Aubrey Baker
Hometown: Bellevue, WA
Role at Trevecca: As a social justice VISTA in the J.V. Morsch Center for Social Justice, I expand the capacity of Trevecca by assisting, developing and mobilizing student partnerships to enhance the work within community organizations. I establish and sustain partnerships with nonprofits and connect those nonprofits to students for volunteer service opportunities. I especially focus on serving financially insecure youth and families in the neighborhood. I also participate in neighborhood empowerment programming and engage in community work.
Hobbies: traveling, running, sports, hiking, reading, ministry and hanging out with friends and family.
Katherine Carter
Hometown: Allen, TX
Role at Trevecca: As the Urban Farm VISTA, my job focuses on caring for plants and animals and creating opportunities to teach those skills to people in our community, whether it be students on campus or our Nashville neighbors. Food insecurity, environmental justice and sustainability are major issues that we can see all around us. The farm allows people to see an example of how small urban spaces can be utilized to create community, heal the planet and produce an abundance. My position allows me to promote self-sufficiency; healthy and responsible food practices; active transportation; and justice towards both people and the planet. This all takes place within the context of Christian service and creation care.
Hobbies: photography, acting and caring for animals.
Kavanah Manswell
Hometown: Trinidad & Tobago
Role at Trevecca: I work with the athletic department to find and create community engagement opportunities for Trevecca’s athletic department on the whole as well as for individual teams within the department. The coaches here have huge hearts for serving the community and regularly encourage their teams to participate. The teams are also very personally invested and have a committee of students set up with whom I work to organize events. It is so wonderful working with people who are genuinely passionate about offering their time and talents to bless others!
Hobbies: I love spending time doing mission work, attending Legacy Nashville, playing the violin and serving kids.
Carolyn Johnson
Hometown: Atlanta, GA
Role at Trevecca: As the Center for Student Development VISTA, I recruit Trevecca students, faculty and staff for volunteer opportunities. Alongside the VISTA team, I help track service hours and promote community engagement opportunities. One of my primary responsibilities is updating volunteer opportunities in our database, so that the Trevecca community members know what is happening in the 37210 zip code and throughout Nashville. I enjoy working on a team, learning more about the wonderful people and organizations in our area and continuing to promote healthy futures & environmental stewardship. I believe that volunteer service is a communal effort and that everyone can make a huge impact on the lives of people around them which is why I serve as an AmeriCorps VISTA!
Celina Konigstein
Hometown: Columbia, MD
Role at Trevecca: As the urban farm's TreeCycle VISTA, I'm responsible for all things related to our TreeCycle program. We pay youth to plant edible trees and fix bikes and I also go on bike rides to neighborhood destinations. I didn't know how to fix bikes before I started my term, so I've had the pleasure of learning alongside our youth and then being able to share my skills with others as they get involved with TreeCycle.
I became interested in food systems while I was studying urban planning in college.Working with the farm, I've been able to learn about growing food for myself as well as get a close up look at food production, food waste reduction and form relationships with people who make a living tending the environment. All in all, working as a VISTA has allowed me to work with my hands to make a difference on the farm and in the community.
