Welcome to Class XVIII TLT

On September 1st I arrived back in Sacramento for my second year with AmeriCorps NCCC in the Pacific Region! I have left my gray Corps Member shirts at home and now I wear the green Team Leader shirts. It is wonderful to be back. It is also quite different from the first time around. Lots of new friends and new responsibilities.

The first month is what is called Team Leader Training (TLT). When we first arrived on the 1st we stepped right into "getting to know you" activities. It has been wonderful getting to know the other Team Leaders (TLs). We have a great group this year full of interesting and adventurous people. And the adventures began right away.

Our first weekend here a group of us piled into cars and took a day trip to Lake Tahoe. It was my first time making it up to Tahoe and I was blown away by the beauty that I had heard described to me many times before. Our plan for the day had been to hike, but when the trail we were searching for proved difficult to find, we decided to spend the day on a beach in Nevada on the South Side of the Lake.

Certainly no complaints with the change of plans.

The following weekend was the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on September 11. The entire group of Team Leaders and some NCCC staff members all helped at a memorial event at the California state capital.
One of the Team Leaders from last year, Josh from Silver 2, came up to Sacramento for the day to volunteer along with the group and after the day of service, Josh, Katie, Elizabeth, and I spent some time catching up and reminiscing about Class 17.

The rest of our time for the first few weeks of Team Leader training were filled with Training session after training session after training session. We learned about Supervisory Skills, Pacific Region Policies, Being a Leader, First Aid and CPR, diversity, and so much more. We spent hour after hour sitting indoor and watching presentations, discussing scenarios, asking questions, and drinking coffee to keep us going.

Break times were filled with Ping Pong, jumping jacks, and simply lying on the floor...
And then we had some trainings out in the field. After one full day of classroom chainsaw training we headed out into the mountains for some hands on chainsaw work.
Something that would have terrified me last year, was now exciting for me. I was pumped for chainsaw work and it in practice it made me feel pretty bad ass.
After our final chainsaw training, our instructors brought us up the street to "lover's leap" and this gorgeous overlook.