These experiences helped steer him to his present calling—trying to eliminate illiteracy through volunteerism. When Colby became the three-year host to an AmeriCorps*VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America) leadership position for literacy last year, Cuzzi applied, was selected and committed to a year of service.

A domestic Peace Corps, VISTA was developed in 1964 to place volunteers in full-time, year-long programs to help find solutions to problems caused by urban and rural poverty. Since beginning the job last summer, Cuzzi has placed student volunteers in local nonprofit groups and public agencies and has facilitated Colby-Waterville service programs. One of Cuzzi’s responsibilities is designing programs that will continue after he has finished his VISTA service.

America Reads, a national literacy initiative, is one of the programs in which Cuzzi places student volunteers. Even though literacy volunteer opportunities have existed through Colby’s Volunteer Center for years, Cuzzi offered literacy work as a paid work-study option to students who otherwise might not have been able to afford getting involved. He makes sure volunteers are adequately trained before they go out to tutor students in grades K-5 individually or in small groups.

Literacy volunteers, including Anna Randall ‘01 have improved reading levels at the Albert S. Hall School in Waterville.

Louise Harrington, a fifth grade alternative education teacher at the Albert S. Hall School, is one of the community members who has seen the benefits of AmeriCorps*VISTA’s first year in Waterville. She calls the partnership a wonderful thing for everyone involved. Elementary school students at risk of falling through the cracks receive additional adult attention, and the Colby volunteers “bring youth and energy into the school,” Harrington said. “It’s invaluable to the kids.”

The program benefits the school staff as well. Thanks to the organization and structure provided by Cuzzi, the program doesn’t take any effort on the teachers’ part, Harrington says. The Colby students are extremely professional and dedicated. “It’s a win-win situation,” she said. Colby students benefit by becoming more aware of the need to get involved in social programs in their communities, and they gain experience presenting lesson plans and instructing. As proof of the tutoring program’s success, Harrington says student reading levels have risen.

Cuzzi also helped integrate community service into the first-year English composition courses of professors Peter Harris, Jean Sanborn and David Suchoff. Through Cuzzi’s placements, first-year students worked two hours a week at volunteer sites including the local women’s center, an adult day care, the Waterville Boys & Girls Club, Waterville Head Start, the homeless shelter, a soup kitchen and the junior high school. A major goal of VISTA is to design service-learning partnerships like these that build on the strengths of the community and address significant social problems.

With Cuzzi’s assistance Lyn Mikel Brown (education) developed a mentor program between girls in area middle and junior high schools and students in Brown’s course Women, Girls and the Culture of Education. Every student in Brown’s class was paired with a “little sister” during the program’s inaugural year. The Colby mentors met weekly with their students, and Brown says the relationships forged this past year will continue through meetings and correspondence.

Cuzzi’s commitment to social service extends to the difficult but necessary task of fund raising. He has secured funds from the local Lions Club and book donations from Amazon.com on behalf of Waterville Head Start’s “Knapsacks of Knowledge,” a family literacy program. At their Family Literacy Day awards ceremony in May, Head Start recognized Cuzzi, his corps of service-learning volunteers and his fund-raising alliance.