WE HAVE OUR REAL TEAMS!!

As you can tell by the title of this update, we as the 14 team green field team leaders have gotten our 10-11 member permanent teams. River Tres…’IN YO FACE’ and I received 10 wonderful, diverse 18-24 year olds that were eager to start working. The last couple of weeks have been exciting, tiring, optimistic, and challenging. We have gone through a lot as team leaders and for the Vicksburg, MS corps. One of my goals was to be able to handle all the obstacles and challenges thrown my direction and I can say that even though my plate will be filled with them for the next 10 months, I will surely be capable of accomplishing that goal.

Anyways, leading on to what has happened from when I first left off (August 7th) all the way to today’s current date (August 14th). A lot of things occurred during those dates, so hold on for the ride…

FRIDAY (August 7th)- last day with temporary team (gonna miss you all!)

- we have already been in our temporary teams for roughly 6 days and first thing in the morning we had the whole corps get together for PT directed by the 2 unit leaders
o we ended up just working on stretches and working on different muscle groups
o very hard to orchestrate a group of 170 people at 5:30 AM when the sun hasn’t even risen yet!
- rushing to clean up after, we gathered all together as a team and rode in the govey van to the Southern Heritage Culture Center (about 4 miles from campus)
o there we spent the day with several trainings including: southern culture, nutrition, food safety, and how to properly budget your money
o ended up getting catered lunch there
- got back from the trainings and ate dinner and then had a catered cook-out on the tennis courts
- anxious to get going with the team reveals, the corps members gathered in the foyer of Green Hall as the Team Leaders hid in their respectable locations
o I chose to hide in the supply room with the floral cots
- the Team Leaders previously gave 5 facts about them and then the support team leaders put together a scavenger hunt with those clues; I had 2 temporary members on my permanent team that they knew who they had from the first clue
- they still had to accomplish the whole scavenger hunt until they got down to the supply room where I was waiting patiently with a jar of candy
- I pulled them into a room for introductions, ice breakers, and we played the game “Hot Seat”…welcome to River 3: Brennan, Brendan, Ryan, Becca, Alleigh, Hannah, Brett, Mike, Lan, and Tarah!

SATURDAY (August 8th)

- woke up at 8 AM for TB shot test results
- since there was a minor team hiccup in the morning, we ended up gathering up at 1 PM for team bonding
o I treated them and drove to the Jackson Zoo for a couple hours, got some wicked pictures that will soon be posted, also did an animal activity where they had to pick the animal that best represents themselves
o team dinner at Goldies BBQ restaurant
- later when I got back from the dinner, I was on my 1st night of campus duty with Chelsea starting at 7 PM and staying awake until 1 AM…definitely a long and entertaining day!

SUNDAY (August 9th)

- great sleep-in until about 11:30 AM
- woke and went with a group of CM’s and TL’s to the public pool; not bad price: 3 bucks for 4 hours of swimming
- other Team Leader’s and team green went to Wade’s lake house and rid on his boat
- called together a River 3 meeting to create team charter and discuss life map assignment (listed below is what we came up with!)

‘River Tres…IN YO FACE’

TEAM CHARTER

Team Quote: “Our job is to make each other look good!”

1. Always be ON TIME!!
2. Be responsible and respectful to each other!
3. ISP hours: TBA
4. Cell phones- silent or off onsite, in trainings, etc.
5. If you need help ask 3 people on the team before you ask the team leader
6. If you have an issue, go to that person first (DON’T GET DEFENSIVE!)
7. Work on filtering language in and out of the “A”
8. Take ownership- of the team, of your team position, of your assigned tasks
9. Maintain professionalism in all circumstances
10. No tobacco on worksite or in van
11. Eating: TBA
12. Don’t let drinking effect work or relationships
13. Maintain good hygiene throughout…NO SMELLY KIDS!
14. At least 3 people need to be in the van at all time
15. Person who sits “shotgun” must stay awake on SPIKE roadtrips and shouldn’t be texting
16. Driver will NOT answer phone or text while driving
17. Respect one another’s space and personal belongings (do not steal from each other)
18. Complaining= negative!
19. Safety first!!
20. Give suggestions and don’t be bossy
21. Stay healthy!
22. Team Van Goal: NO ACCIDENTS or TICKETS!
23. Driver will not mess with van controls (radio, temperature, ipod, etc.)
24. HAVE FUN!

