Burn out with Raven 1 member Andre as he fights wildfires



Andre checks out the view in Suffolk, VA while on the Phoenix 3 team



Everyone’s done it whether it’s been around a campfire or into a lighter, everyone has stared into a flame and been mesmerized by its overwhelming glow and thought of its unbelievable potential power. It can light your way in the dark, warm your body on a cold winter night, or destroy a life in less time than it takes to blink.

AmeriCorps NCCC offers its members experiences that many of them couldn’t think possible. One of those experiences is to be a wild land firefighter. In the Atlantic Region these selected members are known as the Phoenix unit. Each Phoenix is chosen and trained at the beginning of the term and placed back into their respective teams until they are called into service. Each round eight members are plucked from their permanent teams and placed into the honorable position of a Phoenix. It’s a chance for people from different units of the corps to meet and work together and get a chance to have a break from your permanent teams. (Which I don’t really need since mine is so awesome).

The Phoenix 3 team, which included Raven 1’s Maddi and me, had the privilege to be the first team in five years to go out west to Idaho to fight the wildfires that were raging across the state. In a chartered flight of over 800 firefighters from the east, Phoenix 3 flew to Idaho and started their adventure at the Trinity Ridge fire. When we arrived we joined a world we couldn’t have prepared for. The camp site, surrounded by the beautiful Idaho Mountains, was a sea of tents and commotion, trucks and people moving around, going in and out of tents.

P3 goes west - left to rigt Maddi, Emily, Andre, Rebecca, Liz, Erik, Ben and Bobby

Myself and the Phoenix members were placed in a crew of 80 other firefighters and we were known as the Virginia Crew. An hour into our arrival after being briefed on the plan of action to contain the 90,000 acre fire, we were sent to assist other crews to protect the town of Featherville. After two days of hiking up mountains, digging line, and prepping the town for the worst, we were able to proceed with the burn-out operation. (A burn out is a term of firefighting where a section of land is burned and turned to black to stop the main fire from spreading.)

When the day came to start the burn-out operation, we were so excited but then disappointed because it had been canceled due to weather. Just when we had lost hope the weather changed and the burn was back on. Helicopters flew overhead, drip torches set the ground to flame. Trees torched 50ft into the air and we stood facing the flames and around the town of Featherville, making sure no embers flew overhead to start spot fires and endanger the town. As the night grew on so did the fire. Hours after the fire blazed it grew stronger, and faster, and brighter. It was a sight to behold. Just before the sun rose, we were relieved of watch duty. As we rode in a lime green school bus back to camp, before our heavy eyes gave way to exhaustion, we looked back and saw the amazing power of that which is fire.



A few members of Phoenix 3 fire team pause for a photo- left to right Maddi, Andre, Erik, Robert, Liz and Rebecca

-Andre

“Love is like a friendship caught on fire. In the beginning a flame, very pretty, often hot and fierce, but still only light and flickering. As love grows older, our hearts mature and our love becomes as coals, deep-burning and unquenchable.”

-Bruce Lee-

Two Ways to Stay Sane with Bird Brains

Team Leader Keiper reflects how her team Raven 1 keeps their sanity in what can be a very stressful environment.

We live together. We ride in the same vehicle everywhere we go. We eat together. We serve together. We joke, we laugh, we bicker. We are Raven One, and “together we R1” is our motto.

Now, for those of you not in AmeriCorps NCCC, this may not seem like a big deal.  But please, oh friend, please take a step back and put yourself in our shoes (or steel-toed boots for that matter). Now, think, you are with the same nine people 24/7. In fact, you might all be sharing the same large room, or have one bathroom between 10 people. That free-time, that moment of solitude that used to be so easily attained before AmeriCorps is mere memories now.

How do we do it? How do we stay sane in this Ameir-world? Well, to be honest, it can be really difficult sometimes. On top of having little free space, you also need to factor in how demanding serving can be, the amount of hours you work, and the fact that sometimes the work is dirty and not so glorious (pulling weeds all day); not to mention being away from family and friends, etc. There are many, many ways I could share with you about how my team remains motivated and does not lose their mind, but I am only going to focus on two.

