“I love West Virginia and I fell in love with Elkins,” Jakeya says. “As an alumna of Davis & Elkins College, I look back and see that there are things about the campus I wish were different and how the town and the campus interacted is something I’ve always thought should be improved.”
With that spirit, Jakeya applied to the VISTA opportunity in Elkins, which aligned with the kinds of positive changes she wanted to see for her community. The description of the work was to help carry out a program that benefits both the students and community in Elkins by creating opportunities for students to get involved in their community through organizations or small businesses.
“I can’t leave this state without doing something, even if it’s something as minuscule as showing college students there is more to their college town,” Jakeya expresses. “I wanted this position as a way to give back to a place I’ve called home for the last few years.”
Her time volunteering as a VISTA changed Jakeya’s perspective about Elkins, a place she considered home for a few years while in college. During her years at Davis and Elkins College, Jakeya was an active student-athlete with the occasional trips off campus to restaurants, bars, the Forest Festival, and Walmart. Now, she has grown familiar with the town and the people that have surrounded her for years.
“I think what has grown is myself,” Jakeya admits when asked how the community has grown during her year as a VISTA. “I have come to really know the community and recognize how wonderful it is.”
She adds: “On the community aspect of things though, the last event I assisted with was the Elkins Entrepreneurs Expo and the entire two day event showed just how ready Elkins and the people of Elkins are for expansion and growth in the community. Everyone has a crazy idea and everyone has a new business venture, but the most important part of this is that everyone also wants to stay here and see their ideas grow the community.”
As her time as a VISTA in Elkins comes to an end, Jakeya is optimistic about Elkins’s and West Virginia’s future, but it will take work. Primarily, Jakeya thinks it is time, and that West Virginia is ready, to have tough conversations about marginalized communities and their past treatments. She appreciates being able to work with women in positions of power who have motivated her in her own journey to law school after her time as a VISTA.
“People of color and Black people also belong wherever they want to be with the same rights and respect as white people. The LGBTQ+ community belongs wherever they want to be with the same rights and respect as everyone else,” Jakeya explains. “The lack of education on subjects about the treatment of minorities and the ignorance to the real problems in the world are apparent everywhere. It’s time that we start breaking glass ceilings and pulling chairs up to the table. Being uncomfortable is not an excuse anymore.”
By doing that, Jakeya hopes younger generations will choose to stay in West Virginia and continue to call it home. Her vision for West Virginia is that the state’s population will begin to reflect the rest of the nation in terms of diversity.
“[I want to see] young people staying or returning after school, settling down and taking over or starting newer businesses,” Jakeya shares. “I would like to see them investing in the area, planting their own roots or expanding on the ones they have already. The next generations are more than alright; they are proud, smart, kind, passionate, and ready to be the change this country, state, town, and so forth needs. I’d love for those doors to be welcoming and open for them to step in and do just that.”
The West Virginia Development Hub hosts AmeriCorps Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA) volunteers in communities participating in our coaching programs as well as in partnership with organizations around the state. The Hub currently has VISTA sub-sites in Fairmont, Morgantown, Rainelle, Clarksburg, Elkins, and other communities. The VISTA program was founded in 1965 and is an anti-poverty program providing needed resources to nonprofit organizations and public agencies to help lift communities out of poverty. The VISTA program places volunteers 18 years or older into communities where they perform a year of full-time volunteer service.
Interested in becoming a VISTA? Check out current opportunities through The Hub »