A Family dedicated to Service

For 23 year-old Quinn Riley, the decision to join AmeriCorps was easy. After graduating from St. Olaf College in 2025, she was curious about both teaching and social work but unsure of her long-term career goals. “I needed time to figure it out and AmeriCorps allows you to do that ... there’s so many options for service.” For the 2025/2026 school year, Quinn is serving as a Promise Fellow at Columbia Heights High School where she supports a cohort of high schoolers to improve attendance, helping them 1-on-1 to feel empowered as they explore their interests, set goals, and find community at school. 

Quinn isn’t the first person in her family to join AmeriCorps. From 2016-2020, her mother, Meg, was a Program Manager and later the Director of Arizona Serve. And, in the summer of 2020, Quinn’s older sister, Scout, joined AmeriCorps as a Summer Program Specialist at the Arizona Serve Boys and Girls Club of Tucson. Meg calls Scout’s time in AmeriCorps “lifechanging.” “Scout had just got settled in at Carleton College and then had to come home to Arizona because of the COVID pandemic. She was unsure about the future. It doesn’t feel like an exaggeration to say that AmeriCorps saved Scout’s life at that point- in connecting to something and finding meaning at that time.” Scout, too, calls her service “one of the best experiences I've ever had.”  She emphasizes, “I did not consider myself someone who loved kids… I was like, I’ll give it a shot, and it was one of the best things I’ve ever done.” 

Quinn reiterates the importance of creating community across generations, and how AmeriCorps can bring people together. This winter, Operation Metro Surge brought unanticipated intensities to Quinn’s service at Columbia Heights. “There are just no words for it, the thought of being scared to go to school, a place where you’re learning and it’s supposed to be a safe place for kids. It was a very heavy feeling at the school everyday. I wanted to support in any way that I could. But you still kind of feel helpless because it was like, ‘what if I’m not doing enough’?” At the same time, she says, “I feel like I can be a support system to these students and someone they can come to if they need something or if they don’t and they just want to talk.” 

The many chances for connection are part of what Meg sees as making AmeriCorps so special. “The intergenerational piece has been really amazing for me, and I think it's a great opportunity to understand your community in ways you didn’t before. It’s so easy to be in a bubble wherever you are and so it breaks out of that a bit.” Scout echoes the sentiment: “A lot of people in mine and Quinn’s generation are feeling helpless at this moment and like ‘what do I do’. I’ve felt really proud of doing something that is bigger than myself. I definitely think AmeriCorps fills a lot of gaps and makes the country a better place.” 

Currently, Scout is the Executive Coordinator at WORDTheatre, a non-profit in Los Angeles. Meg is the National Networks Manager at a Tucson-based non-profit in Tucson called CommunityShare, and plans to serve in AmeriCorps once she retires. What’s next for Quinn? During her service, Quinn has started to define her interests more: “Being a Promise Fellow, working with students 1-on-1 is really cool and definitely something I want to continue in my future. I also have been able to work really closely with the social workers here… I learned that you can do a lot with social work and work in a lot of different settings.” Her service has led her in a new direction- this fall, she will join Augsburg University’s Master of Social Work program.