Alright I promised. Hello there again! Sorry it’s been so long. I feel generally caught up with most of you to a point where I want to be, so good job staying in touch.
So. I find myself in the unfortunate-looking beach town of Freeport, Texas, where I will be residing for the next nine weeks. My home is now an entire Boys and Girls Club building, where from the hours of 7:30am to 6pm I have to make believe I did not, in fact, sleep next to that floor-to-ceiling shelf of Legos in the corner of the little people playroom. My bedroom is wherever I decide to set up my cot for the night, and is also the gymnasium. If I want. I can actually sleep wherever the heck I want in the building because guess what, I literally live at work. I’ll keep you posted about how things are going on the job, but let me tell you I’m pretty sure I’ll be more stoked to talk about the BEACH that’s a FIVE MINUTE DRIVE FROM HERE! Maybe it’s the summer daze laze, maybe it’s the fourth round (aka fourth quarter, fourth year, etc) instinct in knowing that I’ve finished all my extra AmeriCorps stuff, maybe it’s the FRICKEN BEACH ITSELF, but I’m really feeling the pull of relaxation this round. So...get excited.
Want to know how I got from filing taxes in north Texas to here? What the heck I’ve been up to the last two months? Well sure I’d love to inform you! In the last few weeks of Round Two in Texas, our team was given a list of projects that were coming up for Round Three. Unlike the other three rounds, third round on the Denver campus is a shuffle round, so we individual Corps Members get to choose which project we specifically want and then get put on a team of new Corps Members from our unit who wanted the project too. It’s about the most insightful concept I’ve seen AmeriCorps NCCC throw at me yet. Regardless of your personal opinions of the people you get put on a team with, you’re at least guaranteed a group of twelve people who actually WANT to be where you are, a notion that I’ve come to appreciate the implications of more and more when it comes to group dynamics. Anyway, two of the five projects offered for Round Three were in New Orleans, and I knew with absolute certainty that I wanted one of those. My gravitation toward Nola had continued to grow throughout Round Two and I hoped that getting back to that tragic old gal of a city for Round Three would head me in the right direction for getting a job there when this is over. (Spoiler alert: I was right.)
So I left Burkburnett, Texas knowing that, 1: Next round I’d be off to New Orleans again to work for the New Orleans Are Habitat for Humanity...again, and 2: I would greatly appreciate it if I never had to live in north Texas again.
Transition week happened, that highly-intense, overly dramatic stretch of days where you suddenly find yourself passive-aggressively arguing with friends from other teams that your team is the best, or if not the best then at least better than theirs; where you sit through agonizingly long meetings that only with a good book of Sudokus in your hand can you see to the end; where you probably drink a lit-tle more than usual but who cares, you’re rekindling with friends from other teams; etc., etc., etc. So that standard rite of passage happened. Then it was back to beautiful Nawlins with my fresh new team and fresh new team leader, Sarah!
For your sake I’ll just give an overview of the eight-week spike back in New Orleans, even though the entire experience deserves its own blog:
1. As opposed to Round One, where all 12 of us stayed together on one work site the entire time, this round we split up every week to a different work site almost each time.
2. Also as opposed to Round One, we lived in an actual Habitat for Humanity house. (Woohoo!) Yes, twelve people, one bathroom. But whatever we liked it.
3. Our house was wayyyyyyyyyyy...out in St. Bernard Parish, which led to a ridiculous commute but inevitably a new perspective to New Orleans, since the community we lived in was not the community we were speciifically serving.
4. After four weeks of work, violence hit an all-time high in New Orleans and AmeriCorps NCCC headquarters shut down our projects for a week, deeming our work sites too unsafe to work at. An entire week. With far less than a day’s notice we had to pack up our belongings and move out of the Habitat house (because guess what, there would no longer be a Habitat project if “they don’t shape up” and move around our work sites to safer locations) to a communal camp with all the other NCCC teams down there at the time. The move equated to ten minutes away from our original house. Ten minutes. Seriously, politics. Anyway it was sort of fun because not only were we reunited with some other Denver teams, we also got to make friends with Corps Members from other campuses in Maryland and Mississippi. So despite the frustration of feeling as though we were letting down our sponsor, it ended up being an okay deal. When it came time for a team vote on whether or not we should move back to the house, the proximity to downtown swayed our votes to actually stay put right there at good ol’ Camp Hope. (RIP...we just heard it shut down last week.)
