Kyla Grau has been a Site Coordinator and Program Intern with Everybody Wins! Iowa (EWI) since January 2021, and she is continuing her internship over the summer.
She is also pursuing her Masters of Public Administration at Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey. Her specializations are Evaluation & Analytics and French for Professional Purposes, and she will graduate in December 2021. Upon graduation, she plans to pursue a career in international development as a program manager.
Kyla obtained her bachelor’s degree from Luther College, and she has since held different positions abroad, including teaching English in France and serving as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Benin, West Africa.
Kyla joined the EWI team because of her connection to EWI’s mission through her personal experience seeing how kind mentors can impact a child’s life. At EWI, she develops data collection and program evaluation methods for EWI’s programs. She also will be assisting with development and fundraising for the upcoming school year.
In her free time, Kyla loves to travel, cook, read, play instruments, and spend time in nature. She shares her excitement about being a part of the EWI team: “I love reading and I’m excited to share this passion with kids in the community I grew up in.”
Belle Ward is the summer AmeriCorps VISTA member at Everybody Wins! Iowa.
She joined EWI to learn more about literacy and mentorship with students in the school system. Before beginning this role, Belle was a substitute teacher at Des Moines Public Schools, where she taught students from preschool through high school.
Previously, she served in a year-long VISTA position at Lutheran Services in Iowa, where she coordinated a tutoring program for adult refugee students.
During her term, Belle plans to coordinate book distribution at summer meal programs and distribute books to students who participated in the Power Read program over the summer. She also hopes to prepare EWI to be even more successful when they return to their programs in the fall.
Belle shared her excitement about working with EWI this summer, “I’m happy to be a part of this organization and to connect students with reading opportunities they might not otherwise have.”
In her free time, Belle likes to read, listen to music and podcasts, and spend time with her friends.