The first is simple: we want to be here - each and every one of us is passionate about serving and wants to reach out to our country and lend a hand in any humble way we can. This is the backbone of our team - our passion. We know that nothing worth having is easy.

In NCCC team will do a variety of things to stay sane, including growing tails

Moving onto a, well, I guess you could call it a characteristic my team has taken on. We are an eccentric, creative bunch. Maybe I am biased because I love my team, but really let me give you some examples of what I am trying to explain. We use whimsy, humor, and downright ridiculousness as a stress outlet. We have a team gnome named Bach Lava who travels with us wherever we go and sits outside our door steps, protecting us from intruders and chipmunks. Henry has a magical wizard staff that we typically need to make room for in our 15-passenger van. For our weekly physical training we often do yoga, and one of our favorite stress relieves is the laughing baby. It’s a pose you simply cannot do without laughing. Sometimes, Ashley and I pretend we are archeologists when pulling weeds or small trees. We all have taken on different funny “voices” that we talk to each other with. And we have made up elaborate stories about one another and the people we meet, such as the security guard I am convinced is a fox during the day and security guard at night.



Raven 1 laughs during their PT when doing the yoga pose called the Laughing Baby

 Our shenanigans extend beyond our team and we often involve the sponsors and volunteers we work with. One day, Maddi and Cassie found a hidden treasure when we were demolishing a house: a broken baby arm from a small doll. We refer to this as “The Baby Hand,” and it typically makes appearances at the most pivotal moments. Cassie will shake someone’s hand with it or caress their face. It is a real crowd pleaser. But don’t worry; we know how to keep it professional when necessary. Another tradition is “Pig-Tail Friday,” when many members of the team wear their hair in pig-tails and encourage other volunteers to wear them as well. This too, is a crowd pleaser, as well as our famous “caw-caw” and “two-cheers” chant, which we have taught to many of our site supervisors, volunteers, and staff.

Michael receives a gentle caress from 'The Baby Hand' by Cassie

We have a childish excitement about little things, like using a nice clean public restroom rather than our usual Portable Toilet. Or getting to “dress-up” and wear real clothes and make-up out to dinner for a night. Our birthday parties are more extravagant than when we were kids - sometimes with water balloon fights, pin the tail on the aerators member, and a kiddy pool. It is common for me to walk into the house and hear my team singing. Or to be smacked in the face with a banana peel. Or after shopping to find them dancing in the parking lot to an outlandish country song.

We are outgoing, unique, fun, and whimsical. We constantly find ways to make an ordinary experience an adventure, like when we pretend we are in a traveling gypsy band. But most of all, we have become a family. One of our site supervisors, the lovely Margaret from Round 1 in Delaware at the Winterthur Museum, summed it up very nicely, “they are very unusual, but very, very good!”

~Keiper

“I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells. Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living.” 
― Dr. Seuss

For the Children: Gardens and Robots

Read how Moose 5 helps children in Camden, NJ and Baltimore, MD with gardens and robots


Camden New Jersey Children’s Garden has been truly a great experience for all of us here at Moose 5. During our stay, we worked and built up new gardens for the community and children of Camden, NJ. We harvested vegetables, raised beds, helped out at community events, traveled across the city, and even left our mark on the side of a garden shed, manifesting our efforts into a symbolic tangibility. Whether it was helping the kids learn the hokey pokey (teammate, Cecelia) or dressing up as an anthropomorphic bear for a special event (teammate Justin), Moose 5 got things done in Camden, NJ. 

 


Moose 5 member Laura and Project Sponsor Mike Devlin
survey the row of green

    

Example of the Robots




















Members of Moose 5 with mulch front to back- Justin, Tierra, Ethan, Chris and Laura

 

Members of Moose 5 left to right- Ethan, Alice, Cecelia and Laura



Moose 4 Member Cecelia with Project Sponsor Mike Devlin

 For the final week of round two, we stayed at the Baltimore Hostel, working with the Baltimore Public School system creating robot kits for local children in preparation for an upcoming summer camp program. We constructed models, created shelving for the parts, loaded and unloaded seemingly endless amounts of plastic bins, and sorted, sorted, sorted. Recently, we helped set up and run a robotics completion. As a team, we accomplished our goals and left a great impression with BPS. 

