The possibility of a return?!

I just submitted my application for a team leader position for Winter 2015. I can't believe where I am today thanks in great part to NCCC...I see this blog is still getting traffic? I'm curious who is viewing it still but if you're a potential applicant I will go on record as strongly recommending you take a risk and go! The quote of life beginning at the end of your comfort zone is so true...it's a tough experience but it's worth all the blood, sweat, and tears!  :)

Here's my motivational statement from my most recent application - hope my happiness and passion for the program comes across well and you will take the chance and apply!

"... those ten months were arguably the best of my life. I expanded my views of the world and was able to gain a deeper understanding of self. Before NCCC I didn’t have much self-confidence, and I definitely wouldn’t take charge of a group of people. By round five of my corps year I was confident enough to engage other volunteers... I gained so much self-confidence and happiness during my corps year I hope to go back and help others discover themselves through service. The biggest lesson I learned was that you can only help and discover yourself when you’re outside of your comfort zone and providing service for others, I hope to pass that bit of wisdom onto the next class of NCCC members while continuing to hone my own leadership skills. I also feel that NCCC erased preconceived notions I had of myself.... I truly believe that AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps set me on a more positive read to health and well-being and I hope to continue that journey forward with another service term."

I've omitted a good portion of it but you get the idea! :)

LOVE YOU MICHEAL

"You are amazing. That's why you're in this world bran, to help teach people and open their minds. :)"

Now that I'm back...

It feels...weird to be home. They warned us about coming home and it being hard and feeling alone and feeling awkward...all of which are true and happen BUT overall I'm happy to be home. I am incredibly proud of who I am and what I've done but what kind of person would I be if I abandoned my home town?! I've done service for everyone else, now time to come home and figure things out here too.

This year has meant a lot to me. This past year I took to be both selfish and selfless. I took it to travel and I took it to learn. Learning not only about others but also about myself. In the end what I took out of it was a little muscle, a few talents, and a whole new appreciation for humanity and what communities can do when they come together.

In Indiana, I saw a camp that only had a few permanent staff but provided amazing educational services to inner city kids who would have never gotten a chance to experience the environment in that capacity without this camp.

In North Dakota, I witnessed the strength of human resilience! Families who had their entire lives literally washed away were coming together, instead of fighting or being angry they were grateful and willing to donate their time and skills to help others! The purity of these people was inspiring. What I didn't realize was that by helping them I was in fact helping myself. I was learning and growing as a person with each person I came to know. I cherish this location the most, and hope to return.

In Minnesota, I met monks! Real life monks! I went into a forest that was rated as excellent and helped maintain that quality. I built a 9 ft deer fence around 19 acres! Probably the most challenging project we had. I walked away knowing how to swing a hammer properly though! Monks taught me to hammer, that's my favorite thing about the year! Thanks Bro Walt.

In Iowa, I lived a lot..the first month..between projects...the last few weeks! But I also served here. I worked with Parks and Recreation! I was in Vinton, the smallest, Mayberry town there is....but their parks and rec were outstanding! They built the community. They did so much to get people involved, I envy their dedication and ability to call others to serve - I wish our parks and rec were like that. Here I learned to chain saw though! 4 hours of training and a cut boot later I am now a chain saw professional!

In Michigan, I was lucky enough to experience both parts! I was in lower Michigan at a YMCA camp being a counselor for a few weeks! Being a camp counselor really helped foster my leadership skills! I left feeling more confident in my ability to communicate effectively and lead a group. In upper Michigan I worked with Habitat for Humanity...there I improved my hammering abilities! Also I found out I could adapt to the cold! Snowy day?! STILL WORKING!


These places and people I've met, I'll never forget you! I am inspired by everyone I've met. I feel like I owe you all something to thank you for helping me along the way, but as my payment to you I'll take what you taught me and apply it to every day life and I'll continue to serve "this year and beyond" and I'll teach others what you've taught me..maybe we'll start a ripple effect! A few people I really enjoyed and miss incredibly are: Mary Barker, Carol, Daniel Becton, Paul Logan, Brother Walter, Brian, Tremonde, and Joe! I learned so much from you all, it's truly impossible to thank you all enough.

Favorite places I've been?

