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