AmeriCorps NCCC - Year 2: Team Leader

Badger 5 and Badger 6 (aka Badger 11) on Graduation Day

The AmerCorps NCCC journey isn't over. As I mentioned, I've taken on a position as a Team Leader for Class XVI. And I've begun another blog to chronicle the experience. As always, feel free to follow along. That journey begins here:

AmeriCorps NCCC - Year 2: Team Leader

I hope you've enjoyed the first-hand account of an AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps member in action. I hope to offer the same with a new year on this new blog. Enjoy!

Got Things Done - Final Reflection

One year ago I was sitting at my desk, looking forward to the next presentation I'd give to students and their families. As an admission counselor, the highlight of my day was heading to the visitor center and speaking directly with the students. It was the part of the job that reminded me each day why I was there and who I was there for.

My National Civilian Community Corps experience came to an end Friday, after a week of events and close-out that made up the final transition...

Well, this was a bit different of a transition. We aren't eagerly awaiting news of our next project, we aren't planning what to pack, and there's no gearing up for a 2-day travel we would typically expect at the end of the week. We're closing out our year of service, and transitioning into life after AmeriCorps.

So now I look back on a year of service, and I sit here not knowing where to begin and what to blog about. I’ve had what seems like a lifetime of experience in leadership, firefighting, teaching, construction, environmental conservation, volunteer management, among so many other things.

Furthermore, I’ve experienced all of this with the same 8 people for the past year. They’ve been there for every moment, so they’ve seen me at both a personal and professional level. Knowing that it has come to an end is something far beyond bittersweet, if there was even a term for it. The satisfaction of having gotten things done for communities around the country and seeing the difference that was made in others’ lives made it worth every challenge we faced this year.

We were all able to celebrate the difference we’ve made this year at our Awards Ceremony, the day before leaving. It was a great event, and something quite atypical for all of us in the Corps, as many took the opportunity to dress up as we ate a served dinner that included dessert. Badger 6 claimed our own table and we enjoyed the night’s awards and recognitions, which ended with a slideshow of the year…

Watching that video, and especially thinking about it now as I look over pictures of the year, made the departure the following day harder, because I was reminded that I wouldn’t be piling into a van with my team to delve right back into one of those projects in another community that could use our help. You get one of the best feelings by getting involved in direct service. Through it, I’ve got to meet those I’m serving and see the impact, ranging from the smile on someone’s face to the goal number of rebuilt homes reached. It’s a feeling similar to that I had one year ago, when meeting those students at presentations each day. It is the moment when everything is put into perspective.

I’ve had these moments all year, and fortunately, I’ve got another year beginning in January as I continue my journey as a Team Leader. Clearly, because of this perspective, I couldn’t be more excited. But most importantly, I know that when my term of service ends next November, whatever it is I do after my National Civilian Community Corps experience, I’ll look forward to next impact I can make, on any level. Because even if it’s not direct service, I know that there are so many others who should have the opportunity experience it, and I know how to give it to them.

Badger 6

Meet the family. I never thought it possible to get so close with 8 people who were complete strangers 10 months ago. But I've come to know and understand these folks like no one else. It's a continuous 24/7 experience that doesn't allow for alone time, and a lot of official and unofficial bonding. This past two months we lived together in an apartment where 8 Corps members were divided into two bedrooms. Among the rest of the challenges we've faced this year, this is certainly one of them. Yet as crazy as we drove each other as uber-roommates, we're back from our project now and missing that big ol' green house that so many memories of this year have come from.

But yes, the year has come to a close, this past week has been a tough one. I've seen these people every single day for 10 months, and we're now off to our respective homes, and life will be different. All 9 of us have been through a lot, and we've all learned from each other, and we've changed in ways we have noticed and I'm sure have yet to understand yet. Life after AmeriCorps is about to begin, and we're moving on to new things, whether it is heading home, starting the job search, applying for or beginning classes, going back to old jobs, beginning another year with NCCC, and even starting new jobs, as three members of Badger 6 will be moving to New Orleans immediately after the program to continue to help others.