5. BUT no less than a day after we returned to work with Habitat (where nothing had actually changed at all...surprising...), my purse got stolen off a work site. I wrote an email to a friend about it last week, and I know this seems lazy but it was the first time I actually put it into typed words and I’m just going to paste the email here. It explains my attitude the best:
A huge first happened to me a month ago...my purse got stolen. Right off my worksite. The very same kids whose neighborhood I'm trying to improve were bored and decided to make their day more interesting by seeing if they could sneak under a house that had...no exaggeration...40 volunteers busily going about their business. It was nuts! The biggest blow was my first child, that big black camera that I LOVE and bring everywhere to document what my life in AmeriCorps is like. I was so worked up about losing that that it didn't occur to me till 30 minutes later that my iPod touch was in there too. Ugh. Ironic that literally the two nicest things I own are the things I use most frequently and thus keep in my purse. Damn. I also had my cashless wallet in there so not only did the kids wind up empty-handed in that department, but they opened up a massive process of replacing my stolen cards and IDs. It's the weirdest feeling to walk around with nothing proving that you are who you say you are. And they didn't care that I still kept my first bus pass from Sweden in there. Or my Coe ID. Or memorabilia from other places I've been. Ugh it was just shitty. It definitely challenged my worldview, but I was pleased when I discovered that even in such a vulnerable position my heart still went out to those kids. They couldn't have been any older than 12...not young enough to be excused for their actions but not old enough to be labeled as bad apples. They're just kids. They're bored. And their community has taught them that regardless of what they WANT to do with their lives, they're just going to end up like the other Ninth Warders and never leave and eventually make a living in the streets just like all the other generations before them. So why not get some practice with breaking the rules? They have nothing better to do anyway. After school programs are laughably nonexistent in New Orleans, their probably single parent (most likely mother) has to work her ass off just to make ends meet, and the older boys who inevitably become their idols are doing far worse than purse stealing. So even though I'm obviously upset to some extent at these three boys, I'm more passionately emotional about how failed they've been by their community.
6. Coincidently, this experience also helped solidify my need to spend another year in New Orleans. (For revenge, ha ha!...just kidding) It’s such a tragic city, and I absolutely love it for that exact reason. I began the interview process to work with a different AmeriCorps branch called State and National while I was down there...one position I have in mind is with the same Habitat affiliate I’ve been working with throughout AmeriCorps. It’s nice that they already know me and are familiar with my capabilities, ya dee ya dee yada. There are other opportunities for State and National in New Orleans that I’m looking into also. But consider this my public service announcement that I’m moving to New Orleans for a year, woohoo!
7. I went to Jazzfest while I was there, which is arguably the second biggest event the city puts on after Mardi Gras, and saw Drake, Simon and Garfunkel, and a bunch of local New Orleans bands for an entire day! With Jayson Schmelzer as a special guest! What a blast!
8. And finally I really really disgustingly fell in love with my shuffle team. They gave me a lot to live up to for this fourth and final round with the original Sun Three.
And...now I’m here. In the Gulf of Mexico. I’m already sunburned from laying out on the beach for too long today. It’s going to be a great round.
More later!
kt
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Thursday, May 20, 2010
SLACKER
Okay. So...I realize I have A LOT to catch readers up on. Sorry. I'm not going to post quite yet, but this is a disclaimer that there WILL BE POSTS TO COME SHORTLY!!!! Okay talk to you soon :)
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Howdy partners!
