Team Leader CRUNCH TIME YA’LL!!”

HIT THE SHOWERS TEAM LEADER TRAINING!

The title of this blog tells it all! EEEK! The corps members literally come in less than 48 hours to the NCCC campus of Vicksburg, MS. Team Leader Training as of today is officially “in the books”! We wrapped up everything that we have been trained on in the past 3.5 weeks. Boy oh boy…it surely zipped right by! It is true when they say, once you get older, days and days get blended together and go super duper fast. That is why one of my goals this year was to stay organized and write the important things done, while also keeping in touch with family, friends, and whomever.

This last week of trainings had a great impact on my up and coming challenges of leading a team of 10. There was a wide array of trainings that benefited me greatly and consciously opened my eyes about strengthening my abilities of becoming a better leader. So here it goes:

07-24-09 (FRIDAY)

- PT in the morning to my favorite PT sport…ultimate Frisbee; our team of 10 dominated and ran all over those other TLs ;)
- 1st day of catered meals given by a catering company in Jackson, MS; they will be feeding us breakfast, lunch and dinner for the next 2 possibly 3 weeks.
- Presentation on Southern culture and southern manners/etiquette put on by Program Director, Rich Smith, Jules Hampton and a couple outside presenters; I happened to pick up a few pointers here and there (including: when a southern waves at you, always wave back or you will be perceived as a bad person)
- During lunch I got together with my Unit Leader, Neal, and had a 1 on 1 to discuss our last weeks Myers/Briggs leadership test results, Action Plan, and any worries I had up to this point
- Following lunch we had a 3 hour session dealing with Disasters; it is actually fun experience working on disasters even though it is devastating to see the outcome of the hurricane
- After we had an end of the week 3 wrap-up questions pertaining the same issues such as: need more hot water, need more supplies for the kitchen to cook the food, AC turning off at random times of the day, etc.

WEEKEND

- after Friday’s trainings, some of us cleaned up and went out to downtown Vicksburg for some socialization with each other and other Vicksburgeans that were out that night
- following the downtown scene, we drove over to the Ameristar casino and saw a live variety and funk band perform; danced up a storm; I ended up winning 18 bucks playing penny slots!! GO ME!
- On Saturday, about 5 of us walked to the public pool for an afternoon swim (which I got heavily burnt!), some went to the lake nearby, and others did their own thing; the pool was fun and very relaxing!
- Sunday was kind of a catch up, cleaned the room, played some board games, and had a good sleep in preparing for the up and coming busy, busy, busy week

07-27-09 ( MONDAY)

- group PT in the wee hours of the morning, nothing too exciting to report on this subject
- 2nd group community meeting to discuss important topics, schedule changes, and any other suggestions from staff and team green
- CTI Roundtable Discussion quickly followed
o Got a rough draft schedules of what CTI will look like
o Assigned stations for corps member arrival
- found out getting new phones; mine was acting poorly with a terrible battery life
- before lunch we had a Q and A with two ex-TL’s and asked them about their TL experience and got advice
- after catered lunch we gathered for PCR (project completion report) training with Jen Prall and Rich Smith (PS. More and more I bring up the acronyms for these terms, you will pick up on it J)
- found out we received our 1st TL direct deposit check…ALL were elated!
- The next hour consisted of the briefing of our 2nd TL service project in Vicksburg at a historic nun convent
- Ended the day discussing and gathering ideas about what to talk about at the TL debrief

NOTE: catered food for all 3 meals was NASTY!

07-28-09 (TUESDAY)

- met at 7:30 AM to load up necessary tools for service project; didn’t quite know what we were going to be doing when we got there
- drove to the project site and got to the historic location and received a brief orientation and walk-through
o learned a lot; oldest building in Vicksburg was at this site
- wore our sweet, black coverall outfit, put on our respirators and masks, and strapped on goggles then went to sweep up dust/debris in one of the buildings
o ripped down ceiling tiles
o shoveled up big and small particles of dust
o bagged and dumped it in the dumpster
- the reason for this project was also like a training because we learned what asbestos looks like and to be prepared to do this when you get called to mucking out houses and have to deal with lead paint and other chemical items
- worked and sweated until 11:30 AM; got 3 TV/radio media hits…2 from Vicksburg news and radio stations and 1 from Jackson local TV station (will be finding the links to add it)
- came back to campus for lunch and then go broken up into groups to do the 15 passenger final evaluations; I, of course dominated and passed easily (helps being a driver last year as a corps member); drove with staff Counselor, Leigh Ann.
- Came home from driving and got cleaned up for the Mississippi Braves AA baseball game
o Myself, Dan, and Patrick of the TL’s went
o $4 tickets for the doubleheader! Didn’t know it was 2 games until we got there…definitely worth the price of admission; our seats were 2nd row behind the 3rd base dugout
- what a LONG and TIRING day!