- once the day ended we as team green gathered for meeting to debrief Monday’s service project to Rolling Fork, MS
o I was delegated to run a training on painting to the corps members

MONDAY (August 10th)

- 2nd whole corps member PT, group of 4 team leaders led it
o 3 different stations: running up and down a hill continuously, Frisbee game, and stretching
- hussled and hurried for the service project to Rolling Fork
o Rolling Fork= small city, population roughly 2,000 people
o River 3 primed and cleaned the Academy gymnasium wall; will be back for an ISP to finish the painting part sometime soon
o Roughly 950 square feet primed as well as 2 stairwells was our quanitfiables; I was very pleased about how well our River 3 team worked together…roughly 8 of the 10 took the initiative at least once during the all day project
- came back from a long day but felt fortunate in our abilities to serve and get the hands dirty, even got to wear the sweet coveralls to paint in.
- Rolling Fork was very appreciative of the corp’s work that they kept generously giving out food and drinks to everyone
- Some good ol’ Southern Hospitality
- Got back from the 1st service project and played ultimate Frisbee with the corps members (LOVE that game!)
- So wiped out from the day, passed out early and got a solid 10 hours of sleep!!

TUESDAY (August 11th)

- first thing was a River Unit meeting with Neal
- while the Delta Unit had Diversity training, River’s had Project Service Learning all day!
o Diversity trainer Craig Bowman came to talk; very emotional for some of the corps members when playing ‘cross the line’
- once the trainings ended the Corps members had their 1st room and communal room inspections
- everyone passed on my team!! NO ISSUES!

WEDNESDAY (August 12th)

- Happy 25th Birthday Narayan Saha and Stef Schneider
- My group of 4 team leaders (Sanjoy, Chandra, Amanda, and myself) led a four station PT session
o Stations included: mine was the sprinting station where they had to run half the length of a soccer field and then do 10 squats and sprint back; next station was stretching and calisthenics with Amanda; next was Indian run with Chandra; the last station was Sanjoy’s and they played the deck of card sprinting game where if they flipped a “red” card they had to do that many sit-ups and if it was “black” that many pushups
- afterwards we showered up and met for the very first corps community meeting; it was orchestrated by River 1 and Delta 1
- the units flipped flopped and the River’s had Diversity training while the Delta’s had Projects and Service Learning with the Program Director, APD, and Teresa
o Diversity for our unit left a sour taste in some of the corp’s members mouths as well as very emotional for some that included a couple of my River 3 members
o All in all, the CM’s either liked it or disapproved it
- unit River then had a meeting to reflect on the day with Neal
- my 2nd duty night with Chelsea came later and made 3 rounds making sure everyone was okay and safe
- basically a long day beginning at 5:30 AM finally ending at 1 AM

THURSDAY (August 13th)

- my team has to clean up after all 3 meals in the cafeteria by sweeping, wiping down tables and pushing in the chairs
- met at 7:30 AM on the front porch and drove to the Southern Heritage Culture Center for Healthy Lifestyles training
- before breakfast catering didn’t show up, so I took the gang to Shipley’s for some donuts and coffee
- while at the Heritage Center the corps members received trainings on CAP and media from Geoff and in the afternoon Leigh Ann (counselor) came to talk to them and had her training on Healthy Lifestyles and alcohol issues within teams
- we transitioned back to campus and River TL’s had a meeting with Neal to talk about the effectiveness of the day
- later in the night there was a GLBS (gay, lesbian, bi, straight) meeting for anyone in the cafeteria; I had a team meeting and did a couple activities for bonding together and team builders
- headed off to bed to prep myself for the all corps base line test in the morning

FRIDAY (August 14th)

- BASE LINE TEST! Drove to the military ground site with our teams at 5:30 AM and performed the test of sit-ups and push-ups in a minute…then came the 1.5 mile run.
- My River 3 member Brennan ended up winning the race with a time of 9 minutes and 21 seconds…great work! Every member of River 3 worked extremely hard
- Team Leaders had an amazing outfits on for the baseline; I was reppin the bright yellow stretch pants with the Americorps bandana and a brightly colored yellow shirt…definitely stood out!
- Tons of laughing and enjoyable times for the test; drove back to campus and cleaned up for Transition Elements training
- That went until lunch and after lunch we had Tools and Safety training with the unit leaders, Wade, and a guy from the Home Depot came in
o Trainings included: how to put up a tent, how to put tools in a tool wheel and how to use them, how to use power tools, and finally how to roof a house
- all were very effective and the corps member learned a lot!
- In the evening I scheduled another team meeting where I took my River 3 mates down to the mural along the Yazoo river for a reflection and for everyone to share their life maps; we then took a team picture behind the sapling trees and headed back
- Some of my members took off for New Orleans for the weekend, others stayed back on campus to relax.