-          Alice, Moose 5 

Baltimore City Schools Robotics Competition Medals

Example of Robots

   

   

For more on Camden Children’s Garden view their blog here.  The Camden Children’s Garden and the NCCC Atlantic Region are also featured in a news clip about Camden Children’s Garden and Michelle Obama’s new book. See it here

The primary goal of the Baltimore City Schools’ 2012 Middle School STEM Summer Learning Program (Robotics) is to provide additional out of school time focused on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) instruction to help students to gain an appreciation of science and technology, the ability to work in collaborative teams, and to be exposed to research and technical skills as part of the Summer Learning Program at Baltimore City Public Schools (City Schools). The City Schools Summer Learning Program seeks to prevent summer learning loss and to increase mathematics proficiency in City Schools’ students. The Robotics Program is integral to helping City Schools achieve this important goal as this program has successfully been used as a hook for students, and has significantly contributed to the success of the Summer Learning Program as a whole last year.

Millions of pieces of robot equipment, thousands of robots and a couple hundred NCCC members

One sponsor shares how, since 2005, NCCC has helped children learn about math and science. Her story explains the process of having an NCCC team from concept to completion, with a lot of hard satisfying work in-between.

Hello, my name is Jenny Beatty, and I am delighted to be asked to write this blog post about my experience working with AmeriCorps-NCCC from a sponsor perspective.  This is a story about making connections, working with volunteer -driven organizations, and inspiring students. 

It’s also about robots and getting things done.

Beatty has worked with many NCCC teams since 2005. 
Here she is with the Southern Reigon's River 1 at orientation at Disney World 2011.

 Since 2005 I’ve been working with NCCC team members out of the Atlantic Region.  I’ve worked with over 250 members over the years. I’ve heard some inspiring speeches at Induction and gotten teary at the Graduations.  I have taken many photos of teams-lots of Buffalos, Ravens, and Moose, and even a River from the Southern Region where we had our orientation on a beach at Disney World. I’m getting older in these photos, but the teams seem to stay the same – usually smiling, often wearing khakis already filled with paint stains, in the joking-around poses. On my desk I have a handmade card from a team that says “You are a rock star” thanking me for sponsoring them.  I smile every time I look at it because how many opportunities are there to ask people to work long days doing hard work and then they write you thank you notes?

So this story is personal as well as about getting things done.

Yesterday we said goodbye to Moose 5. They are headed to Vermont to a remote area a few miles from the Canadian border after spending the past 3 weeks living and working in hot and noisy inner city Baltimore. Talk about transitions! This is the story of how they eventually got here this summer.

Beatty received this thank you card from River 1 of the Southern Region
which she found ironic since she was the one that wanted to thank them.

FIRST Robotics

I first learned about NCCC eight years ago. In 2004 I was hired under a “New Generation Grant” sponsored by AmeriCorps for a non-profit called FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology).  FIRST seeks to inspire kids to enter the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) fields and has a menu of programs which all involve building robots. I became a volunteer for FIRST a decade ago while my son was on a high school team, and then was hired by the organization.

Unlike many of the thousands of volunteers drawn to FIRST - I’m not really interested in robots.  But I am interested in students having opportunities to work in teams, and to experience problem-solving – the skills needed to succeed in life no matter what content area.

There were 15 of us hired (we were given the title of Senior Mentor), and we were spread across the US. Our marching orders were to go out and help start new teams, and recruit and support mentors and event volunteers. There were various competitions that needed to happen in Maryland, and I got introduced to the area of “volunteer-driven event management.” I had always been interested in volunteer-driven organizations and public service, had worked for various non-profits and educational institutions, and had been in the National Health Service Corps, which shares many of the AmeriCorps values.