07-29-09 (WEDNESDAY)

- PT at bright and early 6 AM to the sweet MTV dance to the beat workout tape with fellow Road Rules and Real World members…it reminded me when I purchased Richard Simmons DVDs for my fellow crew leaders during Summer of Service last year
- Cleaned up and had TL scenarios where the staff members acted out possible CM situations; great training and very effective
- Got great feedback from the other TL’s in our follow up debrief.
- Another CRUDDY catered lunch!
- Then the TL’s gathered for a practice run-through for our debrief; we were even dressed up in ou formal attire to later find out that our TLT debrief was switched to tomorrow (Thursday) at 11 AM…that’s the pure definition of “being flexible”, one of the important things you learn in Americorps from the get-go!
- We then had chores to do for Wade, Deputy Specialist, and broke off into 4 groups; my group had to go through the 3 different dorms and take off the plastic linings on the bed mattresses, very hot and sweaty!
- After the termination of the small tasks, we gathered in our training room (Room 10) and found out that our BBQ potluck was cancelled, but instead we were going to have an ice cream social later tonight
- Also received word that I was going to be getting a mini fridge for my personal room! I set it up and it is SWEET!
- Had dinner and then followed by the ice cream social and then everyone got more and more hyped up because the anticipation with the CM’s coming
- Wrote some letters to mail to my peeps and called it a night


So as mentioned before, TLT is officially over and now onto the big time…CM’s! All this planning, training, and sitting into listening to sessions has paid off and I believe that a majority of us TL’s are prepared to bring on the CM challenge and lead a team! I know I have been waiting for this for a long time. I think I have to pinch myself to wake up from this dream and come back to reality. All of the previous weeks really have made me think really hard about this upcoming 10 months and makes me happier and happier. I am ready for this!!

More updates to come once the CM’s have settled in. It’s now time to take on the challenge of operating a POD team before our permanent teams come!!

“Be still when you have nothing to say; when genuine passion moves you, say what you’ve got to say, and say it hot.” -D.H. Lawrence



PS. Congratulations to my lovely cousin, Karah, for getting married this past weekend (Saturday)! Many years of happiness and love…wish I was able to come!

River Tres..IN YO FACE!

First and foremost before I begin this update I just want to wish my lovely and wonderful parents a Happy 32nd Wedding Anniversary. On this day 32 years ago Karen and Gary eloped and I can truly say that they are the best parents a son and daughter (speaking on behalf of my sisters) can ever have!! I can’t wait for the Golden Anniversary which really is right around the corner J

Yes! Yes! Some of you readers that have been reading my blogs for awhile now are probably wondering what the title of this entry is all about. Well…to answer that quite simply…our River Unit got our team numbers and I wanted to follow suite with my team number last year (Raven 3) and then I kind of “stole” the team phrase we had. I, in a way, was the creator of “Raven Tres in yo face!” but it was a collective effort that put it all together. What I decided to do is incorporate it with my River 3 team this year. We shall see what my Corps Members will think of the genius catch phrase!!

WOW! Is this week nearly over? Week 3 of TLT (team leader training) is coming to a halt as we went through yet again several trainings all pertaining to becoming a better TL. All were vital and influential. A sluggish week for some because of the amount of fun we had hanging out in New Orleans the week before. Pictures soon to be posted on facebook from the weekend. It didn’t slow me down though…instead it made me more anxious and stoked for the CM’s to come!! Countdown now stands at T minus 8 days until they arrive. I even heard there is a CM from Chicago…hmmm! Cubs or Sox fan?? I have no idea!!

Now onto the fun-packed, flexible yet interesting week…

MONDAY (July 20th)

- team green PT @ 6 AM; we did some stretches, did a light jog, wall-sits along the campus building, then went around the circle and performed our best and worst exercises and held for a minute each (the one I don’t like doing are lunges or mountain climbers)
- after cleaning up from PT, myself, Heidi Hock, Dan BP, and Johanna got to perform the 1st TL community meeting that consisted of a choreographed Ace of Base song, announcements, laughter, and ending me a rousing musical game in which you had to think of songs that had the selected word in it (example: “baby”….’Hit me baby one more time!”)
- we got into our Units and had a solid 2.5 hours of bonding with our fellow River Unit
o we visited 3 places together and did a team building exercise at each location; we went first to the visitors center and picked up Mississippi maps, got brochures for potential ISP locations, and hot spots in the remote area of Vicksburg
o next we went to the military grounds of Vicksburg and got a history lesson on how they fired off cannons during the war, it was very entertaining
o lastly, we went downtown towards the Yazoo River and hung out at the water fountains/park area where we wrote a letter to ourselves telling goals, aspirations, and things we want to accomplish before the 11 months is over
- Unit time took us into lunch which then in the afternoon Nick Zefran came in to present our results for the Myers-Briggs test we took last week; my results were very interesting but I was happy to see what type of leader I really am.
- Nick showed us and broke down what each type of leader possesses and how we ranked using code letters; sounds confusing…but if you want to know more information about it, let me know
- After Myers/Briggs we had some reflection time with our Unit (I love our Unit and Unit Leader!) minus Andie who was in the Sacramento campus as a corps member was graduating from her corps member year later that week
- Wound down from the crazy, yet entertaining day and played some Yahtzee with Chelsea…we split one game a piece
- Went to bed early!