SATURDAY and SUNDAY (August 15th and 16th)

- this weekend was very relaxing for me; I went to the public pool on Saturday until around 5 PM and got a little burnt
- got cleaned up and went across the Mississippi border to socialize with 9 of my other team leader buddies
- Sunday was another relaxing/calm day in which I went to the pool with corps members and team leaders (it was the last weekend for open swimming in the summer)
- Got some logistical things accomplished for the team and had a team meeting at 8 PM to give them their speciality roles and handed them goodie bags; we also cut up and made bracelets from a bandana to represent the “unity” of River 3
- Peaceful weekend indeed!


So there you have it. The last almost nearly 2 weeks of what has been going on in my life at this moment. I am really excited to see my team grow emotionally, physically and socially. I really enjoy the dynamic of the team currently and have leaders ready to jump in when the time is necessary. If this is what the year is going to be like, then I am very fortunate. I am prepared for the obstacles that will be thrown in my direction, but I am hoping these challenges won’t be too overbearing! I want to grow as an individual too. I reiterate to the team that BE ON TIME and for the most part they are following through. With my new implemented rule on being late really has made a difference as all make a conscience effort to be punctual.

I am excited for this up and coming weekend because a couple of us are going to drive to New Orleans to visit my good TL friend, Stan and our Perry Point Americorps buddy Elliott and enjoy the weekend there. Tons of catching up needs to be taken care of. Geoff and I plan on leaving for NOLA either Friday or Saturday night. Definitely will be a blast!

This week is going to be a long one because we have more trainings, birthdays to celebrate, baseball games to attend, and 2 corps member service projects. So far so good on being a team leader…I LOVE IT! I am going to make a big effort to getting the proper amount of sleep and eating right to maintain that healthy frame! I am counting down the days until my sister’s wedding and it is T minus 54 days!!! I gotta actually start looking at airplane flights now. Have a great week y’all! More to come soon and very soon.

River 3 team quote: “Our job is to make each other look good!”


PS. GO CUBS! Get healthy pitching staff and please do better and catch those pesky Cardinals!

Team Leader Initiation FULLY in effect!

I guess I NOW know what it takes to be a Team Leader after this past week! Today actually marks exactly a month that we as team green have been in Vicksburg. I remember that first day on July 6th traveling to Atlanta and then swinging over to Jackson, MS to then get picked up by the one and only Jen Prall! Time surely has flown by. 10 more months to go! Like mentioned above, this week was definitely a true beginning test on what TL life will be like the whole year. I told myself I won’t be burning out and to bring on all challenges and obstacles that are in my path. With the guidance of some ex-TL’s and Mom/Dad I am able to get through any situation. It seems as if these last couple days of work have been in between 14-16 hours a day! I feel I am back in Summer of Service about 13 months ago with the kids down in New Orleans my 3rd round project last year.

All in all, even though the days are going by super duper fast and seem to drag on…it is definitely a great time and I am in LOVE with my temporary team. We are all laid back and chill for the most part and they are taking my “not being late” rule to heart which is wonderful. Most of them even have taken the initiative with picking up trash and being individual leaders to the team. Americorps teases us TL’s in giving us these rockin’ and awesome teams in the beginning to only be torn about at weeks end. Real/permanent teams are dispersed tomorrow (Friday) with team reveals. I am kind of bitter/sweet about the event because I want to keep ALL of my temp team and bring them with me for all 4 rounds, but we don’t live in perfect world.

So I have roughly 6 days to catch y’all up on in this blog…so bare with me and here we go:

JULY 30th (Thursday)

- Neal and Brendan came around and performed our 3rd room inspections…of course once again I passed!
- Today was the eve before the Corps Members came to the campus, some already came early with their personal cars
- After breakfast we gathered with team green community meeting with staff to go over last tasks that need to be completed before they came
- We prepped for the arrival of the CM’s the whole day
o Some made door decorations, decorations and banners for the dorms, signs, room keys, set up tables/chairs in the kitchen, and all the logistics
o I, with 4 other TL’s re-arranged the dorms and made the rooms 4 down to 3 per room to make it easier for bathroom use. Each of the rooms was connected to another separated by a bathroom that the members shared. S basically 6 CM’s share a bathroom in each room.
- busy, busy, and super sweaty was how to describe my task for the day; it literally took all day because we moved and fixed up about 140 beds total…muscles were aching…OUCH! (I ain’t a whimp though!)
- although, an unfortunate event happened when our day was finished, when I finished setting up the chairs in the kitchen area I was walking back through the cafeteria passage way to Wade’s office when I clunked my forehead into a metal pole! Silly me! I had a HUGE knot on it and it was the size of a half-dollar!! I had a mini headache before the day but this only made it worse; I was then told I needed to get it looked at so UL Neal drove me to the ER to check up on it
o the results were it was not a concussion but a contusion and I needed to ice it 3 times a day for 20 minutes until the bump goes down.
o I healed so quickly within 36 hours!
- in celebration of all the excitement and being done with TLT, we all gathered in one of the classrooms for an ice cream social with staff and team green…MUCH needed!
- finally with such a busy schedule, went to bed at 11 PM in anticipation of the CM’s arriving!