They all mean more to me than I ever expected, and they've each had such an impact on my life that I'm not sure I'll ever be able to explain it. Badger 6 started out as strangers back in February, when Drew took us to that table at the point to "break the ice" and get to know one another. At that time, I remember thinking about how in the world I had ended up on this team, on this unit, wondering why everything had changed so quickly after just one week of this journey. Looking back, I can't imagine having been on any other team than Badger 6. We became an unstoppable dynamic that has broken through the ice and created waves of change in communities up and down the east and gulf coasts. And now it's all over? Nah, you never lose touch with family. But I'm sure gonna miss 'em until the reunion.

Goodbye NOLA! Badger 6 has a Good Old-Time

So we've been meaning to do this since our first round.  During our final day in New Orleans, we headed to Old-Time photo shop in the Quarter.  

They took a few shots, and it came down to two.  The photographer was a big fan of the other photo, which looked more traditional and old-timey, if you will.   However, when we saw this one, it pretty much captured Badger 6 more than any other photo.  Funny thing is, this is the "extra" photo we took after all of the traditional photos had already been taken.  this photo was supposed to be just for fun, and ended up being the photo we liked best.

We're fans of the photo.  After the shoot, we headed for our final outing at Juan's Flying Burrito, a delicious burrito place on Magazine street.  That wrapped up our day (go ahead, laugh out loud), and we drove back to the greenhouse to clean and pack.

The past two days were filled with driving up the east coast.  We stayed in Kodac, Tennesee overnight before our second day of driving.  Much of the team also experienced our first "Steak & Shake" meal.  This is more of an inside joke with the team, but on a scale of Nom, I'll give it a Nom Nom Nom.

And now we're back at the Point.  I'm in the process of unpacking, and soon to be packing up everything, as our departure from NCCC occurs next Friday.  A lot to blog about I'm sure, so I'll do my best to get on here when I can.  But there's a chance I may not be able to until I'm back in Boston on Friday.  We'll see how it goes.

Final Day at Rebuilding Together

As incredible as my experiences have been this year, one thing that's always hard is wrapping up the end of a project. After around two months of working with the same community and really getting into the routine of things, it comes time to leave, and it's at that point, especially, when you realize the impact you've had all round.

Much of this week was a continuation of the previous week. A couple of team members working in the warehouse, a couple in the Salvage Store, three out on a site painting a house, and Chris and I as runners. As runners, Chris and I take an RT vehicle out and run supplies to the various work sites throughout the day. It involves a lot of driving, lots of phone calls, trips to Loews to purchase supplies, and of course, in turn, the occasional trip to the gas station. It's a job I've enjoyed the most with this project, and Chris and I have been placed here for the past two weeks.

Today was the average running day for us, except that it was our final day with the project. After hearing from staff of their appreciation for us and how much we've contributed, it makes you realize that you aren't permanently with the project. That's where it gets difficult. After 6 weeks with RT, it feels as though we are part of the staff; the goodbyes, however, bring us back into perspective. It feels as though until today, we're in the mindset of expecting to show up to work on Monday, load up our vehicles, drive the I-10, and begin another week of literally rebuilding together.

No, that isn't the case. But most importantly, it does allow me to see how I've made an impact, and what more I can do after this journey. Rebuilding Together, like every other non-profit organization we've worked with, will always be there, because the community needs it to be there, and because I need it to be there. Today may have been our last day of the last project of this year, but nothing it preventing it ever from being our final.

Day of Service New Orleans

We volunteered with an organization known as The Porch last Saturday. The cultural center acts as a resource and activity area for kids that live in the area, and its right here in the Marigny. Our own Team member DK organized the event, which entailed four NCCC teams that currently reside in New Orleans coming together to beautify a community garden here in addition to cleaning up trash in the neighborhood.