• Chicago
• Minot
• Louisville
• Minneapolis

Favorite task?

• Chainsaw
• delivering drywall
• hydroseeding

Coming back has really shown me what I gained in AmeriCorps...

• independence
• a sense of responsibility to do the right thing although not always popular
• social awareness
• diversity
• appreciation for cultural differences
• appreciation for everything in general
• leadership
• communication skills
• money management
• an idea for my future
• experience I would have never gotten other wise
• 3 college credits in diversity
• skills in conflict resolution
• 8 friendships that will never fade - Love you Oak 3
• and confidence in myself.

More info about MCHFH

For round 5 Oak 3 went to the largest county east of the Mississippi with 60,000 people living within its borders, Marquette, Michigan. Serving for two weeks with Habitat For Humanity (HFH) proved to be an enlightening project for the team.

Upon arrival the administrative director for HFH, Renee, greeted the team and gave a tour of the housing. Our first day of work started with an online safety course and quiz to ensure the team was aware of proper safety procedures and techniques. The course included ladder safety, tool recognition, proper PPE, and other safety concerns that are present on a construction worksite. A brief history of this affiliate was presented to the team by the director, Mike. He went over the operations of HFH for Marquette and discussed what we should expect for the duration of the project.

Marquette HFH is known as a self help housing operation. Self help housing is a title available to organizations that work within a rural area and have the ability to build at least 4 houses in a year. Those who participate in this housing program must also contribute what is called “sweat equity.” Sweat equity is a requirement for all HFH housing that says anyone receiving a house must put hours into building their own house. However, in Marquette the self help housing program makes it so that everyone works on everyone else’s house. For example, if five families are getting homes, all five families must work on all five homes and nobody moves into their home until the last house is done being constructed. This means that the same effort should go into all houses being built because it doesn’t matter whose house is done first, it’s more about the group as a whole opposed to an individual family.

Some other criteria used to select participants includes: housing must be not safe, too small, or too expensive, ability to pay for housing which depends on your income, and your monthly bills are not too high to afford a mortgage payment. Also a $500 down payment is needed to begin building. Families must also be willing to promote Habitat in their local community and attend workshops to learn about owning and caring for a home.

Marquette HFH has built around 90 homes since 1992 and by August 2014 hopes to have 94 built, that’s why AmeriCorps NCCC is here. All of the families receiving homes in Marquette must have an income so their volunteer hours aren’t always consistent so with the help of NCCC the homes go up faster for those in need.

Since homeowners must pay their 15 hours per week “sweat equity” the team got to work with volunteers on the regular basis. Oak 3 had plenty of time between framing walls and installing other aspects of the home to discuss the local area with the volunteers. The team got plenty of great ideas for site seeing trips such as Sugar Loaf Mountain and the Iron Ore Museum. The closed air force base was also a popular topic since it has caused a lot of issues. The city used to have a lot more jobs within the air force and when it shut down many places went out of business. This was evident when the team took a trip around to see the deserted areas where it was obvious business once thrived. Adding onto the strain of many jobs being shut down, there are a lot of new faces in town. These faces came from New Orleans when Hurricane Katrina hit. The government searched for affordable housing for displaced families and found that within Marquette. Seeing abandoned homes are frequent around Marquette. Marquette is a beautiful community and a beautiful location that is on the up rise trying to recover from a hard setback; they’re true “yoopers” and embrace everyone that’s thrown at them. Their dedication to their land and community truly inspired Oak 3.

dun dun dun

The end of the year is coming, 17 days left! Insane. Although it's close we're still working hard...
The past week we have worked with Habitat For Humanity in Marquette in U.P. Michigan. It's been a cold process with many many nails. When we arrived there was only one standing wall and as of Friday the roof truses were up and styrofoam siding was being applied. It's amazing how fast something like a house comes together. We also had a chance to work in another home that was having plumbing and electric installed it was nice to see what the semi-final project will look like.
I'd also like to note that it has been snowing all week, literally every day! Insane..I'm from VA I'm not used to this!

Silver lining to this week:
I submitted my application to the AmeriCorps S/N program I want to do next year. I'm excited, and hopeful.
I'm excited to come home and start working in order to save for what I want to do in the future.

