CTI Escapades and Permanent Teams

CTI continues on. The trainings can be a bit tedious, lots of sitting inside listening to lectures. But I understand the importance of it. We had CPR/ First Aid training that took up a whole day, but I am now officially certified to save lives!  We did a driving course to get accustomed to driving the 15 passenger vans we will be using for travel.  We’ve done fun stuff too though. We went up to Rocky Mountain National Park one day and spent the afternoon exploring and hiking, it was beautiful! We also spent one afternoon exploring Downtown Denver and we found this fantastic bookstore called  Tattered Cover, it is a cool old 3-story building filled with books, and it was glorious. We also had a Halloween Party on campus. I convinced some of my new friends to be the Jamaican bobsled team with me, from the Disney movie, Cool Runnings. This has been a lifelong dream of mine and I was stoked when I found some girls who were down to do it with me! 

The Jamaican Bobsled Team!

Our temporary teams have been going well, some have a only been for a few days because they are trying to get us to acquainted with as many team leaders and corps members as possible. But what is really exciting is that we are due to find out our permanent teams and where our first project will be! Unfortunately, for reasons unknown, the reveal was delayed from Friday afternoon to the following Monday, and the anticipation was killing me. I honestly had a hard time sleeping the night before because I kept having nightmares of the potential team scenarios I would end up with plus I couldn’t eat breakfast Friday morning. Even though I knew there was nothing I could do and worrying wouldn't change the outcome I continued to fret.

Finally, Monday arrived and that afternoon we got clues to figure out who our permanent TL would be. We were each given puzzle pieces that matched with other people in our unit to build one puzzle with a clue that would lead us to another clue, that would lead us to our team leader. We ran around campus searching for our clues and our TL and finally found her-- my team leader is Ally, and my team is Earth 3. I have 9 team members, 5 girls and 4 guys; unfortunately none of the people I had become close to during CTI were on my permanent team. I was a little bummed, but there seemed to be some great people on my new team.  Ally informed us that our project was going to be in Joplin, Missouri doing disaster recovery with the St. Louis Emergency Recovery Team! This news made me very excited; helping with disaster relief is one of the most sought after projects, so we were all excited!

We also learned that Earth 5, another team from the Earth Unit first project would be in Joplin, Missouri as wells and we may even be sharing a living space with them. This was good news too, because it meant more familiar faces and thankfully one of the people I’ve gotten closet to during CTI, Sarah, is on Earth 5! All in all, it turned out not to be as bad as I imagined it would be-- my nightmares certainly did not come to fruition and for that I am thankful. I am really going to make an effort to connect with my teammates and am looking forward to getting to know them better.

To celebrate our new teams and the end of CTI, team leaders put together a Black and White Ball, it was designed to be a fun event everyone could participate in with their new team. The catch was we would all wear outfits made out of black and white trash bags that we made ourselves. The girls on my team had this great idea about making woven trash bag dresses, and while it sounded like it would work, it didn’t turn out as great as we had hoped. But we all had fun and danced the night away!

My team, Earth 3, at the Black & White Ball

CTI In the Mile High City

I left for for Denver the morning of October 12 and while I was excited to begin this new journey I was sad to say goodbye to family and friends, and anxious about what the next 10 months would hold for me. I arrived in Denver and got settled on campus. The southwest region headquarters is located at Colorado Height University. First of all the campus is beautiful! I feel so fortunate to be in such a stunning place. From the backside of campus you have a gorgeous view of the Rocky Mountains. And the sky seems so big in Colorado. Gosh, it is just breathtaking here!

Anyway I checked in and got a schedule for the coming month on campus and got my room assignment. I trudged to the 2 floor with my bags and found my room door opened and was greeted by my new roommate, Mona! We chatted and exchanged pleasantries and I started to unpack and settle in. The room was decent, a desk for both of us as well as a closet, a set of drawers, and a sink and mirror. The beds are odd though-- they are on wheels like a trundle and slide under the shelving, but the thing is, unlike a trundle bed they don’t stop rolling, so you could actually roll the bed out into the middle of the room, which is strange and pretty funny.

The first month of this 10-month adventure will be spent in Denver training and preparing for the next 9 months of service. They call this CTI and our days are scheduled for us and they are typically spent in meetings and getting to know our temporary teams. There are about 300 people on the Denver campus and we are organized into I am in the Earth Unit and there are 7 teams in that unit, each led by a team leader. My first temporary team leader was Jenn, a great fun, bubbly girl and my team had a mix of people-- a variety of ages and from different places in the country. Of course those first few days were a little strange, trying to find your bearings and not knowing one. Luckily my roommate Mona and I got along really well. She is from New Hampshire and also just graduated from college. Meals are provided for us on campus and a cafeteria that reminded me a lot of elementary school. But Mona and I made a point to try to sit with new people at each meal in an effort to get to know the other corps members. It was way easier to put myself out there when I had a buddy to do it with me. All the while we would get new temporary teams and new team leaders (TLs) so we are meeting new people and participating and various team building/ice breaker games.

Before I knew it I found myself a fun group of friends to go out and explore Denver and the nightlife. On our first venture we tried to figure out the public transit system to get us to the light rail and then make it to 16^th Street we found this great bar in the LoDo District they had a deck on the second floor with a fire place! It was great and it was so nice to get off campus and feel like a real person. There is a lot of structure here, which I understand, but is strange to adjust to coming from living on my own and doing what I like with my time. 

Any way, so far so good: overall it has been a really positive experience and I am so glad I am here. It feels like we have been here forever, but it has only been two weeks! I can't believe it. More to come soon!

Prelude to a Big Adventure

I graduated from college this past May and as the end of my undergraduate career grew closer I  began to worry about what my future might hold. I did not want to jump right into the work force nor was I ready to commit to a graduate program to continue my education. I wanted a break from it all to figure things out, but I still hoped to do something productive and positive with my time. I researched and wrestled with my options for months. I was really excited when I learned about  the AmeriCorps NCCC program. This opportunity fit all my desires and quickly became my number one option as a post college plan.

AmeriCorps NCCC stands for the National Civilian Community Corps. It is a full-time, government funded,  team based, national service program comprised of 18-24 year-olds.The term of service is 10 months and takes place in any of 5 regions in the U.S. The five campuses are based out of Vicksburg, Mississippi, Perry Point, Maryland, Vinton, Iowa, Sacramento, California and Denver, Colorado. Once assigned to a campus the corps members are divided into teams of 8-12 and travel through out their region to work on 3-4 SPIKE projects that last any where from 4-8 weeks. On SPIKE the teams live in their given community and assist a sponsoring non-profit agency in any of five focus areas, environmental stewardship and conservation, infrastructure improvement, urban and rural development, energy conservation, and disaster response.

I was beyond thrilled when I learned in late April I had been accepted to the Southwest Region in Denver, CO and would be arriving there in early October. I have visited Colorado once before, the Colorado Springs area specifically, and fell in love! The landscape, the weather, the people, all of it was great and since visiting I've been hoping to find a reason to return there more permanently. Needless to say I eagerly accepted my spot on campus and began the countdown to this new venture!