TUESDAY (July 21st)

- got told that for most of the day today there wasn’t going to be any water; completely shut off all water pressure at 7:30 AM (GREAT!! I haven’t showered in 2.5 days! I don’t want to be the smelly TL)
- after breakfast we gathered with our Unit and drew out Life Maps; I ended up making a timeline that depicted important events in my life that led me to choosing to be a team leader for Americorps NCCC
- while we were in one of the morning meetings after Unit time, we had a surprised fire drill; while outside to pass the time we played this really sweet Dinosaur team building game…Thanks Jordan!
- Came back in and had the rest of the first half of Projects and Service Learning Session put on by PD and APD, Rich Smith and Jen Prall; we really focused on management duties
- Following the session, Region Director, Gary Turner, had us TL’s sit in to a live staff meeting to see how they operated; basically it was the whole staff in a room giving updates about up coming events and potential schedule changes…took about 15 minutes…there is still an issue with the hot water and consistent air conditioning
- After munching on lunch we had a training with our campus counselor, Leigh Ann Simon; it was called Crisis Intervention in which we talked about how we were feeling and worries we might have as the day slowly approaches for us to actually go out and act like team leaders
- Night 2 of Yahtzee with Chelsea…yes we split games again!
- Nighty Night!

WEDNESDAY (July 22nd)

- PT CANCELLED for morning!! What a shock!!
- In place of that we had to wake at 7:30 AM to clean up the camping gear that we had taken to Hazelhurst the week before
- So today was supposed to be designed for the TL Ropes Course, but because of complications and contract issues, the Ropes have been put on hold as staff tries really hard to find someone; all of us were anticipating the course and then got thoroughly disappointed when we found out there wasn’t going to be one! RATS!
- Instead we had Transition Training until lunch, we got the paper work and discussed vital information about what transition entails and the tasks that need to be done during those 3-4 days…the most important is the Project Portfolio
- After lunch we had Projects Training round 2 with Jen Prall and Rich Smith
- the River Unit gathered into Neal’s office thereafter and revealed our team numbers through voting on our favorites from 1-7, I luckily (as mentioned before) got #3 and the reasoning behind it was I wanted to have the same number as my team last year; along with our team numbers we received our 1st round project sheets in which we have to mark 1 to 13 on which ones we want to go on; I am sorta leaning towards a construction project
- around 3:30 PM we all got together to stuff roughly 1000 envelopes that had invitations for induction that is coming up
- once completed that task, we were all anticipating to going out in the blistering 95 degree summer heat, but were baffled when the UL’s told us that we were doing PT inside; Patrick Edwards (fellow TL) led the group in a one hour Yoga session (I surely have never done Yoga before and don’t really like it)…it concluded with a 10 minute meditation which was very relaxing
- after dinner we broke into our cleaning stations groups and knocked it out for the room inspections tomorrow; our group at kitchen
- some of the TL’s then got cleaned up and went to the karokee locale and busted out a tune (every Wednesday the Warehouse has free karokee, definitely a spot where we will be going)
- very excited to get re-van trained tomorrow with Wade Williams

THURSDAY (July 23rd)

- early morning room inspections, of course mine passed with flying colors as one of my goals this year was stay organized and not slack
- received some nice and comfy mattresses that will make nights sleep much more better
- all of the morning we had Van Training informational sessions with Wade and took the written test; I ended up getting an A+!
- an unfortunate event happened though in the afternoon, as we were helping Wade load up bed frames and mattresses into trucks in the scalding, blazing hot gymnasium, we decided to do some pull-ups to show off our muscles, to our surprise Wade got up there and did it and ended up tearing his right bicep! OUCH!
- He was unable to lead us in the afternoon extravaganza activities as we was rushed to the hospital for treatment
- Instead Brendan Murphy took over and taught the class about how to jack up a tire and how to check your under the hood fluids
- Next we hopped into the vans by units and practice drove around the Vicksburg area, I chose to go first to get it out of the way…driving a 15 P is like riding a bike, very easy to pick back up after not driving it for 8 months!
- Once we got back to campus from the all afternoon driving, we ate dinner and then played a rousing game of Trivial Pursuit, great team bonding by playing
- So glad it is almost the weekend!


