Stephanie Soiseth
“So what is it that you do on a daily basis,” I find myself being asked whenever I tell people that I am in AmeriCorps. “Well,” I respond, “I put on many different hats depending on the needs of the community.” I used to struggle over how to answer this question. During my first month as an AmeriCorps, I was thrown into a National disaster, which meant my days were spent working with clients, completing home visits, and helping the relief process in general. It was because of this atypical beginning that I had no honest idea what I would be doing on a day-to-day basis once the disaster was over.
Even directly after the flooding disaster, my days were spent doing any number of different things. I managed client cases in the computer CAS system, taught CPR/AED/ First Aid classes, as well as Masters of Disasters classes to elementary school students. With the help of my coworker, we put together many different printed materials for disaster prevention and recovery. So it was only natural for me to be confused when confronted with this simple eleven-word question. I play a wide variety of roles within my Red Cross chapter and depending on the day, my hat differs.
Some days I wear my educator hat. I picture this as my mortarboard hat. Those days, I teach my community and therefore, the world, how to be a better place, one class at a time. Whether it is CPR or stop, drop, and roll, these skills have the potential to save lives.
Going hand in hand with this hat is my Merryweather helmet. In this guise, I am ready to save the world and help those who cannot help themselves. The hard material on the outside of the hat helps protect me from the confusion that surrounds any disaster and keeps me thinking clearly and with purpose to do my best for my clients. As time moves on and my metal hat is replaced by plastic, I remain flexible to the changes, guided by the basic principles of the hat, which remain the same.
Finally, my favorite hat and the most well worn one is the Phrygian cap. In its red glory, I gladly surrender my head to its ideals. With my partner in red, I embark upon projects and adventures that are of my own design. Creating and editing literature for dissemination, managing the “Holiday Mail for Heroes” campaign, and streamlining processes at the chapter house are but a few of my accomplishments. My site supervisors encouraged my freedom to choose which aspects of the Red Cross I focus on and, in that sense, they chose this hat for me.
While these are only three hats, I have carried many more throughout the last year. So, returning to the initial question asked, my answer remains constant. It may have taken me a year to understand what the answer really is, but with all the experiences I was privy to, it would be hard to answer in less. You may ask, what will happen to my hats? They may be well used and slightly worn, but they will not be retired to a dusty hat rack. On the contrary, while I may not wear them every day, but when the occasion calls for it, out they will come from the closet and onto my head they will go.
