Community Resource Guide For Helena VISTAS Volume 1. July. 2014 | Page 6

Erich Hellstrom,
Erich ‘Danger’ Hellstrom rose from the ashes of a hotel fire in mid-March,
1991. Since then he has earned accolades and recognition from some of the greatest
people and groups in the world. But we’ll get to that later. Let’s tell you a little
about the skills of Danger first. He can jump, like REALLY high. I think he can
dunk. He can read minds and project it on a wall
through his eyes, but he doesn't really do that
anymore. People have said he’s the best dancer in the
world, and they're probably right, but who really
judges that anyway? He’s been known to cook a
mean stew, and always feeds it to the hungry
pigeons. He graduated from boat making school in
2005, and makes at least one boat per week. EDH
applies all of this experience at his MTCC VISTA
position. In public, he’ll tell you that he is designing,
implementing and analyzing programming that
supports first generation, low-income students transitioning into and attending their
first year of college. But in private, well actually he’d probably tell you the same
thing. His project site, Montana GEAR UP, works with 18 school districts in lowincome areas around the state. He uses his extensive skill set to guide students
towards helpful resources and programs before/during their freshmen year of
college. If you ever need advice from E-man, just shoot off a bottle rocket and say
his name three times quickly.

Molly Wilkins, Helena MT
Molly Wilkins grew up in Helena, MT. She received a bachelor’s degree in
Community Health from Montana State University in Bozeman. Directly after
college she began serving with the MTCC AmeriCorps VISTA program. She joined
AmeriCorps to give back to her community, further develop her skill set and explore
her career interests. Molly served for the Montana College Access Network
(MCAN) with the goal of supporting members in their efforts to increase
postsecondary participation and completion for all
Montanans. During her time as a VISTA she created
the 2013 Montana College Access Gap Analysis,
helped to launch a new MCAN website, created
resource guides and asset maps, and aided in network
sustainability and collaboration. Post service, Molly
hopes to do some traveling and exploration of new
cultures and ways of life.

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