The Starlings of AmeriCorps

A Great Story by Caitlyn Kelly, ACSTL Member

“Have you ever seen a flock of Starlings flying overhead perfectly aligned with one another, swooping through the sky as one harmonized whole? The sight is surreal as thousands of these little birds create one body capable of making precise movements together. It's called a Murmuration. Each individual bird is responsible for being in the right relationship to seven birds around them and through listening, following, leading, and adapting they are capable of creating these complex and beautiful movements together. While serving with the local Emergency Management systems in the Kansas City metro area for COVID response, I thought a lot about the starlings and how they murmurate. I asked myself, what would it look like if human beings could murmurate when it comes to change for the greater good of humanity as a whole? Simple interactions put to good practice and we could create so much movement and growth in such an impactful way. And when I think about the members that serve alongside me for AmeriCorps St. Louis I feel as if we are all starlings in murmuration, trying our best to make the world a better place.”