So there is what transpired the last 4 days with only Friday left to go in this training week. People were talking about traveling to Memphis to visit, others wanted to stay and catch up on sleep and swim in the local pool…I am not quite sure what I want to do. We get our first TL paychecks tomorrow! Everyone is super stoked!! Tomorrow is more trainings including Disaster and Southern Culture. We shall pick up with the updates on Sunday as I am about to sign off! Look for updated pictures that will be posted. So far we are all enjoying one another and becoming closer and closer each day. This is a great group of people with diverse personalities all sharing one common goal…to SERVE! River 3 TL OUT!


PS. Happy wedding day in 2 days my oldest cousin on my Dad’s side, Karah! I wish I was able to come to the wedding, take TONS of pictures!!

PSS. Happy Anniversary again mother and father!!

Hazelhurst to New Orleans...all in one week!

Welcome to another rousing blog about a boy and his fellow team green members on a journey deep, deep in the south. To be more exact, Vicksburg, MS!

This is my 3rd update in 14 days and I am quite proud of being able to keep all of ya’ll informed on what is happening to me in my Team Leader quest! I will be explaining fully in detail what has occurred and try to keep you on the edge of your seat asking questions and wanting more. By far it was a very tiring week and LOTS of things got accomplished! Overall, it was a very rewarding week for all 20 of us team green, 2 unit leaders, and the numerous staff members.

What I (we) did…

MONDAY; July 13th

- 1st group PT in the morning…woke up at 5:45 AM to begin at 6 AM
o Led by UL, Neal, we did some calisthenics, stretches, tossed a Frisbee around in 2 lines and got penalized for dropping (so close to playing my favorite PT event= ultimate Frisbee)
- 1st TL community meeting where the whole staff go tto speak about upcoming week, schedule changes, and various trainings
- Before lunch we had our mini group policies and Protocols presentation
o My group talked about Leave and Sick Calls as well as Housing; we diverted the Housing segment into a rousing game of Jeopardy (a.k.a. Ameripardy!)
- after lunch we had and spent a couple hours discussing Service Learning and what it entails; SL is HUGE in NCCC! (I learned that last year and got refreshed this year)
- around 4:30 PM we loaded our packed bags in the 15 passenger vans and headed to Hazelhurst, MS.
- Each unit rode together jamming out to Disney songs and olides hits on route to the Boys and Girls Club for a day and a half of serving and learning…TIME TO GET THE HANDS DIRTY!
- Arrive at camp; project brief, met Billy the sponsor, played hand/group games with the campers (age ranges from 6-13) and pitched tents (even ate camp food!! YUMMY!)
- Geoff and I tented together because we are brothers from another mother in the humid, muggy, uncomfy nights sky
- Went swimming to cool off in the evening, had a team green bonfire, and shared stories; finally hit the hay preparing for a big day tomorrow

TUESDAY; July 14th

- woke at 5:45 AM in aches and pains hoping to go canoeing with fellow TLs, but no one was awake, so I fell back asleep
- to my mistakings, I later found out that they went out on the lake to canoe later that morning around 6:15 AM and watched the sun rise
- re-woke back up at 7 AM for campsite clean up
o it was a very uncomfy sleeping night and it felt like I received 3 hours of sleep in the end
o I even have battle scars such as bug bites (guess I should have brought a couple dry sheets Mom J), neck aches, and upper back pains from laying on the hard ground (next time make sure to pack a pad of some sort…*note to self*)
- ate breakfast and broke off into our 4 service groups for the day
o groups included: Learning about power tools, trail maintaining, dock building, and roofing lessons
- it rained most of the day slowing down progress and cutting the time at each station
- all in all, it was exhausting when the day was over but Billy was very pleased and thankfull for all our help; Assistant Program Director, Jen Prall, announced that the B & G Clubs of Hazelhurst will be receiving a team 1st round
o myself and the other field TL’s were super stoked because one of the tasks could be fixing up the 10 stationed ropes course
o PLUS he is such a great sponsor, it would awesome to get the project because you want to establish a good, solid relationship with your sponsor and then the round will be great…our Raven 3 team last year found out that is the best way
- rallied everyone up and headed back to campus and called it a night after a long, tiresome 2 days

WEDNESDAY; July 15th

- 2nd group PT in the morning starting at 6 AM
o Warm-up run, stretching, relay race card game…turn over a black card and do crunches…turn a red one over and do pushups
o Swating PROFUSELY! (good ol’ southern morning…bright and early…UP AND AT ‘EM!)
- supervisory training Day 1 with Drew Carberry
o 2 day training discussing effective ways to manage a team and gearing towards being a successful TL\
- performed numerous activities, received a helpful booklet and the presenter was very lively and happy
- 2nd unit meeting with my fellow River mates
- Cleaning night (our group of 5 had bathrooms); all 20 of us are broken into 4 stationed cleaning locations; finally got around to cleaning my own room for room inspections tomorrow
- Busted out the NCCC karaoke machine and some of us jammed out to the late 1990’s greatest hits all the way to Celine Dion!
- We then had a TL meeting talking about who will be going to New Orleans trip this weekend, sorting out the drivers and what people are going into what car; my squad will be leaving Saturday morning!