It was nice to work with the kids. They were more than eager to help with weeding and picking up trash. It was even more motivation for us, knowing that these kids would be coming back here every day and would have a clean area to have fun in.

While clearing up the trash in the neighborhood, we found what used to be a basketball court. It's crazy taking a look at it now and seeing what has built up and grown since the floods. It's specific things like this that put into perspective how much you can achieve by tackling things one at a time. Obviously, our objective for the day wasn't to clear out this area; but knowing what we had done for the community garden that day, in just a few hours, just proves that the same can be done for this former basketball court (picture below). Perhaps that can be a project for us in the future; Most importantly, though, hopefully anyone who has time would be able to volunteer for the project.

Anyway, a solid and successful Day of Service. This was our final one, as there is a Day of Service for each round, and DK did a great job as our Project Outreach Liaison and put a lot of work into coordinating our involvement with other teams and the sponsors.

Halloween

It may very well be the biggest holiday you can experience here in the Big Easy. This past week has been full of activities and celebration in the name of chocolate and horror.

Krew of Boo is an annual event that occurs here, one week before Halloween. Companies, organizations, and even families and friends themselves are able to purchase a space in the parade for a float. They dress up, make their float as epic as can be, and throw out beads and candy to those who go to the parade. We went last Saturday to experience the fun, meeting up with some Ravens and watching the parade right outside of the French Market. I got a good amount of beads, but nowhere near everyone else. It helps to have a bit more height on you when you're reaching up to catch beads.

Anyway, awesome times. That weekend concluded with a Pumpkin Jack-O-Lantern get-together that a fellow NCCC team had at their house. We carved pumpkins, ate entirely too much, played a holiday version of pin-the-tail (stab-the-vampire-with-a-stake) that we all failed at, and finally a childhood favorite of mine, bobbing for apples. An excess amount of water up my nose reminded me why its been a favorite of mine I easily forgot, but the joy in knowing that we would all dive in head first to the game made it worth it.

Then, of course, the big night itself, happened last night (and really the night before as well, here in NOLA). Badger 6 costumed up and headed for the Quarter. I've never been during Mardi Gras, but it was unlike anything I've ever seen. For a good amount of time, a solid chunk of us just remained on Frenchmen Street in one spot we could call our own. You could maneuver the area if you wanted, but it seemed safer and more fun just to hang out and watch the costumes parade by.

Good times for Badger 6, as always, and great times enjoying Halloween in New Orleans. It'll be hard for future Halloweens to match up I'm sure. I'll have to bring the NOLA spirit out wherever I am at this time next year.

Miss Sarah

Last week Chloe, Chris, Eileen, Drew, and I worked on a house around mid-city. It was a productive week and it was wonderful to meet the homeowner, Sarah, and learn about her experience during the floods after Katrina...

She and her husband had remained in New Orleans at their home. As you know, after Katrina hit, the levees broke the following day and the flooding began, quickly rising. Miss Sarah and her husband made it to the roof of their house where they waited three days for rescue. While they had boats moving through the flood to rescue others, disability prevented her and her husband from easily being able to make it out, and a helicopter ended up picking them up. Like many other people, they were brought to the Super Dome, which became the shelter for people when there was nowhere else safe to go. Even the Super Dome wasn't safe enough, but it was the safest place for the time.

Because of the chaos of getting people there, she lost her husband in the crowd for a good amount of time, something she was worried about happening in the process of getting there. She explained to us how scary it was for her not knowing where it was for such a long period of time, and how relieving it was to finally find him and know that he was alright. I can only imagine what that feels like, having the one person you need the most during a crisis missing. That seems to all most people had... each other.

In the end, it's what got them through. Miss Sarah described that as the worst experience of her life, and she "could never wish that upon anyone."

Her husband passed away a couple of years later. Since then, Miss Sarah as remained at her home on her own, which we are in the process of rebuilding and finishing up. Four years later, her house is finally looking back to normal, as are the other houses in her neighborhood. The disaster affected Miss Sarah and everyone forever, but she'll be darned if it takes away her home and community. She and everyone are much too strong for that, and you can't take that away from anyone... each other.

