Alumni Spotlight Nirva Vahia-Patel
Year Served: 2022-2023
Current Role: Undergraduate at UC Davis studying Environmental Policy Analysis & Planning
When Nirva joined City Year straight out of high school, she wasn’t entirely sure what direction she wanted to take. What she did know was that she wanted a year to grow, explore, and experience something meaningful before heading to college. Through City Year, she found not only a deeper understanding of education and service, but also lasting relationships with students, teammates, and the city she now considers home.
Q: What made you want to sign up for City Year in the first place?
A: During my senior year of high school, I was, like many people, pretty unsure of what I wanted to study in university. I had always wanted to be a teacher, and my mom mentioned that one of her colleague’s nieces had done City Year. I remember applying that same afternoon, and the rest is history.
I hoped City Year would give me a feel for the classroom and help me figure out whether education was the right career path for me. I also wanted to take a gap year after high school to gather my thoughts and engage in something hands-on, and City Year gave me the opportunity to do that.
Q: What are some of your first memories of your City Year experience?
A: Some of my first memories include meeting my team and the greater Bay Area FY22–23 corps during BTA. I remember having lunch with my teammates at Renaissance Academy at Mathson and thinking it was special that I had been placed on the Mathson team after becoming familiar with the campus during training.
That time was especially meaningful because I got to know my teammates so closely. We became a very close-knit team, and we carried that respect and care for one another throughout the service year. We learned a lot from each other and were able to support one another through all the ups and downs of service.
Q: During your time with City Year, what training or experiences prepared you for your career journey to come?
A: City Year was a pretty demanding program — and I don’t necessarily mean that in a positive or negative way. Like all things, there were ups and downs. It was challenging, but rewarding at the same time.
The biggest thing I learned is that if I can complete a year of service with City Year, I can do pretty much anything.
As a university student now, I still use the ability to rapidly shift my focus from one task to another and prioritize my time effectively. As corps members, we balanced Tier 1 classroom support, Tier 2 tutoring, and ELT after-school programming. Being able to plan for all of those responsibilities — and switch mindsets and roles throughout the day — prepared me well for balancing academics, research, part-time jobs, and other responsibilities in college.
Q: What was your favorite thing about your City Year experience?
A: My favorite thing about City Year was my students.
As their teacher’s aide and after-school teacher — or simply their “City Year” — I was so lucky to watch them grow from stepping foot into middle school for the first time to becoming seventh graders.
Our sixth-grade after-school class was chaotic and full of life. Adjusting to all that energy was definitely a learning curve, but being a consistent presence in my students’ lives made the entire experience worth it.
Before they graduated middle school and moved on to different high schools, I would visit during my university breaks. Hearing “Miss Nirva!” shouted across the quad and having my former students run up to me was such an amazing feeling. It reminded me that City Year impacts not only the students we serve, but also the corps members themselves.
At the end of the year, I had all my students sign my iconic yellow City Year jacket. I still keep it hanging on the wall of my room in Davis, and every time I look at it, I’m reminded of my students and the memories we made together in our classroom.
Q: What made you want to continue working in education and schools? What surprised you most about the experience?
A: One of the most interesting things I learned through City Year was getting to observe education from the perspective of an educator rather than a student.
Because I joined City Year straight out of high school, it was a huge shift to go from completing my teachers’ lesson plans to creating my own lesson plans. The experience gave me so much perspective into the amount of work teachers do and how important they are in students’ lives.
Teachers are foundational, and they deserve respect.
I’m very grateful that I had the opportunity to work alongside such amazing partner teachers. Being able to closely observe and learn from educators and school staff gave me a much deeper understanding of what goes into supporting students every day.
Q: This year, AmeriCorps faced major federal funding cuts that impacted programs like City Year nationwide. What was your reaction?
I was very sad to hear about the defunding of AmeriCorps, and City Year by extension.
Programs like City Year, which give young people the opportunity to serve their communities, are incredibly important — not only for the students and communities we serve, but also for the AmeriCorps members themselves.
My year with City Year taught me a lot, not only about education, but about what it means to dedicate yourself to service and nonprofit work. I’m very grateful I had the opportunity to serve, and I truly hope future young people will continue to have access to programs like this. Opportunities like City Year depend on continued funding and support.
A final personal note
On the last stretch of the drive from Davis to San Jose, there’s an exit ramp that gives me an aerial view of the middle school where I served.
Every time I drive home, I like to think of seeing that school as San Jose’s way of greeting me — a quiet little “welcome home.”