THURSDAY; July 16th

- at 7:00 AM we had our very first room inspections and I passed with flying colors!
- Went to the 2nd half of Supervisory Training with Drew in which we did more small group activities (it was in a way very overwhelming to do so many small group things back to back to back)
- Drew talked to us until around 5 PM and we reflected on the training as a group
- Cleaned up and went to the Kroger grocery store to get a weeks worth of food; Geoff and I tagged team up once again

FRIDAY; July 17th

- wake up for 3rd group PT session in which we did the baseline test AND sets of pushups and crunches
- I ended up getting 71 crunches done in a minute, 33 pushups in a minute, and ran the 1.5 mile run in 10 minutes and 27 seconds; I really surprised myself with the run as I was expecting my time to be around 12 minutes
- The idea with the baseline test to improve your score each and every time we have it; we will be re-tested at the end of 1st round during transition to keep up with who is doing PT and who isn’t J
- On the schedule for today was Diversity training with Craig Bowman
o I already had the training with Summer of Service so it might seem that I was uninterested, but in actuality it was very good
- Craig had different activities both fun and serious in talking about diversity
- All of us learned more and more about each other in this session
- After Diversity we had a reflection hour in which we really spilled our emotions on the training
- We concluded the week with Unit time and preparing for next weeks events; especially planning Unit time for Monday the 20th (we had some very good ideas in mind, for example: hopping in the van and getting a tour of Vicksburg while getting out of the van every stop and doing a team building exercise!)
- Later on that night majority of the team green went out to either see Harry Potter or Public Enemies
- I decided to call it a night early and prepare myself for a wonderful trip to New Orleans!!

SATURDAY; July 18th

- awake at 7:20 in the morning and get ready to go with the first group to NOLA; thanks to Patrick for driving 4 of us!
- Arrive in NOLA and check into the hotel at 12 noon; drop our things off into the room and walk to the nearest Po Boy shop….MMMM MMM! DELICIOUS!
- After eating some tasty lunch and awaiting the arrival of the other team green groups, we hopped over to the cigar shop and book store; browsed around in each for a little bit and then went back to the hotel to clean up and wait for the others
- Once they arrived we went out; the other groups pit stopped and took the Abita beer free tour
- Met up and walked around Bourbon trying to find good live music; stopped at several places and stepped in to rock out!
- Ended up going to Frenchmen street later to hang out there and socialized with fellow mates and then walked to Mimi’s to play pool and dance to soul/disco/funk!
- All of us congregated back to the hotel in which 7 of us wanted to swim in the pool, we forgot our suits so we decided to jump in anyways…great times and great bonding
- Hopped into bed and called it a night


So as you can see this was a very eventful and busy week! Long days that led to tiring nights and sometimes even getting 4 hours asleep based on whether or not PT was in the morning. But in conclusion it was a very productive week to say the least. A lot was accomplished, learned, and many things will be soaking in. I started getting a rough idea down on scratch paper on how I want to tackle the idea of introducing my corps members when they arrive. The CM’s come to the campus in T minus 11 days and we are all anticipating for it as several of us are in teams planning the “perfect” registration and Corps Member Training. We are wanting to begin a legacy and get things off to the right start. This week ahead of us will consist of more trainings, unit times, reflecting, and possibly more crazy things the Unit Leaders have up their sleeves. All the staff is so incredibly nice and it is always wonderful to go down to their offices and chat with them in between breaks.

Until next time my fellow readers…great updating you on what is happening down here in hot and sticky Mississippi or as Casey Mccue likes to call it, “The ‘Sip!” More to come later on this week. ENJOY! I leave you with this quote said by Unit Leader, Neal Oliver, “Our job is to make each other look good” (Totally using that for my team’s motto!)

1st week of training is in the BAG!

Education Award for completing 1,700 hours of service: $4,725
Amount of food money TL’s get per day: $4.50
Getting bit several times by no-seeums, mosquitoes, and other bugs: PRICELESS!

Man…these biters really enjoy clinging onto you and leaving some heavy duty marks. Throughout this Americorps journey there has been several fruit flies, mosquitoes, spiders and other insects/bugs crawling and flying around nipping at our flesh. They are feasting on our kitchen area and especially the bananas and other fruit items. I can truly play the game connect the dots on my arms because of how many there are. I guess bugs travel with you down to the “dirty south” and I should have been more prepared. OR maybe it is the warm 99-102 degree temperature days mixed in with the sticky, mucky, hot humidity.