During the Senior Mentor training we were encouraged to forge relationships with the local AmeriCorps programs and volunteer centers. I knew about VISTA, but not the other programs. So I did some research and discovered there was something called “AmeriCorps-NCCC” and the office for the Atlantic Region was right here in Maryland. I made some inquiries within FIRST and discovered that a staff member in California had a written proposal to engage NCCC members for FIRST robotics competitions in the western region a couple of years before. So I figured it was worth the time to submit a project concept form to bring a team on board for a few days to help with an event we were holding in Maryland.   The concept form, and then the full proposal were accepted and that partnership still exists to this day.

VEX Robotics

I retired as a FIRST Senior Mentor in 2009, but still do lots of volunteering for the FIRST programs-helping with events and local planning.  About 4 years ago I also started volunteering for a program called the VEX Robotics Competition. Like FIRST, VEX also has students building robots and going to competitions and a great community of volunteers helping to put on both small and large events.

So for the past 8 years I have found myself writing NCCC-targeted flyers for ISP’s and proposals for mini-spikes, helping various groups with robot competitions around Maryland.  NCCC has helped out at almost 20 events.

The teams over the years have provided a ton of support with set up and tear down, and playing many key roles at these robotics competitions.

Corps Members from the Atlantic Region Class 17
help set up one of the competition areas for the children and their robots.

Baltimore City Schools Summer Jump Program

In 2012 Baltimore City Public Schools received a 3-year federal grant (i3 ) to run a 5-week summer school program for middle school students based on lessons learned with a program administered the two previous summers.  The goal is to decrease summer learning loss, targeting students who scored basic on the Mathematics MSA (tests). The plan for summer 2012 included 10 sites involving 400 middle school age students, math instruction and forming lots and lots of robotics teams. And the hook to get the students to come to school was building robots. One of the key elements of the program is to provide exciting competitions for the students.

In March I was hired by Baltimore City Public Schools as a short term contractor, working with the summer school team as the “Robotics Events Director.”  My job was to work with the coordinators for the program, pulling together the pieces needed to run the events – finding venues, recruiting and training volunteers and doing what is referred in the business as the “run of show” (or, the game plan for the day) for what turned out to be one of the larger robotics competitions in the US. Only this competition would feature middle school students who had never been exposed to robotics, and unlike most robotic competitions, these students had only 4 weeks and a couple of hours a day to build a robot to compete.

The first hour of the first day on the job was spent figuring out how to get NCCC involved in this complicated effort. I knew it would be different than most of the NCCC projects, but that it did fit in the target area of urban development and it involved a targeted geographic area – Baltimore City.  The job plan would contain many logistical challenges -but I figured it was worth a try.



There were different components to the project – the events, the summer school and the enormous task that came to be known as “kitting” which involved breaking down the components of the robot kits as they are delivered into new storage containers that could be used by the summer school robot building program.  I saw a role for NCCC in all these areas so submitted a project concept. This was accepted, but then it got more complicated because I found out the campus had vacation and mandatory training time right smack in the middle of the project AND the project was split over Round 2 & Round 3. So the project was split into 2 parts.  The Program Officers in Perry Point were very helpful in walking me through the scenarios that could work with the timing, while I was juggling what needed to happen when and trying to craft a good proposal. 

Kits ready to go to sites

 The proposal was accepted. The Baltimore City Summer School Program Coordinators had never worked with NCCC before so there was a lot of sharing of information that needed to happen to put the plan together. The City Schools Program Coordinators also took on the challenge of figuring out housing and how to best use 8 people; working in pairs, but spread over 10 sites around the city and these sites had varying schedules and would require NCCC moving around by public bus.

I saw clear roles for a NCCC team with events:  set up and tear down and moving the competition equipment in an efficient system; playing a major role with the organization and management of one of the key event roles called “Team Queuing” including supervising other volunteers; as all-around problem solvers; and assisting with volunteer recruitment. And then there was the organization and classification of over half-million pieces of robotics equipment and helping with robot building in the classroom. Unfortunately, the professional development (the week to learn about building robots) was during the NCCC break, but Moose 5 was able to learn as they went. Their training in working together as a team was crucial to the effort.