JULY 31st (Friday)

- CM’s ARRIVE! CM’s ARE HERE!! No more TLT!
- Woke up with excitement to meet Wade to get our van keys
- We partnered up and each had 2 or 3 van pick up shifts; Sally and I got paired together
o I rode shotgun both times because the Americorps Head Quarters in D.C. shredded my driver’s record and now I have to go obtain another one!
- our first shift was @ 10:30 AM and we drove to a furniture store called MisKelly with 3 other paired group of TL’s waiting the call from Wade or Jen to come to the airport; Miskelly was about 4 minutes down the street from the airport.
- Our 1st van load of people was only 4 people total; 3 talkative females and one kind of shy person; we did the coffee talk type of conversation with them
- We came back to campus and unloaded the bags of the CM’s in their proper dorms and then got immediately told to drive our 2nd shift (luckily flights were delayed or we’d been late because everything was backed up)
- Cruised back to Miskelly and hung out there for a couple hours; this furniture store was ideally the coolest thing EVER: it had a basketball hoop, a home theatre where Finding Nemo was playing, a carousel, and of course comfortable recliners to sit in!
o 2nd van load: FULL HOUSE! We had about 9 that came back with us and we played the ice breaker game “Hot Seat”; all of them seemed to enjoy it very much
- arrived back to campus and unloaded again; didn’t get back until little after 7 PM
- immediately after we had a team green wrap-up meeting with the Unit Leaders and dissected the day, brought some sanity back into some TL’s life…I had a blast!
- Later that night we even met our temporary teams and had a mock fire drill
o My team is: Aaron, Alyse, Michelle, Luke, Ryan, Rebecca, Grace, Jacob, Eddie, and Kayla
o One solid group of people!! GREAT team dynamic from the get-go

August 1st & 2nd (Saturday and Sunday)

- Day 1 of in-processing which meant the start of the 15 hour work days!!! But I still have a smile on my face J
- Teamed up with our counter Unit-part Delta 3; Heidi and I led our teams through: Personnel, Uniform Issuing, Photo ID’s, Policies, Orientation to Living Quarters, and TONS of ice breaker games (Heidi and I liked this area because we love doing them J)
- got more and more comfortable with the team; but not trying to get attached…it is very hard NOT to get attached…I like them all a lot!
- On Sunday we played ultimate Frisbee with the CM’s in the morning, went swimming with the CM’s in the afternoon (good turn out of over 60 showed up), came back at 3 PM and did some singing and dancing with the karoke machine with about 25 CM’s (busted out some Spice Girls, “Wannabe” and some Fugees with a side of Bohemian Rhapsody)
- Caught up on some sleep…kinda, I will NOT burn out! I

August 3rd (Monday)

- Day 2 of in-processing and yet again another long one!
o Those activities included: Orientation to Physicals, ISP, Boot Fitting, Health Coverage, Banking, Safety, and Travel
- set up speaker systems in the afternoon at the Southern Culture Heritage Center for Tuesday’s community meeting where the Chief Police was going to speak as well as the Vicksburg mayor
- we then continued with more trainings in the afternoon and finished up in-processing…even got BOOTS!
- HOORAY! We received our teams van keys!! I’m so stoked. Now I can take my temporary team to the downtown area and show them around Vicksburg

August 4th (Tuesday)

- wakey wakey eggs and bakey!
- I had some van issues this day going through 2 before I actually got keys to a workable van; first one had a cracked windshield and the second one the gas gauge wasn’t working…FINALLY settled on a 15-P gray beast
- Loaded up my River 3-lings and headed to the Southern Heritage Culture Center for some presentations; TL’s actually got a block of time to run the community meeting (we put together a dance, 4 TL’s put on a skit for the CM’s, and then we did introductions)
- I did my intro to the theme song of Fresh Prince of Bel Aire:

“Now this is the story all about howDanny’s life got flipped, turned upside downAnd Id like to take a minute just sit right for a jippyIll tell you about me as the team leader down in Mississippi (Vicksburg that is!)In northwest Chicago born and raisedPlaying sports and staying fit is where I spent most of my daysCubs, Blackhawks, Bears, Bulls rooting all coolAnd I majored in communications at Bradley my schoolWhen a couple of friends told me to do some good
That is when I flew to this here neighborhoodI got involved in a service frat Alpha Phi Omega
And my sister said you’re applying for Americorps now or neva

I whistled for the charter bus and when it came zip theAirplane said “A” and I knew I was an N-tripIf anything I could say that this plane was hipBut I thought now forget it, yo pilot to The ‘Sip

I finally got my calling to lead a group of tenI am really excited to be in Americorps again
Hailing from all over the US
Corps members are fitting in their new place
To serve and give back
It’s a fact
River tres is IN YO FACE!