Ok ok enough with the negatives and onto the positives. These last couple days have been basically used for team building exercises, learning about specialty roles, and going through ideas to make the “In Processing” for the corps members flow easier. Plus on top of that…it was a way for all the team leaders to get to know one another better by going out and exploring the town of Vicksburg. One of the few weekends we will have free and no corps members to worry about. Some of us have great ideas on what to do with our time off including karokee at a local club/bar down the street. It seems the people who did bring cars are always willing to assist with the driving to these establishments. I kind of wished I brought my vehicle down to Mississippi, but realize that everyone is so friendly and sharing that it was better I didn’t. Thank you all my lovely Ameri-TL friends! Talks have been stirring about getting the group together (or whoever wants to go) to travel over to New Orleans and in mine and Geoff’s case to visit our Americorps Perry Point buddies either working for organizations down there or fellow team green TL’s that happen to have 3rd round projects there. Either way it will be such a blast and bring back great memories of working two rounds in the gulf coast around this same time last year. We even are going to stay in the NCCC Americorps Hotel off of Bourbon St. that gives a special discount to us for being in the program. Wouldn’t that be cool that a couple years down the line that Americorps is so nationally known that you can walk into a restaurant, hotel, or other establishment and be noticed for the hard-work you do and get your meal or something for free? Give it time…I have a hunch it will happen at some point!

Alrighty then…onto the last couple days of this 1st week trainings. As the days keep getting closer and closer to corps member arrival date, I am getting both stoked and worried. I can’t wait to take on the new challenge and leading for the next 10 months a group of young men and women, who are relatively the same age as me, and taking them on a service journey. I hope to get TONS out of this!

THURSDAY (Day 4 of being TL)
- woke up and had mock room inspections and what to expect when there are inspections every Thursday; received a checklist sheet
- from 8 AM- noon we had specialty roles training and learned about the various tasks and roles each member will have to have while on Spikes
- roles range from: assistant TL, service learning initiator, project outreach liaison, CAP’per, Media, and many others; basically each team member should have 2 specialty roles; the roles will change from round to round depending on how the team leader wants to do it.
- Each role has an importance in some way or another, a well-oiled machine works when everyone is doing their part!
- After lunch we learned about the several forms that go with the job description of a team leader; from injury report forms to quantifiable forms to budget forms, etc. So many, but thanks to our TL binder I am able to stay organized and follow through more efficiently. One of my goals for these 11 months was to keep organized.
- Once we all got the idea and gist of forms, we moved onto talking to Teresa Beck (training instructor) about feedback about registration and when we first came to the campus
- We took notes on how to improve the “in processing” and she was able to gather up much of our feedback; we are going to play huge roles in assisting her in the next 3 weeks to make it smoother
- Later the UL’s got us all together and we tied up any loose ends from our previous conversations about alcohol, fraternization with corps members, and other policies that people were confused about.
- Finished up the day by going grocery shopping at the local Kroger; over $800 dollars later we got one weeks worth of food to make meals; Geoff and I combined our money and got some healthy veggies, fruits, wheat bread, and many more because him and I are going to shed some unnecessary weight (myself hoping and praying to lose 15-20 pounds before my older sister’s wedding in October)
- Fell asleep watching my nightly Full House DVD episodes!

FRIDAY (Last day of week 1 of TL training)

- first thing in the morning we had Member Handbook training where headquarters employee Tom Bryant came to deliver the talk
- he went from cover to cover in the Handbook discussing and depicting the key issues (i.e. alcohol, ed award, spike housing, etc.)
- Tom was a very witty and tried to make the training entertaining the best of his ability; I got a lot of issues clarified and any policies that have changed within the past year in my stay in Perry Point; nothing too drastic had been altered
- Around 1 PM we gathered with Jen Prall, assistant program director, and she told us what our first service project as a group is going to be; we went over the task sheet and what we were suppose to accomplish
- Found out we are going camping Monday night and then working all day Tuesday; we were broken into work groups to cover different sections of the Boys and Girls Club location; not sure what one I am in.
- An overview of the service project seemed to be a lot of fun and now we are able to get our hands dirty and help; possibly an idea for a future ISP (independent service project) for my future River team.
- Following the project briefing, we went outside with our fellow unit leaders and performed some team building activities to end the stressful week; several games we picked up on to possibly use with our teams; we broke off into our units and worked within the 10 in our unit; then we were surprised with a tasty dessert.
- While the Team Leaders were still super hyped up from the team builders, we decided upon going to a local blues bar to hang out; about 18 of us drove in 5 cars to the location and got the chance to do more bonding
- A 5-member cover band played 3 sets of music throughout the night and we were dancing up a storm…can you say 3 hours of PT? ;)
- It was good to go and get away from the campus for the night and experience the city of Vicksburg; all of us were really cutting a rug; I am such a bad dancer, but it didn’t matter because it was a good time regardless!


SATURDAY (July 11th)

- felt good to sleep-in and regain some of that lost sleep during the week
- went out and ventured around Vicksburg
- couple of us went to the local swimming pool, hoping to get a free membership from it…still in the works
- at night it was a low-key type night from being so worn out the night before; some played some board games, others watched movies, and others went to Walmart.