Miss Lisa

Back in St. Bernard during first round, many of us led volunteers in rebuilding houses. A big part of that project was getting to know the homeowners and hearing their story and watching the the progress of their houses. Well, this past week, we were able to visit Miss Lisa's house, the house that Chris had worked on earlier this year.

Miss Lisa and Chris had been in touch since arriving in New Orleans, and she invited the team over for some homemade jumbalaya. It was a surreal experience, walking into the home that last we saw it was in the final stages of mudding. The house was fully rebuilt and being lived in. The TV was on, her grandson was running around intermittently watching cartoons and playing with action figures around the new couch, and dinner was simmering in the fully functional kitchen. This was no longer just a house; it was a home.

As great as it was for us to be able to join Chris in meeting her homeowner and see the house fully rebuilt, we could tell it was that much more meaningful for Chris, having been the primary site supervisor during the rebuilding process, and getting to see the final product and homeowner back where she began. It was a great night, the food was delicious, and we got to hear all about Miss Lisa's life in the New Orleans area. I look forward to meeting up with my homeowner hopefully at some point in the next couple of weeks.

Team Leader Jay

So some news I've needed to catch up with. Good news... no, GREAT news: I have been offered a job as a Team Leader for AmeriCorps NCCC next year! Yes, I'm in it for another year, and I'll get some Corps members of my own to introduce and guide in the traveling service world. I couldn't be more excited. I'll be at the Point starting in January for another year, where training will begin for a month, with the arrival of Class XVI of Corps Members starting their month-long training, and so on and so forth... I know the drill, as do you now.

But that's January, and this is now, and a lot has been happening. Currently, our project here in New Orleans is awesome, we love our housing, and the temperature recently went down a bit (a welcome change for me).

Also, very exciting... the job hunt/life after AmeriCorps front has been in full gear, and applications, interviews, and/or job offers have been in the works for the all members of Badger 6! More on that soon, once we hear more!

I've finally uploaded pictures from this round. Strangely, this is the most consistent internet accessibility we've had all year, and I've yet to upload anything from the round. I have my finicky browser to thank for that, but I've managed to figure things out and spent a solid amount of time uploading them all. Check out the right for pictures from this round. Also included is an album of photos of Badger 6 team members, in our formals. You'll notice we had a lot of fun with these.

That's about it for now. We're done in exactly a month. Where did the year go? Oh well, let's just enjoy some beat poetry dedicated to our TL, courtesy of our very own beautiful and talented Seven Bloom. Ladies and Gents, Mama Duck 2010:

Unforgettable Potato Leak Soup

Sure, we've been able to have home-cooked meals this round. But it really does taste so much better when someone else has cooked for you.

A couple of days ago some of the RT staff invited our team over for dinner. Not everyone could make it, but for those of who were able to, it was the best potato leak soup we'd had in a long time. Very gracious of them, of course, and it was nice to sit around a table to chat and catch up with them outside of work. But one of the most enjoyable parts of the night was conveying the NCCC experience, which entailed endless stories of our team dating back to the beginning of the year. It felt like a 10-year reunion dinner, except that we were all still there and only months have passed. We were finishing stories for each other, re-living them there at the table, laughing hysterically over things that are evidently never going to fade. At the end of the dinner I couldn't tell whether we entertained our hosts or scared them. One thing was for sure, though; they got a good look at our experience this year, and we left realizing that in just over four weeks, we'll be wrapping up this crazy chapter in our lives that will be truly unforgettable.