One more week of snow and hammering then debriefs and closure.

If I get into the AmeriCorps S/N program next summer with the state parks I'd be at False Cape State Park! They said they'd offer me housing and I'd just drive down there...that'd be so cool! Wish me luck guys! :)

All this time I was finding myself, and I didn't know I was lost.

Time is coming to an end, less than 30 days left in this program! As the close continues to creeps up on us I find myself becoming more and more stressed in regards to my life after AmeriCorps. Stressed in both a positive and negative way...if that makes sense. I'm anxious would probably be more accurate. 

This program has changed my life in ways I cannot even explain and probably not comprehend right now. Each and every single person on my team has taught me something new both about the world and about myself. We started off with approx. 260 corps members and now it's down to around 160 I believe...it's been a long "weeding out process." But I can honestly say that the people who have remained here the whole time are some of the strongest and brilliant people I've ever met. I truly admire each and every person who has stuck it out and will graduate with me in November. Upon arrival I remember being anxious and worried about being around all of these people but after about a week or so I found myself excited and looking forward to every day! Although there were some "rejects" for lack of a better word who were just trouble makers from the beginning I found myself feeling a strong sense of community amoungst members. That sense of community is still strong. I am proud to say that everyone I formed a strong bond with and consider a family both on and off of my team are still here. 

This program has really showed me a lot about diversity and what it means in the "real world." When I think about diversity now I don't think about what makes us all different, I think more about what makes us the same. Being the same isn't necessarily identical, we just have formed a community of extremely different people from different backgrounds who all came together for one purpose: to serve those who need it the most. My teammate, Michael, said it very well when he said this year is about "self(less) discovery." This year has opened my eyes to so much about myself that I didn't even know was there and it continues to amaze me even today. Although it's great I've learned so much about myself I'm still shocked at how much I learned about others. Before I came to this program I had very little experience with people different than myself - coming from a middle class, primarily white, small town in Virginia I was pretty ignorant. Throughout the year I've had to come to a lot of realizations about how I viewed the world and how my thoughts and actions could impact others. I remember at the  beginning of the year there was a discussion on my team about what we deemed inappropriate (since we come from different backgrounds obviously this answer was different for every individual) so as we went around the circle one of my team mates, Rachel, mentioned some derogatory words she felt were inappropriate to be used - I immediately was taken back by the fact that someone could feel so strongly about a word...it'd just never been an issue to me. But with further discussion I found myself seeing her point of view and understanding that my words DO have an impact on others and just because I don't intend something to be hurtful doesn't mean that it's not. I feel like that discussion was the first of many that made me question how I treated others and how I felt I should be treated. I'd like to thank Rachel for being the person brave enough to speak up those first few weeks...she honestly opened my mind to a lot of different things I just never thought about before. I could go on and on about what else I've learned about myself but to sum it up concisely I'd have to say I've learned to take myself seriously. I do have an impact on people around me and things I say can and do make a difference. Also to "hold it lightly" as my teammate Corey would say. Nothing is so important that I should get all worked up over it...it's really not a big deal in the long run. And I've learned to follow my dreams, as cliche as that sounds I feel like I've learned that I need to aim high. My definition of success and yours may be different so by holding myself to the standard of others I'm cheating myself out of happiness. If all I do is live to please others then when is it my turn to be happy and do what I want? That is probably what I'm most thankful for in this program, the courage to chase after my own dreams. 

What does the future hold? Who knows...but I do have a plan and a dream (again very cliche, sorry) so I know I'm at least heading in the right direction. 

So far here's my life after AmeriCorps ideas:

November-December: Work full time, somewhere, anywhere! I’m putting in applications literally everywhere I can think of.

January-May: Go back to school, partake in VA master naturalist program

April-September: AmeriCorps program with VA state parks doing trail maintenance, yes I realize that school and this overlap, I need to figure out if there is anyway to reschedule the dates which I doubt but I want to talk to people.

May-August: if the above plan doesn’t work hopefully I can still find work at the state parks or just keep the job I hopefully get in November.

Later on in life/long term goals…

STL for AmeriCorps NCCC Baltimore edition

WOOF in Ireland

NOLS in South West or Idaho

FEMA corps