So as you can see, we are all excited to be here and get started on serving. This up and coming service project will be a blast because it will be another way to bond with our fellow team green members. This is already a tight bunch of wonderful people gathering from several states and sharing the same common goal! I wonder what is to come in the following couple weeks as we prepare to be better team leaders as well as ready ourselves for the corps members. The 20 of us team green consists of 8 males and 12 females. One downfall from this week though that involves my stupidity…on Thursday night after getting back from shopping for food, I decided to boost morale of my fellow team green members and made a batch of cinnamon rolls to share. After they were done cooking I grabbed a moist towel and took them out of the blazing hot oven…BIG MISTAKE! Why Danny did you use a moist towel? Why didn’t you simply use the oven mitt that was in the drawer 10 feet from you? Well, I don’t know why I did what I did but I ended up 2nd degree burning 2 of my fingers on my left hand. After running them in cold water for an hour and taking an advil…I was good to go! I have gotten some bad sunburns, but this semi-injury hurt like the DICKENS! I had a lot of support from my team green that got me through the pain. I have officially learned my lesson!!

Until next post, stay classy people!! Hope you enjoyed what you read. More blogs to come in the near future!


PS. When we went to the Chinese buffet I received this fortune in my cookie, word for word it read “You are born with grace and beauty.”

PSS. More and more the wedding date gets closer and closer for my older sister and her fiancée Ben I get so excited….and I just can’t hide it!

Round 2 of NCCC...next stop Vicksburg, MS

WOW! So it surely has been awhile since I have blogged or have gotten the time to sit down and actually talk about my Americorps experience. If you are new to reading this, I got accepted in April-ish to be a “field” team leader down in the inaugural Vicksburg, MS campus of NCCC. TL’s are responsible for a lot and leading roughly ten 18-24 year old young men and women in the South Region states of the United States for the next 11 months. Those states stretch from Texas all the way to Virginia! Anyways, I am taking on a HUGE and difficult journey, but I am always ready for new challenges thrown my way. I think that I will be using the same techniques as my old team leader because I really idolized her and her methods. To this day, Andrea and I talk every once in awhile but not enough. She, as well as other Americorps ex-TL’s have opened up and agreed to help me with any Team Leader problems that might arise and get me through the process. My good friend and old teammate, Stan, is currently serving as a TL over in Perry Point, MD and he will definitely be someone to reach out to.

I went roughly 8 months after graduating from Perry Point with well over 2200 service hours in the 10 months and participated in several side jobs to make some sort of income. I took actually the lazy route and really didn’t care to look for communication positions and careers that went along with the degree I received in college (radio/TV broadcasting). So instead I got re-certified to ref high school basketball and soccer, went back and made minimum wage at Kohl’s department store as a cashier, and helping out my Pops at his warehouse building tables for optometrists and Walmart optical centers. That carried me to the decision to actually apply to be a team leader in April. I missed Americorps so much and I just wanted to go back. When I heard there were still some openings at the Vicksburg campus, I decided to…as the group Sugarhill Gang…”Jump on it!” And believe me so far it has been a very wonderful decision. Ideally I wanted to become a Team leader at the Perry Point campus to be with my buddy Stan and my other Ameri-friends that I had made from the previous year, but I said Vicksburg will suffice.

In preparation for Americorps and after being accepted as a TL, I was doing some extensive thinking on how I was going to handle my team. Would I take the iron fist approach? Would I be the friend first? Or would I just simply perform the tough love attitude from beginning to end? I was all puzzled! And actually doing those couple of months after being chosen I was praying to have a motivated team that every member worked hard with no complaints. And I know what you are thinking…there is no way that can happen…you are living in a “dream world!” Yes it might be a dream world to have 10 capable 18-24 working to see change in the areas, but who says I can’t “mold” them into hard workers or be that role model they look up to and want to emulate. I think if I set the bar at the start then they will start respecting me and then everyone will be happy. I think by my personality they will enjoy it and so far the other fellow team green members are getting along with me just great. The staff enjoys my enthusiasm and motivation and attitude towards trainings, other people, and especially the idea to serve in several communities. We surely have been embraced by some of the residents of Vicksburg with wonderful Southern Hospitality! Very nice and thankful people already have been praising us for being apart of the legacy known as Vicksburg, MS. It surely puts a smile on my way to see others happy and cheery.

