AmeriCorps VISTA Volunteer to Assist with Science Enrichment Program at Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences

ALBANY, NY. – October 3, 2011 – Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences has received an AmeriCorps VISTA grant through New York Campus Compact and the Corporation for National and Community Service to assist with the administration of its ACPHS Academy program. 

VISTA Volunteer Nicholas Caminiti will work with Program Director Rebecca Beach during the 2011-12 academic year to assist with various aspects of the ACPHS Academy program. Now in its sixth year, the ACPHS Academy is an afterschool enrichment program that helps Albany area youth excel in science and math, while exposing them to a way of life that encourages their educational development. 

ACPHS Academy students are bused from their schools to the College’s campus twice a week for ten weeks each semester. The program is hosted on the ACPHS campus so that participants can literally “go to college,” an important factor in helping young students value higher education. Classes are taught by local schoolteachers who are assisted by ACPHS students serving in the role of mentors. 

A native of Nashville, Tennessee, Nicholas has a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a master’s in teaching. He previously taught mathematics in the Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools. 

For more information on the ACPHS Academy program, please contact Rebecca Beach at (518) 694-7189 or via e-mail at rebecca.beach@acphs.edu. 

About Americorps VISTA
For more than 35 years, AmeriCorps VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America) members have been helping bring individuals and communities out of poverty. Members serve full-time for a year with nonprofit organizations, public agencies, and faith-based groups throughout the country, working to develop tutoring/mentoring programs for at-risk youth, enhance community gardens, improve health services, or any number of anti-poverty capacity-building activities. For more information about the New York Campus Compact AmeriCorps VISTA program, please visit www.nyccvista.org. 

About Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences
Founded in 1881, Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences is a private, independent institution committed to graduating the best health care minds in the world. The College possesses all of the qualities for an outstanding education, including diverse academic programs, modern facilities, and distinguished faculty. In addition to its doctor of pharmacy program, ACPHS offers four bachelor’s programs and six graduate programs in the health sciences. The College’s main campus is located in Albany, New York; its satellite campus is in Colchester, Vermont. For more information, please visit www.acphs.edu.