I’ve lived in good ol’ Burkburnett, Texas for…exactly 6 weeks today. (Isn’t it weird that every time I’ve written any of these Texas town names that I’m dealing with here, I’ve had the uncontrollable urge to precede it with “good ol’”? It’s a necessary component to all of their names. Sorry, State of Texas, for being so condescending but consider it a term of endearment.) SIX WEEKS! And all of it has been a mystery as far as you’re concerned. Well no more! Today is the day I reveal the truth about my fast-paced, fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants life for that last month and a half. (Excellent. I believe I have now adequately set you up for disappointment due to the basic lack of excitement that Texas has brought me :))
As many of you know, my project here is focused on filing taxes for low-income families. So after two weeks of being back in the classroom (which was awesome! I miss school!) all thirteen of us earned a VITA certification (Volunteer Income Tax Assistance) that qualified us to do taxes at the Advanced Level. It sounds slightly cooler than it is. I mean, yes it’s great to have a better grasp on this immortal and eternal entity in the lives of all Americans that is taxes, but believe me anyone could get this certification. You could do it. Actually you should go get it right now so struggling families will no longer feel that the only way to get their taxes done is by PAYING some refund-robbin’ root-tootin’ sonofagun big time corporation to do so. Go ahead, get a move on. I’ll wait. I have all the time in the world because there’s not a darn thing to do around here. Luckily our work days are long, varying between either nine straight hours of taxes or a half day of going door-to-door and a half day of tax prep, because otherwise I’d drive myself crazy. You can only dive into so many books, can only watch so many TV shows, can only blog so much (haha :)) before going cross-eyed. So yes the longer days have been nice. We’ve actually had a ton of people from the community step forward and sponsor fun activities for us too, so that’s been keeping me at least mildly entertained. I’ll put up pictures (probably), but we’ve been provided everything from basketball tickets at the local college, to box seats at a D3 hockey game, to a tour of Sheppard Air Force Base (a pivotal U.S. base, actually), to a “Day on the Ranch” filled with horseback riding, paddle boating, canoeing, longhorn appreciating, and skeet shooting!, to a sponsored day trip to Fort Worth to see the legendary Billy Bob’s Honky Tonk, etc. etc. etc. We’ve gotten countless handouts in the forms of food, resources, even news coverage. All in all we’ve had an outstanding amount of hospitality thrown our way here; so much in fact that we haven’t really had many days off at all. So I’ve seen north Texas. A lot. And a lot of it. And on top of its fair share of noteworthy characteristics, it has also served as another place to mark off my list of future locales. So thanks for that, north Texas.
This work is definitely meaningful, so don’t confuse my natural boredom toward where I’m livinig with complacency. I have had some crazy interactions here.
One of my favorite “kinds” of families are the ones that were clearly working day in and day out to get themselves back up on their feet. The kinds of families that pull themselves up by their bootstraps even when they’re going without boots. The kinds who come in and give you six W-2’s and when you look back at them to express your amazement it is only then when you see the bags under their red eyes for what they’re worth. The kinds who are covered in tattoos that are turning blue with age, one of which is a tear drop underneath his left eye, who provide you with identification cards clearly stating that they are not to leave the state of Texas, and who despite their blatantly obviously haggard pasts have still managed to hold three honest jobs, stay married for ten years, and raised three heartbreakingly delightful children, all under the age of thirty. The kinds who end up getting the smallest refund you’ve seen all day but who jump for joy at the sound of it. The work I’m doing here obviously doesn’t have the benefit of considering itself to be as glamorous as, say, building a house in New Orleans or working on a trail in Boulder, but the importance of it shouldn’t escape a critic. I get to help people in need every single day, and with each new client I get a new sense of the way our system both assists these families in some ways while simultaneously keeps them right there where it likes them. Most of them will never get out of their income bracket, and most of them are not to blame for that truth. It’s just a byproduct of our society; if you don’t invest in education you miss out on an investment toward your future. Okay, I get that, but what about these people who couldn’t afford good education in a million years, America?? The people who weighed the cost of dropping out of 7th grade against losing their alcoholic dad’s farm, their livelihood?? This project has given me an up-close and personal look at the byproducts of our polarized culture, and no degree of boredom with Texas could cloud that vision.
So anywho, I know where I’m headed to next! That’s right, back to Nola to work with Habitat for Humanity again!!! It was my first pick for projects and I’m ecstatic. We shuffle up next round so all of the five Sun Unit teams are mixing around and melding into five new teams. By the sounds of it my new family will be just as baller as my current one, so it’s going to be a blast.
Keep in touch with me! Hope you’re doing well!
kt
As many of you know, my project here is focused on filing taxes for low-income families. So after two weeks of being back in the classroom (which was awesome! I miss school!) all thirteen of us earned a VITA certification (Volunteer Income Tax Assistance) that qualified us to do taxes at the Advanced Level. It sounds slightly cooler than it is. I mean, yes it’s great to have a better grasp on this immortal and eternal entity in the lives of all Americans that is taxes, but believe me anyone could get this certification. You could do it. Actually you should go get it right now so struggling families will no longer feel that the only way to get their taxes done is by PAYING some refund-robbin’ root-tootin’ sonofagun big time corporation to do so. Go ahead, get a move on. I’ll wait. I have all the time in the world because there’s not a darn thing to do around here. Luckily our work days are long, varying between either nine straight hours of taxes or a half day of going door-to-door and a half day of tax prep, because otherwise I’d drive myself crazy. You can only dive into so many books, can only watch so many TV shows, can only blog so much (haha :)) before going cross-eyed. So yes the longer days have been nice. We’ve actually had a ton of people from the community step forward and sponsor fun activities for us too, so that’s been keeping me at least mildly entertained. I’ll put up pictures (probably), but we’ve been provided everything from basketball tickets at the local college, to box seats at a D3 hockey game, to a tour of Sheppard Air Force Base (a pivotal U.S. base, actually), to a “Day on the Ranch” filled with horseback riding, paddle boating, canoeing, longhorn appreciating, and skeet shooting!, to a sponsored day trip to Fort Worth to see the legendary Billy Bob’s Honky Tonk, etc. etc. etc. We’ve gotten countless handouts in the forms of food, resources, even news coverage. All in all we’ve had an outstanding amount of hospitality thrown our way here; so much in fact that we haven’t really had many days off at all. So I’ve seen north Texas. A lot. And a lot of it. And on top of its fair share of noteworthy characteristics, it has also served as another place to mark off my list of future locales. So thanks for that, north Texas.