So…onto the good stuff…which is what has happened in the last couple days of my Team Leader experience down in good ol’ Mississippi (home of ex-Packers QB Brett Favre, the birthplace of Elvis, and rapper David Banner also resides down here). I love the vicinity of where it is located because Memphis, TN is roughly 3 hours away, New Orleans, LA is about 3 hours away, the state capital Jackson is less than an hour…and there has been SEVERAL talks about visiting these places with other fellow team leaders. Kind of wish I had my car down here to be able to road trip to those places. Especially NOLA because of all the great memories with projects, people I met, and actually friends that reside there now either helping out with other Americorps programs or simply fell in love with the city so much they seeked employment to serve down there. They tell us that Vicksburg has about 1,500 monuments scattered throughout because of it’s rich Civil War tradition and actually we have driven past several old barrack locations from the war…kind of cool to have some service learning of the area. Our campus building itself is pretty bomb-diggity!! Totally did not expect the type of treatment we are getting with the rooms we are in (will be posting pictures on facebook soon of the campus). Contractors and the Vicksburg staff have been renovating the place for the last 3 months and it really looks nice. Compared to Perry Point, this campus takes the cake. So much things to do while you are here, including swimming, working out in the gym, playing basketball, and even going outside in the penetrating southern heat and playing ultimate Frisbee or soccer.

I am now going to take you day-by-day of things I did and explain how they were and how fun this experience has been so far.

MONDAY (Day 1 of TL)

- hop on the Van Galder bus to the airport, after only receiving 3.5 hours of sleep the previous night
- arrive at O’Hare airport and get on a 10:35 AM flight to Atlanta, GA
- fly for about an hour and 15 mins and then have a lay over in Atlanta to then fly to Jackson, MS
- get on the flight to Jackson with my first Americorps TL friend, Casey Mccue
- at the end of the flight and when we arrive in Jackson, Casey and I end up running into 4 more fellow TL’s and we skipped to our baggage claim to then be picked up by Unit Leader Brendan and Assistant Program Director Jen Prall
- drove in the govey vans (boy…do I miss seeing those!) to Vicksburg (approx. 50 miles from airport)
- arrive at campus to be engaged with other TL’s that either drove their personal cars or the TL’s who had the earlier flight into the building, everybody is just so friendly!
- got the keys to our dorm rooms and organized rooms; very spacious rooms, lots of closet space and places to just roam around. Coed floors. Randomly selected room numbers from a bag (some got bathrooms in their rooms and some didn’t….mine is bathroomless L)
- had an introduction and ice breaker type games to get to know each other and introductions; I already knew one person coming in (Geoff Hill); but also had some communication with a couple of the TL’s via facebook group that the UL’s had started.
- Received our sweet team green uniforms, BRAND SPANKIN NEW! Including getting a team laptop, USB drive, backpack, and many more…govey phones are on the way (UNLIMITED TEXTING!!!)
- Wrapped up the busy and travel-full day and called it a night!


TUESDAY (Day 2 of TL)

- woke up and received some morning trainings, introductions to the staff members, and the regional director. I had already previously known 5 of the staff members because I worked with them in New Orleans my 3rd round project for Summer of Service last July. They were definitely happy to see us J
- got to take the tour of the campus and pick out furniture for our rooms…I chose some chairs, a desk, and a chest of drawers…now my room is big AND homey!
- Got more acquainted with the other TL’s and found out our unit names and what unit we were on; I am on the River Unit with my fellow Unit Leader, Neal
- Had more trainings in the afternoon, talked to staff members, took some pictures of getting uniforms
- Starting to become comfortable around the TL’s as day by day get closer and closer…I think this group is a good one and really amazing (12 females and 8 males)
- Geoff is my boy and will be for these 11 months!
- Went grocery shopping for our first meals, since the first 3 meals were catered by our fellow Unit Leaders (thanks Neal and Brendan)
- Went on a health and wellness run for necessities
- Called it a night after another long, tiring day


WENDSDAY (Day 3 of TL)

- got up and had morning trainings regarding policy, regulations, rules, and in the afternoon had a counseling meeting with Leigh Ann
- we were in the training room all day today, so some of it seemed repetitive from last year which made the day drag, but it ended great because we got a free pizza party for dinner and got a chance to meet some Vicksburg residents
- they are just so thankful for our help and FINALLY establishing a campus down in Mississippi with all the hurricane damage
- still no govey phones!!!
- Did some TL bonding with one another and danced in the kitchen area, the team is really gelling together nicely; 20 different personalities mixed into one is working out just wonderfully
- Celebrated a fellow TL’s birthday with cake and cheap presents
- Prepared our rooms for our first room inspections
- We really spent a lot of time talking about Personal Training and how important it is and the rules of consumption of Alcohol with Americorps
- Myself and Geoff are attempting to get some people to visit New Orleans next weekend for 2 days and 1 night to visit friends
- Updating my blog


So…there you have the latest Dan Chianakas update on what is going on in the last 3 days here in Vicksburg. As you can see, trainings and unit meetings have been consuming much of our time and we are just adapting to our surroundings and having fun in the process. More to come later as every day gets more and more exciting with new memories and great times. I love the staff members, the TL’s and I am pretty sure I will be loving my team. Until then…hope you enjoy reading this update and I am going to do my darnest to keep this blog updates about 2 days a week with exciting news that will keep you on the edge of your seat wanting more J Thanks for taking the time to read!

PS. “Be the change you want to see in the world” -Ghandi