Looked at the campus I was finally hereTo sit on my throne in hopes to be a great leader
And when it’s all over I know it will be fun
Because I know through thick and thin I will GET THINGS DONE!

WORD!”

- there was an intro to Americorps, an EEO stereotype presentation, and then a man came from the Audubon location to show off and describe several different kind of snakes
- for the whole corps there was van driving instructional video and they took the written test
- rallied up the team and headed back to campus
- after everyone got back from the Heritage Center there was a serious staff and TL meeting
- to loosen up a majority of us TL’s took a van load of CM’s to the local crime and prevention block party; at there we got to talk to some Vicksburg community members, eat food, and some even climbed into the dunk tank
- that seemed to calm everyone’s anxiety and hype…went to bed!

August 5th (Wednesday)

- woke at 8 AM to get prepared for team physicals; the River Unit went first, our team’s time was 10:30 AM and they were done in Jackson
- punctual like always, my team and I cruised on our way to Jackson; got there with plenty of time to spare
- waited and waited to get our physicals done and drug tested!
- After we finally got out of the doctors office, we came back to campus grabbed our boxed lunches and headed to the Visitors Center
- Today was the day to tour around Vicksburg in the van and show my kiddies what there is to do
- We stayed at the Visitors Center and took some pictures, grabbed some information, and even slid down hills! Overall a very nice, relaxing, and team bonding time
o We even ate our boxed lunches and had a mini picnic under the Visitor Center’s bridge!
- Next stop was heading towards downtown to a wireless coffee shop and to get library cards; all of downtown Vicksburg is WiFi zone which is super sweet! Some of my members took off and checked out the pawn shop and Audubon store and looked around; we didn’t quite have the time to check out the Farmer’s Market
- Drove back to campus to wind down from the busy day and ate a nice, team dinner in the cafeteria
- We as the river unit congregated together for a run-down of our temporary teams and to get our input on what we thought about each one of them so that Neal could get a better idea on team placements; we helped each other out by chiming in if any other TL’s have had any conversations or known any personality traits about any of them
- Wrapped up by grabbing dinner right when it was about to close and prepped for the big team reveal date on Friday

August 6th (Thursday)

- first thing the CM’s had was a new policy meeting with Neal and Brendan talking about no cell phones during trainings, no gum chewing on campus, and actually learned how to “ground guide” the vans
- I then took a total of 5 CM drivers around town to practice for their driving evaluations and to be fully certified
o Everyone did amazing! Very good drivers in the River Unit!
- drivers drove all day, and if the corps members weren’t driving they did random campus tasks including picking weeds, cutting vines, picking up trash, washing the vans, making bulletin boards, etc.
- cleaned up for dinner and what I “thought” was the last night/dinner with my temporary team, I orchestrated a kind of last supper for the River 3 members…but later found out that the LAST meal with your team would be tomorrow at dinner time…BUMMER!
- It was fun while it lasted…then 3 of my CM’s represented our team in playing Scattegories and WON! GO TEAM!
- I further was gathering ideas on what to do with my permanent River 3 team and spent most of the night gathering ideas.


So there you have it…roughly a week of catching up on things I did and team green did. Yesterday actually marked exactly a month since team green had been in the state of Mississippi…10 more months to go! I am eager to find out my real team and how the temp teams were just to tease us because I absolutely LOVED my temp team right from the beginning. It is going to be bitter-sweet to see them depart. I hope I get at least 2 of my temp members on my real team!! I wish the best for my members that get put on other teams, but please keep in touch because I will always be thinking of them growing and getting things done!! I will go in more detail about my 1st service project in next blog. Let’s just say I didn’t get my #1, 2, or 3 picks…but I was told I will be getting them later in the future rounds. I can’t WAIT to get started.


PS. Our Vicksburg campus people made media again! Here is the link if y’all want to read (yes I have grown to say “y’all”):

PSS. 64 more days Mitchy and Ben until the BIG wedding! You betcha I got the countdown going J That means 64 days for me to lose weight and actually look GOOD in a tux!