a replacement teacher was available. While she did not care for her year as an Americorps worker, she admits "Americorps does put you in a place you would never get to experience; these were kids you would never meet otherwise."
During the summer before entering Vanderbilt, Michelle extensively investigated service groups in Nashville so she would know what she wanted to do once she arrived. This allowed her to become involved in a number of activities quickly. She first worked with the Nashville Peace and Justice Center (NPJC) a couple of times a week, helping them solve logistical problems and create a solid base from which to get started. She also participated in the Alpha Phi Omega service fraternity on a smaller scale, but found that she disliked certain aspects that conflicted with her personal goals, such as being dictated the types of service projects to work on.
With one of her co-workers from the NPJC, she started the Truth and Reconciliation Project, an umbrella organization for other smaller service organizations promoting community activism. Its mission is to "strive to eliminate racial injustice, poverty, and war." Of these different programs, Michelle devotes much of her time to Community Heartbeats, which brings young people together to address problems they see in their communities through art, "a medium that can be more powerful and captivating than words alone." Currently she is working on a big exhibition that will go on display in December of 2005 and will highlight a number of Nashville's contemporary social problems.
At Vanderbilt, she has started a program called Students Helping Staff, which is a tutoring program for the children of Vanderbilt staff members. Currently, 100 Vanderbilt students are involved and tutor at the Peabody Library, which offers a variety of teaching resources to the organization. Students Helping Staff tutors 20 children each week, as well as one adult and ten others in a GED program. In the fall, she intends to expand the program to a local school because many parents do not have cars and such a move would make it more accessible to them. While the administration has not been as helpful as she would like in advertising the program to Vanderbilt staff, like not allowing her to post flyers in employee areas, she has been able to rely on word of mouth to help the organization grow.
Over the rest of her career here, Michelle hopes to expand the reach of her current organizations and get even more Vanderbilt students interested in service work. For more information on any of the aforementioned organizations, contact michelle.m.soto@vanderbilt.edu.