The Biggest Thing We've Ever Done

There were three factors that would make Martin Luther King Jr. day of service different from our other service days. For one, it would be our biggest service day of the year. We were aiming for 900 volunteers total. Two; we would be serving at two separate sights: Gompers elementary school and Beeber middle school. This meant that everyone on my team had double the work load. For John, he had to recruit for two sites. Catie had to handle logistics for two sites. And the third factor making MLK Day different from our other events; Lauren & I who share the role of planning, designing, leading prep for & facilitating our service events would be divided among the two sites and working alone.

John & I were working on a service event in Houston, Texas when we secured Gompers as an MLK Day site & Lauren began planning the day. Almost two weeks after we were back, we scored Beeber. Since Lauren was already well into planning for Gompers, I was given the title of service leader for Beeber.

Let's fast forward to January; the holidays are over. I have two weeks until MLK Day. The principal, program manager and team leader at Beeber can't make up their minds about anything so none of my documents can be completed. In-school prep is scheduled to start right about now and I'm completely baffled about what I'm even doing. And to top it all off; I have no Lauren. I'm alone.

Fast forward again. January 21st, 2013. 8:30pm. I'm completely discombobulated. They say we had an extremely successful MLK Day. We had over 1200 volunteers total. 772 at Beeber alone. Over 500 at Gompers. Every single one of my projects were completed, no need to return to either school over the next few weeks to complete or touch up anything (which is a lot more than we can say about our last project). No major messes. I didn't run out of paint (again, more than I can say about my last project). Almost everyone had a good time. So why am I still completely discombobulated at a time when I should finally be able to breathe?

Looking back, I'm sure everyone remembers the opening program. The Beeber school step team and the motivational speeches. They remember the upbeat corps members leading them through inspiring service. They remember the presidential inauguration being streamed in the auditorium. They remember the free t-shirts and the high spirits on a day that only comes once a year.

But for me, this was a day that would only come once in my life. Never again will I be able to lead a large MLK service event (if given the opportunity I wouldn't even want to). For me this day should've been all of the above and more. But looking back all I can remember is no one having my back. I remember being pushed around. I remember my own work being changed and switched up behind my back and not knowing until after the fact. I remember pressure on top of pressure and no hugs or pats on the back. Not pats on the back for praise, but simple encouragement. I remember being alone on everything. Until something went wrong. Then I remember having everyone's attention. I remember getting all of the blame for everything. Not that anyone would say it to my face. But grape vines don't stretch all that far around here. Blame did actually belong to me, I own it. But I haven't been doing this for years. I've been doing it for four months. I remember no one having my back.

I remember John taping an uplifting fortune cookie fortune to my computer screen. Someone did have my back.

This was a once in a lifetime event for me. But all I can remember is feeling extremely small. And on January 21st at 8:30pm when I should've been taking my first breath in weeks and celebrating the biggest thing we've ever done... I still couldn't figure out how to breathe and all I felt was angry. And still very small.

But to everyone else, MLK Day 2013 was the biggest thing we've ever done. And it was very successful. So I'm told.

Red

This month I started my second AmeriCorps term. 9 months after finishing my NCCC term I've traded in my gray service garments for red. City Year red. City Year was founded in Boston in 1988. The organization works in inner city schools to decrease the drop-out rate and keep kids in school and on track to graduation. There are 23 City Year locations throughout the country (with two international affiliates). I am proudly serving at the Greater Philadelphia site. Working with kids is something not yet on my resume and I was very excited (and terrified) to work with 6th - 9th graders everyday. It was actually a test I wanted to put myself through to see if working with kids is something I may want to do in the future. Also, I felt the need before leaving home again to do some sort of public service in Philly. This is my city and I want to help home before I take off again, trying to help everywhere else.

 

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.

 

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.