Badgers Just Wanna Have Fun

I live on the Real World. That silly (yet admittedly once addicting) reality show featuring strangers who live together, work together, and have their lives taped. But take away the cameras, and add some meaningful service to the equation, and you've got AmeriCorps NCCC, Badger 6 in New Orleans. And not to forget the fact that in reality, we're anything but strangers to one another. We're a family, and we'd love to welcome you to our humble abode, but you're probably far away and we don't have any money to send you here. :-)

The weekend is coming to a close, and the positively overwhelming amount of Sunday night carb-loading has commenced, and we're on our way to recovery. Two days off has left us a bit confused and its been something to adjust to, having had such a busy two weeks thus far. Not that we're complaining... A good amount of the weekend was spent relaxing, visiting the French Quarter, and exploring Marigny, the neighborhood we live in. The rest of it involved the team chilling out here at our house, either sleeping, reading, eating (always), applying for jobs (we're getting to the end!), or driving each other crazy (on various good and bad levels).

It's pure entertainment at times, because not only have we really gotten to understand and predict habits and behaviors of each member of the team, but the energy in the house is contagious. This typically happens right before dinner, and I only wish there was a way to videotape these Badger 6 moments that are filled with laughing fits.

Anyway, I already know that I'll be sad to leave this project in November. I'm simply having too much fun.

Warehouse, Salvage, and Sweat

The salvage yard, located conveniently close to our housing.

I just wrung out my uniform. No, not from the rain. I just finished my third day here in the Warehouse, completing various tasks, moving large items, and transporting what seems like endless amounts of lumber. It's a high-paced environment, and with House Captains (equivalent to Site Supervisors at our first round project) in and out, the loading and unloading of supplies becomes our main focus for the moment during various part of the day. It's very similar to a boxing match, where the boxer takes his break in the corner and several people nourish him or her and wipes their face with a towel. Get the job done, and get 'em back out there!

It's been just two of us, Harper and I, at the warehouse this week, and the rest of the team is out working on finishing a house like we were last week. It really helps to get to know how everything works and where all of the supplies go. Getting to know the warehouse has given me a new appreciation for the rebuilding process. For one thing, I know that we wouldn't be able to work on these houses so quickly without the warehouse and its efficiency. Furthermore, I know that next time I'm out at a house working, I'll do my best to keep things clean as possible, to cause as little headache as possible when it comes to the boxing break.

Today, I was in the Salvage yard. It's located right outside of the warehouse, also known as our backyard. It's quite a workout, moving lumber in 80 degree weather with a relatively high humidity... in October. I'm beyond excited to be in this area for the second time this year, but I can't imagine having been down here during second and third rounds, at the peak of the summer. I would have caused a flood in the warehouse.

Anyway, long day, but satisfyingly productive. Time for dinner; Chloe's making a huge pan of baked ziti. I can barely contain myself. Time to indulge, bye.

OctoberBuild

As I mentioned earlier, this past Saturday was the OctoberBuild, an annual event put together by Rebuilding Together. Lots of volunteers came to rebuild homes across New Orleans.

Chris, DK, and I worked alongside about 20 or so volunteers on Delachaise St. at a home that had been damaged by the flood four years ago. Like most other houses I've mentioned and shown pictures of from my first round in St. Bernard, this home is still unoccupied. I had worked on the house the previous day removing trash and overgrowth all around the house. The build-up of trash increases even further when you account for the amount of residents from other neighborhoods who dispose of their own trash here.


This picture was taken the day before the arrival of the volunteers. You can see the house on the left. We spent a good amount of the day cleaning all of this up so that on Saturday we could focus on painting the house with the volunteers. It really is just a little bit at a time when it comes to this stuff, but its the only way to do it. You do see progress, and feels better when you know there's so much underneath to be salvaged. The picture below is the house after the build on Saturday.


One house at a time. We're gettin' there.

Boots and Ladders

Check us out: Badger 6, receiving our Orientation for Rebuilding Together (in the Warehouse). This was the start of our first week.

Our work day begins at 7:30am where we meet at the warehouse next to our house. We load up vehicles and then head out to respective sites. It seems we'll be varying it up each week with different jobs, which I'm looking forward to. A couple members of the team worked in the warehouse for the week. A couple worked in the salvage yard behind the warehouse, and the rest of us worked on a house a couple blocks away painting the exterior of the house and the top floor interior.