This work is definitely meaningful, so don’t confuse my natural boredom toward where I’m livinig with complacency. I have had some crazy interactions here.
One of my favorite “kinds” of families are the ones that were clearly working day in and day out to get themselves back up on their feet. The kinds of families that pull themselves up by their bootstraps even when they’re going without boots. The kinds who come in and give you six W-2’s and when you look back at them to express your amazement it is only then when you see the bags under their red eyes for what they’re worth. The kinds who are covered in tattoos that are turning blue with age, one of which is a tear drop underneath his left eye, who provide you with identification cards clearly stating that they are not to leave the state of Texas, and who despite their blatantly obviously haggard pasts have still managed to hold three honest jobs, stay married for ten years, and raised three heartbreakingly delightful children, all under the age of thirty. The kinds who end up getting the smallest refund you’ve seen all day but who jump for joy at the sound of it. The work I’m doing here obviously doesn’t have the benefit of considering itself to be as glamorous as, say, building a house in New Orleans or working on a trail in Boulder, but the importance of it shouldn’t escape a critic. I get to help people in need every single day, and with each new client I get a new sense of the way our system both assists these families in some ways while simultaneously keeps them right there where it likes them. Most of them will never get out of their income bracket, and most of them are not to blame for that truth. It’s just a byproduct of our society; if you don’t invest in education you miss out on an investment toward your future. Okay, I get that, but what about these people who couldn’t afford good education in a million years, America?? The people who weighed the cost of dropping out of 7th grade against losing their alcoholic dad’s farm, their livelihood?? This project has given me an up-close and personal look at the byproducts of our polarized culture, and no degree of boredom with Texas could cloud that vision.
So anywho, I know where I’m headed to next! That’s right, back to Nola to work with Habitat for Humanity again!!! It was my first pick for projects and I’m ecstatic. We shuffle up next round so all of the five Sun Unit teams are mixing around and melding into five new teams. By the sounds of it my new family will be just as baller as my current one, so it’s going to be a blast.
Keep in touch with me! Hope you’re doing well!
kt
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Wtf it's DECEMBER?
This project is passing far too quickly for my taste. Positive occasionally to a fault, I rarely dwell on the aspects of work that piss me off, so I know I was bound to fall in love with this project. But I really really mean it this time...I love working with Habitat down here. I love New Orleans. I love construction. I've even grown fond of our commute in ways because of the music time I can squeeze in before and after work. (Let me just fill in here, since I don't believe I've mentioned it yet: We were supposed to be put in a quaint Habitat for Humanity House for the duration of our time here, but a week before we arrived we found out the house hasn't been approved by the city yet, and we would be "temporarily" staying at a church 14 miles away. As you can assume, temporarily became permanent, and we've been living in a big multipurpose room, sleeping on air mattresses, walking down the street a block and a half for showers, and sharing the church with the preschool, AA, and the laypeople for almost a month now. I wanted a house, sure, but I cant complain about the laundry angels. :))
So anywho, long story short we only have FIVE FREAKING DAYS OF WORK LEFT here! Ridiculous. The student in me knows that the next step in grad school, but I must confess spending a year working with Habitat has never looked so appealing....
Update on our house: We have a roof! And we'll continue shingling next week!! Our house is looking more and more like a home every day, with OSB boards up on most of the interior walls, windows, a front porch, the whole shebang. And not to mention, due to events during lunchtime on Thursday, our house is now officially part of the neighborhood in my mind. It's a long story but suffice it to say that a babbling man promptly sat down on our porch, talking to himself, then proceeded to roll up a joint and smoke it. Right there in front of us. A rite of passage, if you will. :)
Well like I said, we leave in a week. Grr. Today I'm heading to a coffeeshop (first time in forever!! :)), then the Art Museum, then heading to somewhere in the French Quarter to watch the VIKES!
