AmeriCorps 20

Today marks the 20th Anniversary of the creation of AmeriCorps. In honor of AmeriCorps 20, here are 20 photos to reflect my experience in the program that opened my eyes to new experiences and left a profound impact on my life.

Year 2 in Review

It has now been over two years since I completed my second and final term of service with AmeriCorps NCCC. Though I know that friends and family no longer need to use this blog to keep up with news of my life and experiences, for my own personal need to see this blog to some sort of completion, I return to it now to fill in some very general details on the remainder of the Team Leader year and some of the experiences that I failed to blog about at the time.

Year Two brought many wonderful experiences and a great deal of challenges. The fact that I stopped writing after round one can help reveal the hectic and stressful nature of leadership. At the time, I did not entirely have the energy to reflect on my day to day.

After leaving the cozy snow covered Sierra Nevada Mountains and a wonderfully relaxing trip home for the holidays, Green 2 headed north to Oregon. Living at Camp Kuratli in Boring, OR (yes, Boring, I could not help but laugh when I was informed my team would be spending two months in Boring) where we worked primarily with Johnson Creek Watershed Council and partially with the camp itself.

 January and February in Oregon are typically characterized by rainy days and this was often true to our experience, though we did have a few nice days sprinkled in and they felt absolutely brilliant in comparison to the overcast norm. Working with JCWC and through the City of Gresham we spent days outdoors planting native plants and later removing invasive plants. Particularly while planting with the city of Gresham we learned a great deal about the native plants of the region. We knew how to identify each plant and where to plant each species to ensure success and healthy growth. We learned to plant along hillsides and river beds to help hold the soil in place. We learned which plants like shade and which needed more open sunlight. We became pros! While working removing invasive plants (such as Himalayan Blackberry, English Ivy, and American Holly) we learned to loath these plants and hoped for their destruction. Though at times this worked seemed futile when we would drive along Oregon roads and see monocultures of blackberry dominating the landscape, our day to day work produced visible and satisfying results.

 Working for Camp Kuratli provided a break from the rain and fun work close to home. For a week or two we worked creating carnival games for the summer camps. We also built trails and removed some invasive plants on the camp property. While living in Oregon we were able to explore Portland, Tom and Holly came to visit me in Portland, and I had an opportunity to visit them and see there "new" house in Seattle! Oregon brought some challenges for Green 2 as well. The rain drained our team, a team member resigned from the program, and some conflicts arose between team members. But we were resilient and came through the challenges, finding fun team time through games of basketball in the camp's gym, movie nights in the rec room, and a team valentine party and secret valentine gift exchange.

Next for Green 2, Los Angeles! After a much needed transition week in Sacramento, Green 2 headed south to LA for two months working with Children Youth and Family Collaborative (CYFC), an after school program that allowed us to tutor and mentor students in four different schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District. Our team was spread out throughout the workday, serving two elementary and two high schools. It was good for the team to get this time apart, since our living quarters were, to put it nicely, a bit small. Our small one bedroom apartment in South Central LA was not entirely ideal, and added stress to some already complicated team dynamics, but the team as a whole enjoyed our work and gained a great deal for experiences with inner city kids of all ages. I worked primarily at Dorsey High School with Joe and Jackson.

 At Dorsey I helped out in a couple of math classes during the school day and then spent the afternoon in the CYFC room. I was able to work with one teacher, Mr. KC, who had many students who were recent immigrants from South America, and taught bi-lingual algebra classes. This was a great opportunity for me to dust off my rusty Spanish language skills. A few weeks into my time at Dorsey I also started helping out in the ESL class both during and after school. I spent some time every week visiting other team members at the other schools to check in and make sure all was well. Every one on the team did an amazing job in their placement and by round three were very capable out in the field on their own.

 Fun team times while in LA included an unintentionally super long hike to see the Hollywood sign (fog blocking the sign led to some confusion and a long journey in the wrong direction), a hike to Griffith Observatory, Museum visits, spring break work days with Heather's team working with Tree People up in Beverly Hills, and many weekend days spent at Venice Beach.

 I personally had a few special weekends away this round, visiting Lauren out on Catalina Island (amazing!) and heading to Santa Barbara with my parents when they came to visit during their spring break (also amazing!).

My final project in NCCC was one that made all of the challenges of year 2 completely worth the stress. Green 2 headed south and east to Arizona and Utah where we worked with the wonderful people of Grand Canyon Trust. Our days were filled with environmental work in unbelievably beautiful locations and our nights were filled with camping adventures and serene visions of starry skies. After training at GCT facilities Mangum Camp (that we had to leave due to water issues) and Kane Ranch (an incredibly great historic ranch house in the middle of nowhere), we spent the remainder of our days all over Southern Utah.

 First we were in Pine Valley, where we worked on Forest Service land to close off ATV trails and aid the eroding environment. Next we were in Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument where we collected data regarding the environmental conditions necessary to remove Beaver from nuisance areas near humans and reintroduce them into this wilderness habitat. (This portion of the project included a three day backpacking trip!) Next we headed up to the Moab area where we collected data on grazing effects on the environment and build range cage fence enclosures to provide controls for future data collection. We loved this final project, the work we did, the people we worked with, and the incredible scenery we encountered every day. After close quarters in LA it was amazing to have the wilderness as our lodging. One day at Kane Ranch we were also able to spend the day on some fun team building activities that helped get us back on track and remember why we were where we were and how we wanted to work together for the remainder of our time in the program. Round Four brought life, friendship, and fun back to Green 2.

 It was wonderful to see the team work hard and work passionately. And in free time we hiked amazing places, joined locals in pizza nights and bluegrass sing alongs, watched Fourth of July fireworks over Moab, explored National Parks (Grand Canyon, Arches, and Zion) and hiked through a box canyon with a cowboy poet explaining Native rock art along the way.

Final transition came, Jackson raffled off the opportunity to cut off his hair at Harvey's, the team went out for one final team dinner at Dave and Buster's, and we all graduated, moving back home to pursue various opportunities or figure out the next step in our Life After AmeriCorps (LAA).

 I enjoyed some final moments with my TL family before heading up to Seattle for some family time and then back to California for three months at St. Dorothy's Rest and one month in Hawaii at Camp Mokule'ia before finally returning to the east coast just in time for my birthday. I now look back on my time in NCCC with wonder, gratitude, and awe. NCCC exposed me to so many life changing experiences and taught me so much about myself. I love NCCC and miss NCCC and am always happy when opportunities to reunite with NCCC friends are possible, for no one truly understands the NCCC experience unless they have experienced it themselves.