It was just us with the Rebuilding Together House Captain. Not working with volunteers was something new; We got right to work, and a majority of it was outside, which was nice. The weather was warm this week, in about the 70's and 80's at various times. We enjoyed ourselves.


I may have mentioned this before, but it's always nice to see pedestrians stroll and mention the house. Something I'm not used to is the slower-paced pedestrian culture here. Everyone says hello, and takes the time to enjoy what's going on around them. I've grown accustomed to the fast-paced atmosphere of Boston, where everyone is always in a rush and seems to be on a mission. Furthermore, the gratitude that is expressed by those in the neighborhood walking by who notice us working always reminds me why I'm here. There's always so much to be done. I do it because I can.

This week ended on Saturday with Octoberbuild, a big day for volunteers and organizations who come in and contribute a major effort in finishing these houses. Three of us worked at a house we'd spent cleaning the day before; It involved a lot of high ladders, which was a slight bit nerve-wracking, but I tackled by height phobia a bit. Just don't look down, and keep working. It seems I can go a little bit higher each time. . . Next week I'll try the 4 foot-ladder ;)

Something also worth mentioning: One of the volunteers on Saturday recognized us! From first round when we were in St Bernard! Go figure... Back when we had volunteered at the Los Islenos festival, he had also be working there. He said he recognized the "A" immediately. Small world! He seems very interested in the NCCC program, so its nice we were able to cross paths again to give him the scoop on our whole year since he saw us back in March.

That's it for now. We're exhausted and taking it easy on this day free, so energy is a full capacity for a another week with RT.

The Greenhouse

I'm sitting at our exceptionally large living room table, listening to jazz on the provided house MP3 speakers, as three others from the team cook dinner, two others are on the front porch, and the other two are taking showers. (Yes, separately... We have two bathrooms)

After a long but productive day of work and PT, I've decided that its blog-time. Have a gander at where we're living:

Behold, the Greenhouse. Only in New Orleans (and perhaps others), where housing color-coding laws don't exist will you see an NCCC team living in something like this. We moved in this past Saturday, and the 9 of us have made ourselves home already, gearing up for six weeks of residing together.


In theory, housing of our size with two bedrooms for 8 people might not sound like a picnic. But it's luxury for Badger 6, and we're loving it so far. We've got a great porch to relax at or escape to. We're about a 10-minute walk to the French Quarter, and the bywater is about 10 minutes the other way. The warehouse for Rebuilding Together is next door to us. And we've got air conditioning, so sometimes its debatable whether or not visiting any of these places is necessary.

But in all seriousness, we've got it made this round. This seems to be an organization that's very serious about what they do, and we've all felt uber productive this week joining their crew. I think we'll be accomplishing a lot this round, but you know us... Badger 6 usually does that anyway.

Orientation

Up and running here at Rebuilding Together. We've moved into our convenient and comfortable lime green house with air conditioning and wi-fi, and we've experienced a couple of days of work.

Monday was our Orientation with Rebuilding Together. It was pretty extensive; we learned a lot about the history the organization, the staff, about the architecture of the houses in New Orleans, as well as New Orleans in general. We learned that we'd be working in various neighborhoods, led by an AmeriCorps Direct employee who works at the organization.

The past few days were enjoyable, and I'll blog on that a bit more when I have a moment. But I'm off for work right now. We're meeting at the warehouse (located next door) at 7:30 to load up the vehicles and head over to our house to finish painting. Ta ta for now.

City of Jazz

Look at Chris and Chloe. They're so excited. Why?

