AmeriCorps Connections

In this episode of the AmeriCorps Connections Podcast, host Nicki Fiocco sits down with AmeriCorps NCCC alum Zach Steaple (Class 23A) to talk about the kind of service you can’t unsee — and how those experiences quietly reshape who you become.

Zach shares how a gray AmeriCorps sweatshirt from his mom and a youth sports program at Notre Dame first planted the seed of service, long before he knew what NCCC was. From planting willows and building beaver dam analogs in a national forest, to counting unhoused neighbors in North Las Vegas, to supporting fire recovery and hearing stories straight out of what felt like a movie — Zach unpacks how he realized he’d lived one of the biggest years of his life.

Today, Zach is “Mr. Zach” in a kindergarten classroom, bringing NCCC virtues like perseverance, responsibility, and compassion into a school that centers social-emotional learning and a “private school with a public mission.” He talks about being a male educator of color, the power of simply seeing people — whether they’re kids in the hallway or neighbors on the street — and why it’s okay to change your mind about what service means to you.

Whether you’re considering national service, still processing your own AmeriCorps year, or wondering how to keep serving long after your term ends, this conversation is a soulful reminder that service doesn’t stop when the program ends — it just changes shape.