Love you miss you
kt
So anywho, long story short we only have FIVE FREAKING DAYS OF WORK LEFT here! Ridiculous. The student in me knows that the next step in grad school, but I must confess spending a year working with Habitat has never looked so appealing....
Update on our house: We have a roof! And we'll continue shingling next week!! Our house is looking more and more like a home every day, with OSB boards up on most of the interior walls, windows, a front porch, the whole shebang. And not to mention, due to events during lunchtime on Thursday, our house is now officially part of the neighborhood in my mind. It's a long story but suffice it to say that a babbling man promptly sat down on our porch, talking to himself, then proceeded to roll up a joint and smoke it. Right there in front of us. A rite of passage, if you will. :)
Well like I said, we leave in a week. Grr. Today I'm heading to a coffeeshop (first time in forever!! :)), then the Art Museum, then heading to somewhere in the French Quarter to watch the VIKES!
Love you miss you
kt
Monday, November 23, 2009
The city that care forgot.
Well I just have to accept the fact that I'm not making this blogging thang as much of a priority as I once was. I feel like an apology is in order but even that seems like more effort than I feel like giving. It's just been so natural to ease into the...get ready for it...Big Easy, as if the city just opens its arms and welcomes any stranger off the street. New Orleans is amazing! I've been to big cities, and the lights and the sounds and the smells are all the same. But that's where it stops. New Orleans has this essence about it that I've never seen replicated: Neon lights lining small, gridded cobblestone streets, street performers and live jazz on every block, the iconic fleur de lis stamped on every car, window, and flag in site. What other city has their own logo that permeates such a massive majority of its peoples' lives? It's fantastic.
My job is also fantastic. I'm out in the sun all day, hammering nails, installing walls, putting up roofing, etc. etc. etc. all for the cause of helping a family get a home! It's such a great project. Especially in this location. New Orleans is still greatly feeling the horrible effects of Hurricane Katrina, even though it's been four years since it hit. The neighborhood we're working in is a perfect example: Interspersed between the occasional house that HAS actually been restored, there are hundreds and hundreds of houses that are falling apart at the seams. Windows are boarded up, warning messages are written in spray paint: "Don't you DARE enter, mother [you-know-what]," and some houses look like they were never even returned to after the storm. If you look closely, you can see the watermarks from where the waters flooded all the way to the roof of some houses. In short, there are massive amounts of work left to do down here. And it's easy to become saddened by the fact that even though we are definitely working our asses off to build SOMETHING beautiful amidst the disrepair, how much will one house actually contribute to improving the whole problem? But that's an illogical approach, I know. One house at a time is the only way to go you know? One family at a time. I just wish there was more government assistance I guess, but that's another story. :)
Anyway, I'll put up pictures from here and the work site to give more of a visual. We also just found out today that...yes..we'll be in Wichita Falls, Texas for our next spike!!! It was our absolute last choice, like literally dead last, but still in Texas so it'll be alright. :) We'll be...drumroll please...HELPING TO FILE TAXES IN RURAL TEXAS!!!! Haha so random. But whatever, I need to learn about taxes someday right? And we'll be helping out people who really need to get their lives together, so it should be promising.
Well how are things with all of you?? I want updates. Personal life for me is all over the place right now. I'm doing everything I can to stay focused on the task at hand here, but my heart and mind for the most part are residing in Iowa. My most positive of thoughts are going that way. Love you guys.
Katie
My job is also fantastic. I'm out in the sun all day, hammering nails, installing walls, putting up roofing, etc. etc. etc. all for the cause of helping a family get a home! It's such a great project. Especially in this location. New Orleans is still greatly feeling the horrible effects of Hurricane Katrina, even though it's been four years since it hit. The neighborhood we're working in is a perfect example: Interspersed between the occasional house that HAS actually been restored, there are hundreds and hundreds of houses that are falling apart at the seams. Windows are boarded up, warning messages are written in spray paint: "Don't you DARE enter, mother [you-know-what]," and some houses look like they were never even returned to after the storm. If you look closely, you can see the watermarks from where the waters flooded all the way to the roof of some houses. In short, there are massive amounts of work left to do down here. And it's easy to become saddened by the fact that even though we are definitely working our asses off to build SOMETHING beautiful amidst the disrepair, how much will one house actually contribute to improving the whole problem? But that's an illogical approach, I know. One house at a time is the only way to go you know? One family at a time. I just wish there was more government assistance I guess, but that's another story. :)
Anyway, I'll put up pictures from here and the work site to give more of a visual. We also just found out today that...yes..we'll be in Wichita Falls, Texas for our next spike!!! It was our absolute last choice, like literally dead last, but still in Texas so it'll be alright. :) We'll be...drumroll please...HELPING TO FILE TAXES IN RURAL TEXAS!!!! Haha so random. But whatever, I need to learn about taxes someday right? And we'll be helping out people who really need to get their lives together, so it should be promising.
