I had two specific goals going into this city year. One, my main reason for doing the program was to gain leadership experience, not just to put on a resume but to actually help me learn and grow into a better leader. I wanted to take on responsibility this year. I want to broaden my shouldars so that I can carry any burden placed upon them. And two; When I graduated from NCCC only half the staff knew how to pronounce my name, and that speaks volumes. This year I want to be known, I want the staff of this organization to know who I am.
I had met and hung out with a few corps members throughout the summer before training began, so a few faces were already familiar on our first day, August 13th. BTA (Basic Training Academy) would be a 3 week long training process similar to what I went through with NCCC. By biggest challenge with City Year has been trying not to compare it to NCCC. Like in NCCC we received temporary teams during our 1st week, until we got our permanent service teams. My Journey Team, Persepolis is a cool bunch. But we all met up in the mornings, then parted ways at 6pm when the day was done. How are you supposed to bond with people when you're not living together, eating dinner together and going everywhere together? I still don't get it. But I decided very early on not to compare this adventure to the last and take it for what it is. Journey teams reunite every other Friday throughout the year, just to connect, update, vent, share stories, and remain a team through our individual journeys.
On the second day of training we had a presentation about alternative roles and opportunities we could take advantage of this year. One being the Civic Engagement Team. It sounded interesting but I knew I would rather work in a school base, directly with students. But on the third day of training I went to a CE Team info session just for kicks and giggles. I was surprised at how intrigued I was. I would be office based, working directly with staff members, planning service events throughout the year. On the fourth day of training I submitted an application and my resume to be on the CE team. On the fifth day of training I had an interview with Dorothy, the civic engagement program manger. But I was still very torn. On one hand, I really wanted to work with kids, make a difference in a life, walking halls and being a positive presence, holding after school programs. I was very excited for that. On the other hand, I really wanted to plan, organize and facilitate my own service events throughout my city, work directly with the City Year staff. I was convinced that whichever way fate went, I'd miss out on something. But which ever way fate went, I was excited and ready.
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| We call this a 'Spirit Break'. |
Five anxious days passed from the day of my interview and our big team reveal. I don't think there's anything more exciting in life than a team reveal. This is when I would find out what team I'd be on for the rest of the year, be it a school based team or the CE team. Team Reveal City Year style;
My journey team stood together and our team leader gave each of us a puzzle piece with a name written on the back. All the other journey teams, same thing. When we were set loose it was a chaotic scene, everyone trying to find thier puzzle piece. The puzzle peice I had belonged to a girl named Katie Beazly. I found her pretty quickly. My puzzle peice was harder to find because I knew whoever had it wouldn't be saying it aloud because they probably didn't know how to pronouce my name. So when I was free of Katie's puzzle peice I began looking in everyones hands for my own. A friend of mine told me, "He has your puzzle piece." I followed the boy she pointed out and took my puzzle peice from his hands. It was a large puzzle piece and I knew instantly what that meant. Small puzzle piece, large team. Large puzzle piece, small team. Right? It was a colorful peice of the Philly sklyline. Next, I had to find people who had puzzle pieces that went with mine. I wandered around aimlessly for a while, while all around me large groups of corps members were putting the puzzle pieces together, building their service teams. Finally I saw one guy, talk, dark hair, wandering aimlessly and a colorful piece of Philly skyline in his hand. I tapped him on his shouldar and told him, "Hey, I think we go together." And indeed, Our pieces fit together perfectly. And he introduced himself as John. About 2 minutes later, my Persepolis teammate, Lauren walked up to us with another colorful piece of Philly skyline. It fit perfectly with our puzzle and the puzzle was 3/4 of the way complete. Lauren and I hugged because we knew we were the new Civic Engagement team. After a few more minutes of wondering around looking for our fourth piece, Dorothy collected us and lead us over to Catie, our fourth teammate and Lakeya, our team leader and we found a quiet place to sit, talk and get to know each other.
Fast Forward; 3 weeks later. BTA is complete. Today was our Red Jacket ceremony, during which every single corps member, all 255 of us stood on stage with our teams and one by one dedicated our red jacket and the year ahead to someone/something special to us. Once we said into the mic who we were dedicating our jacket to, we then slipped our jackets on. Then when the entire team had their jackets on, we zipped them up in unison then did a spirit break before exiting stage left and letting the next team come up to dedicate.
Adventures come in all shapes and sizes. And colors. And this one is red.