Because this is right before we broke out the trumpets to celebrate the news! We're off to New Orleans for our fourth and final round in AmeriCorps NCCC! It’s been a full circle of sorts; we started out our NCCC experience in St. Bernard, LA, about 45 minutes away from the city. We’ve learned that we’ll now be residing in the city itself in what is known as the “Green House”, simply because it is painted bright green. Our housing also happens to be located above the main offices of our project, which happens to be…. (drumroll)

….Rebuilding Together! This non-profit, similar to our project first round, has a mission to rebuild homes, with an emphasis on elderly and disabled homeowners. This time, we’ll be living and working with the New Orleans community, rebuilding various houses. It seems we’ll be doing some exterior work on houses this time around as well.

Furthermore, it seems that Badger 6 will be taking a break from leading volunteers for our final round, as this project focuses more on us just working. It’s welcome change. As leading volunteers has in a way become “a forte of Badger 6” as Chris put it the other day (we’ve done it every round, if you include our couple of volunteer days with Parks and People during Round 2), we are excited to be able to focus on getting things done ourselves. Having the opportunity to teach and manage volunteers for so long has been incredibly fulfilling, but there’s definitely something to be said about being able to just get to work and know that the job will get done efficiently since we’re all already trained as N-Trips.

We move in tomorrow to our house... Yes, all 9 of us will be living together alone in one house for the first time. No other volunteers, or NCCC teams, just Badger 6, in one big, lime-green house, in New Orleans, a 10-minute walk from the French Quarter. I also hear there is air-conditioning and wi-fi, so hey, I’m sold and spoiled, which works for me.

Final Transition

This week is marking our last transition in between projects. All of the Corps, like other transitions, comes together to live back at the village and we participate in meetings, give presentations, and prepare for the next project, which in this case is our final project.

Badger 1 organized this transition’s community meeting. Awhile back, during first transition, Badger 6 put on a pretty stellar community meeting involving a great performance of our theme song “Don’t Stop Us Now”, so I feel as though Badger 1 had a lot to live up to. Yet, they did. They went above and beyond, and put on one helluva meeting that was entertaining and creative, involving a recap of Summer of Service, a primal reading of the AmeriCorps pledge, and an epic skit by Tana and Austin, two talented Badger 1 members who received a standing ovation. The team asked me to emcee their team member introductions as they entered the stage, which was exciting. I hope I did them justice.

Awards were given out at the end of the meeting. I received Corps Member of the Round for the Badger Unit. Wooo! Rar! And then the meeting came to end and we began a campus-wide game of “Assassins” that entailed pulling another Corps member’s name out of a bag and finding and tagging them with a clothespin for at least 30 seconds without them knowing. The results of this game would be tallied during Amerilympics later in the week. I didn’t last long, as I lost the game before I even got back to the village after the meeting. I’ll have to be more on my game next time.

The rest of the week was a lot of meetings and hanging out with the rest of Corps, which included a unit meeting with all of the Badgers that included an extension of the previous day's games. There was a pie-eating contest of sorts, except the objective really involved finding all of the swedish fish hidden inside. I suppose only the pictures can do justice.
It was nice seeing everyone, because our teams haven't been together since May. Everybody looks different. You can tell, not just physically, that people have really grown and been through a lot in the past 8 months, even more than they have during longer periods of time in their lives. We’ve reached the final stretch, a scary thought that I’ll put on the back burner for now. Wonder what’s next?

Amerilympics!

I walked back to my house as the sun was setting, covered in mustard, pudding, and BBQ sauce. I walked in the door to greet my housemates, all of whom were graffitied with similar and various other condiments. I contemplated what just happened, what we just did, and how the day had begun on much different note, on a much dryer note.

This morning started like any other morning during a transition. We got up early to get ready, clean our house, make breakfast, and head over to B15 (Building 15, the main offices and conference rooms.) We had a few meetings here and there, in addition to a roundtable on our last project in our clean black and white formals. We all had a few errands to run, and some specialty role tasks we needed to complete. Nothing too out of the ordinary.