Student on the practice field with some young fans



This summer was a learning opportunity for all. The feedback from Moose 5 will be valuable in figuring out how to use groups of volunteers in the future – hopefully including future NCCC teams.  I know they were invaluable at the events – 2 days of set up, 2 days of scrimmages, and 1 day of the Championship Olympiad. Moose 5 worked hard: they brainstormed with students, serving as great role models;  did a whole lot of heavy lifting, became proficient at assembling the fields; managed key event positions; unpacked, sorted and labeled tens of thousands of robot parts; and played a crucial role in getting things done. They’ve learned a new vocabulary and made a big difference to the summer school program.



Moose 5 Corps Members, Alice left and Chris right, assist with the robotics

 I hope Moose 5 had some fun. There were members who tasted Maryland crab for the first time, we watched the Olympic opening ceremonies (taped), they got to explore many parts of Baltimore, and we even went bowling.  I look forward to seeing them at graduation in November!

Raven 1 Finds the Why behind the What in – Wilmington, DE

Service learning is a big part of the NCCC experience. Read how a new Habitat homeowner brings it together for Raven 1

Raven 1 receives tool training with Habitat for Humanity

During round 2 Raven 1 was in Wilmington Delaware working with Habitat for Humanity. The team had the chance to work on two different sites during eight week stay in Wilmington. The majority of Raven 1’s time was spent at the Pavilion work site doing finishing work on seven homes; finish work such as caulking, crown molding, building trim, painting, laying down sod, building shelves, installing doors, installing insolation, and staining porches.



Henry gets ready to get back on the ladder

The team was able to strengthen their leadership skills by guiding large groups of volunteers, including Moose 1, in a variety of tasks. With an almost unlimited supply of coffee, granola bars, and sunscreen Raven 1 and the volunteers were able to present the seven houses of Pavilion to the home owners at the site dedication. At the dedication was the Habitat of Humanity staff, the home owners and their friends and family, and Senator Coons.



Keiper and Emily laying down sod with Habitat for Humanity

The team was also working at the Millstone work site with over 21 homes all in different stages of development. There was a Habitat for Humanity event at Millstone called women’s build a week-long celebration of women empowering women. During this event hundreds of volunteers from all over the city came, different faces every day, different skills, strengths, and inspirations. Each member of the Raven 1 team was able to interact with almost all of them leading them in skills they have learned during their tool training. Dawning their hardhats and tool belts they braved the 95 degree heat placing in lamp beams, framing, building fences, and placing up firewalls. With the help of hundreds of hard working hands the foundation for several homes was created.

During the dedication day, there were a series of heartwarming stories, touching speeches, and a flow of tears and laughter, even some of the AmeriCorps NCCC members got a little tearing eyed. One of most memorable moments was when they opened up the houses for the tours. One of the homeowners danced her way into the house and all over the living room with the biggest smile on her face giving the absolute why behind the what. 

Ashley sanding a window with Habitat for Humanity

Emily helping to build a shelf



  -                     Henry





You’ve Got A Friend in Me

Raven 1 team member, Henry, makes new friends, and sees old ones all in one week.

This past week was quite eventful. Throughout the entire week we had a group of volunteers from Le Moyne College in New York having an alternative summer break. These people were awesome! Every single one of them was unique, dedicated, and awesome! Shout out to them! We had tons of fun! I even got invited to their housing at a local church to go give them a performance, so I played piano and sang for them which was about as therapeutic to me as it was entertaining for them. They were just a great bunch of people doing great things with their free time. I commend them.

Then, Saturday we had another AmeriCorps NCCC team join us for our work day. Raven 3 flew in from Perry Point, and helped us do some major dirty work. We took out cabinets, carpet, and years and years of old furniture, toys, books, and other items from a house, which the homeowner had stored years and years of belongings, so much so that it impeded her living space. This eye-opening experience was perhaps most hard hitting when I realized how much hard work and dedication it takes for someone who holds to remedy this situation. It was perhaps the most work I have seen a NCCC team do since I have been here. The sweltering heat and disgusting nature of the job did not discourage anyone. We were all positive and overcame, and triumphed. As if I did not already feel very accomplished, it was all verified when I overheard on the worksite today someone complimenting the team to our team leader, commending how amazing of a job we did. Good times. Won’t be forgotten.

