Meet the Corps: Brielle Lam Discovers Her Strength
There's no single way to describe a year with City Year — but for AmeriCorps member Brielle Lam, one word captures it best: balance.
After graduating college and standing at a crossroads, Brielle wasn't sure what she wanted to do next. Education interested her, but she wasn't ready to commit fully. City Year offered something rare: a meaningful way to explore a calling without burning every bridge behind her. What she found was a year that tested her limits, challenged her assumptions, and proved — through the sheer weight of hard days and small victories — that she was more capable than she ever gave herself credit for.
In this conversation, Brielle reflects on the push and pull of service year life, the students she won't soon forget, and the bittersweet feeling of closing a chapter that changed her.
Q: If you had to describe your year with City Year in one word, what would it be?
"Balance. Something I really struggled with when I first started this job was finding a balance between work and life. I felt like I had no time outside of work or for my friends."
It's an honest answer — and one that many corps members will recognize. The demands of service year life can be all-consuming, and Brielle didn't shy away from naming that truth.
Q: How did you find your way to City Year?
"My path to City Year was not linear."
After graduation, Brielle was weighing her options and felt genuinely drawn to education — but wasn't fully certain it was her path.
"City Year gave me the opportunity to pursue education without going all in and opening doors to other programs such as TFA."
For Brielle, that low-stakes entry point turned out to be anything but small. What started as a way to test the waters became a full-immersion year of growth.
Q: What's one challenge you faced this year — and how did you grow through it?
"One of the biggest challenges I faced was finding a balance between work and life. Since this job is so time consuming, I felt like I had no time for myself let alone my friends and family."
And that wasn't the only pressure she was managing. At the same time, Brielle was studying and applying to Teach For America — stacking obligations on top of an already demanding year of service.
"I was also applying to Teach For America and studying and it was hard to balance."
But rather than letting those challenges define her experience, Brielle let them reframe what she believed about herself.
"Experiencing these challenges really helped me realize that I can do more than I think I can."
Q: How does it feel as you close out the year?
"I'm feeling a combination of emotions."
The end of the year brought relief, pride, and no small amount of sadness — all at once.
Brielle celebrated the completion of SIPPS with her students and felt genuinely excited watching them move on to new grades — some heading to middle school. At the same time, she wrote personal cards for each of her SIPPS students, a gesture that quickly revealed just how deep those bonds had grown.
"A lot of them asked if I will be here next year."
Brielle is moving to Rhode Island soon — which makes those goodbyes feel all the more real.
"Closing out relationships is something I am definitely still working on."
Q: What's one piece of advice you'd give yourself from a year ago?
Though Brielle didn't put it in those terms, the year itself was the answer: show up, even when it's hard. Manage the overwhelm one day at a time. The fact that she balanced service, study, and significant personal transitions — and came out the other side — speaks louder than any single piece of advice.
Q: For someone considering a year of service, what would you say?
Brielle's experience is a testament to what happens when you say yes to something before you feel completely ready. She came in uncertain about education. She's leaving having lived it — in some of its most demanding and most rewarding forms. For anyone weighing a year of service and wondering if they can handle it, her story offers a clear answer:
You can do more than you think you can.