4PM rolled around. Let the games BEGIN. Today marked the first annual Amerilympics! It was a campus-wide competition among all three units: the Badgers, the Wolves, and the Ravens, in addition to Team Green (the TLs and staff). The games were held mainly in the South Field of the village. We all had respective colored T-shirts for each unit, and we played everything from Everyone’s It Tag, Tug of War, Kickball, to Ultimate Frisbee, Tape Tag, Capture the Flag, and the final Relay. The games were a blast. If you didn’t play, you rooted your team on, and much of the day was tournament style games.

Some events were a bit more out of the ordinary than others. One included finding puzzle pieces in kids’ pool filled with pudding and other unknown substances, which ultimately turned into a wrestling match for many of the Corps members, especially among our Badger 1 friends. Another game of Capture the Flag essentially encompassed the entire village, which made things tiring and nearly impossible to find the “flags”. It was fun nonetheless. A game of Human Battleship commenced, which entailed water guns and the use of condiments to mix things up a bit. For many it was funny, to others it wasn’t. For everyone, it was messy. The games ended with a relay at the end which included running charades, 5-person legged race, a slip and slide, and a pushing of a 15-passenger van over the finish line.

So the results? Not so much in our favor. The Badgers came in fourth out of four, but I think it’s fair to say we had the most fun out of all of the team, and were by far the messiest. So what if we didn’t make it on the board? We had our pudding-filled kiddie-pool that provided endless amounts of laughs even in between events.

The 4-hour event came to a close, the award ceremony commenced, and the Wolves were given their Golden Goose Award. I hear that the main organizer of the events received an e-mail from the Denver NCC Campus about an interest in starting the games there. I hope, for their sake, they have sufficient laundry facilities.

New York Times Article

The full-round fire composite team here at Perry Point was featured in the New York Times! For the entirety of the third round, this team was out on the trails and headed up to Maine for a bit for a burn, and a story was done on their experience. Head to the following link to check out the article: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/07/us/07land.html?_r=2

In other news: Team Swass... I believe that's what our team name came to become by the end of the week of firefighting. More pictures from last week!

Burn Baby Burn

Now onto this past week, which was absolutely a blast. The six SOS firefighters all teamed up this past week with our amazing composite team leader Liz on a project in Southern Virginia around Suffolk. Expecting to be camping outside for a week, we were surprised to find out we'd have the option of staying in the crew house of the Wildlife headquarters.

The week was incredible, not only because of a stellar team, but because of everything we did while there. There was a chance we'd be heading up to Maine halfway through the week to do a prescribed burn. However, weather wasn't in our favor. Fortunately enough, though, we were able to have a prescribed burn right there, which was incredible. It is something we had been hoping for all year, and I'm so glad I was able to have that opportunity.


Much of the week we worked on various projects, like rebuilding boardwalks at the Great Dismal Swamp and in Virginia Beach and clearing trails. But our burn on Wednesday was definitely the highlight, working on 4 acres and getting the true wildland firefighter experience. All of us have never sweat like that in our lives. We were completely, and I mean literally, soaked through all of our layers, through to our fire uniform. It was hot hot hot, but I suppose that is what to expect when you're walking through fire.


The house we stayed at was convenient and comfortable. I actually had my own room and large bed, something I haven't experienced in a long time; it almost felt lonely, but only almost. We cooked and ate together at the end of the day, and there was even a TV, which took a few moments to get the hang of. Of course, there were several occasions where we'd turn it on, zone out, or start watching the ever-so-uplifting news, causing us to turn it off and find something else to do. It's a strange experience after being on the go all year, and now having access to television. We realized we weren't missing out on anything.

Anyway, incredible week. I got some amazing experience, was able to clear up some brush and slash and create a safer environment for the trees, and I'm going to miss it. Who knows, maybe they'll deploy us again in the final two months. In any case, I'm glad I was able to have been able to do it at least once.

Pictures are included, but I plan to blog a bit more on this. My digital camera filled up, so I ended up having to purchase a disposable to catch photos from the actual burn. Keep a look out for that coming soon!