As much as I love my team, it’s so refreshing to socialize with people you don’t live with 24/7. They verify you haven’t gone completely crazy just yet and falling asleep at 8:30 is not a crazy notion after the hard work completed every day.

~Henry~

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” –Aristotle-

Tears Sum up this Second Round Project of Buffalo 4 from the NCCC Atlantic Region

Did you ever have a project round that seemed endless and then when it was over you wanted to linger?

Go to Cradle Beach, NY with Buffalo 4 and read how tears sum up the round 2 project

Angola, New York – The drive from Perry Point, Maryland, a story in itself, empowered the “anything is possible” energy by defeating the doubt of ever reaching our project with the sight of a simple entrance sign. The van boiled with excitement as we turned onto the narrow road surrounded by various airy trees giving a sudden claustrophobia. As the approaching seconds lingered a massive wooden house began to unfold as a mixture of formal facility and Caribbean beach hut, single story boasting a 30ft. ceiling, at the point. As the trip that seemed to never end drew out its final moments, small cabins began to appear scattered about, near and far, in groups and stand-alone, in the trees and in the clearing that started to give away, in no particular order.

Those focused on getting out and the main facility titled the ‘Jim Kelly House’ with a lady making her way out missed the obvious pool and playground to the immediate left. We maintained composure exiting the vehicle as our site supervisor, Bonnie, introduced herself.  After we situated ourselves, she gave a brief verbal tour and history of Cradle Beach Camp. When she turned to direct a small portion of our team to the living quarters and parking lot the rest turned about soaking in the wondrous surroundings, stopping at the playground, a few took off into the nostalgia  eager to stretch restless travel legs.

               

 With red bags in hand, eyes widened and jaws dropped as the group made their way around the Jim Kelly House to their modest living quarters with a sandy beach backdrop. Rooms were set up in haste, anxious to intimately meet the blue horizon. Minus the team leader and two unfortunate grocery shoppers, the team set off along the water’s edge in high spirits. The coast proved to be beyond expectations, a source of spectacular amusements from sea glass to endless supplies of choice skipping rocks. Lake Erie has one forgivable flaw, the mixture of shallow water and algae covered shale made it un-swimmable in any climate. That first night and nearly every night there afterwards the team enjoyed exquisite sunsets which like snowflakes were unique at every sighting – inspiring and calming.

Round 2 passed in a paradox, a week would pass before lunch time and the hour after 9:30 am was so long it went through four seasons. The first two weeks, young and drunk with novelty, truly went in the blink of an eye and missed like the last piece of gum accidently swallowed. The next four held the longest work days filled with staining and painting or painting and staining; yet held a variety of misadventures consisting of many proud moments like the completion of the ambitious goal of holding a minimum 80 hours of individual service project time per person and other occasions that are better forgotten. Eventually the final weeks occurred like it ended too soon and we were left with a bittersweet feeling of wanting it to linger but eager to return for our well-deserved summer break.

We worked to prepare the camp for their busy summer start and more notably the 50 year reunion that would occur during our stay. There was no warning they could give to prepare us for the day in and out of working with a brush in hand and the monotony it brought that tested our resolve. The brief breaks between painting/staining were so welcomed that anyone would jump at the opportunity to clean out drain gutters for a morning instead. Fortunately time remained as consistent as ever and our vigilance showed in the eye catching details of Cradle Beach Camp, where once was an overlooked looked dull wooden structure was now replaced with vibrantly stained wood that was not only more pleasant to look at but was now protected from the elements.

When the reunion rolled around the fruits of our labor swelled. As it was made clear to all the returning alumni that the majority of the change they instantly noticed had been done by us. The many expressions of appreciation from the reunion attendees came in volumes. A few words from an older gentleman offering his thanks on the verge of tears summed up the second round project.

~Rufus