Well how are things with all of you?? I want updates. Personal life for me is all over the place right now. I'm doing everything I can to stay focused on the task at hand here, but my heart and mind for the most part are residing in Iowa. My most positive of thoughts are going that way. Love you guys.
Katie
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
MOUSE IN MY ROOM!!!
In related news I JUST SAW A MOUSE SCURRY ACROSS MY ROOM!!! :) I'm not killing it. Or tattling on it.
Monday, November 9, 2009
So much for keeping this updated.
Well a lot has happened since the last time I posted, that's for sure! For sake of preventing readers from dying of boredom, I won't recount every detail of the last two weeks. Let's just continue on as if this break never happened.
So I have my permanent team!!! It's so great. Last Thursday all the Team Leaders gathered all of us Sun Beams (what I like to call the members of Sun Unit :)) on the soccer field and taped obscure words on our backs, then directed us to figure out how we were connected. They let us mosey around the field for like ten minutes, utterly bewildered by the seeming lack of order in our words, before our business-only Unit Leader gathered us around and requested that we return to our rooms, there had been an incident. Well as many people assumed, but as I was oblivious to, it was all an act. The soccer field was a distraction for all 55 of us Sun Beams so the TLs could run into our dorm and set up the REAL system for the team revealing: A campus-wide scavenger hunt! It was awesome. The clues led us around campus for an hour and slowly but surely our teams were revealed to us. And my team is great! I got the TL that I wanted, and am on a permanent team with people who are going to be a blast to spend the next nine months or so with. I am closer to a few more than others, which is nothing but encouraging because now I'll have three-day road trips to get to know them. :) And we were told our first project....We're going to New Orleans!!!!! This is going to be amazing. After spending a week doing Katrina relief work in 2007, I swore I'd go back someday to pick up where I left off...and now I get to! Our cargo van is all packed up and we're almost all ready to go. I can;t wait to get this show on the road.
Along with the work we do as a team, every member of our team each has to assume a team role or two throughout the course of the year. I'll be using my experience in the Coe Admissions Office to recruit new members for the NCCC! I'll be able to go to colleges and high schools and talk to people about the program, so clearly up my alley.
I think I'll leave it at that for now. Keep ya posted!
kt
So I have my permanent team!!! It's so great. Last Thursday all the Team Leaders gathered all of us Sun Beams (what I like to call the members of Sun Unit :)) on the soccer field and taped obscure words on our backs, then directed us to figure out how we were connected. They let us mosey around the field for like ten minutes, utterly bewildered by the seeming lack of order in our words, before our business-only Unit Leader gathered us around and requested that we return to our rooms, there had been an incident. Well as many people assumed, but as I was oblivious to, it was all an act. The soccer field was a distraction for all 55 of us Sun Beams so the TLs could run into our dorm and set up the REAL system for the team revealing: A campus-wide scavenger hunt! It was awesome. The clues led us around campus for an hour and slowly but surely our teams were revealed to us. And my team is great! I got the TL that I wanted, and am on a permanent team with people who are going to be a blast to spend the next nine months or so with. I am closer to a few more than others, which is nothing but encouraging because now I'll have three-day road trips to get to know them. :) And we were told our first project....We're going to New Orleans!!!!! This is going to be amazing. After spending a week doing Katrina relief work in 2007, I swore I'd go back someday to pick up where I left off...and now I get to! Our cargo van is all packed up and we're almost all ready to go. I can;t wait to get this show on the road.
Along with the work we do as a team, every member of our team each has to assume a team role or two throughout the course of the year. I'll be using my experience in the Coe Admissions Office to recruit new members for the NCCC! I'll be able to go to colleges and high schools and talk to people about the program, so clearly up my alley.
I think I'll leave it at that for now. Keep ya posted!
kt
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