MAPLE SEVEN

I’m watching this documentary called Our Time, and it’s pretty interesting. But I was thinking, you know, we are the future, and we’re going to either let everything continue to get worse, or we’re going to be the ones that fix it.

A lot of the people in the documentary talk about our generation in pretty negative terms - apathetic, stupid, rude; not to mention quotes like “they expect to have everything handed to them,” or “lazy,” coming from older generations.

But the thing is, you can find people like that in every generation. The people my age that I know are people who are dedicated to what they believe in.

There were what like 150 corps members at NCR’s Class 17 graduation, not to mention the Perry Point, Vicksburg, Denver, and Sac teams graduations. And now during week 1 of CTI in Vinton, there are 240 more corps members about to begin the journey of their lifetime.

Kids all have different reasons for joining - some of them admittedly join for the education award. But even if you join because of the potential for $5500 at the end of your term, part of you has to care about service, about community, about people, and about America, if you expect to work your ass off for 10 months with little payoff till that check at the end. The majority of kids I served with understood that the reward isn’t the money. That’s just icing.

So I’ve been thinking about it. And reflecting on the amazing people I met and the amazing paths their lives are going now. And I wish more people knew. I wish kids coming up knew about this opportunity. I wish our government and our elected representatives saw this program for what it is - not a dollar amount, but an agent of change, the future, one of the best ways to fix the economy while tackling enormous social issues.

I don’t know where it will go, or how it will evolve. But I think I’m going to start interviewing kids I served with, getting their take on America, AmeriCorps, the future, and their roles in it all.

Maybe I’ll make a documentary. Maybe it won’t go anywhere.

But if you want to be involved, drop me a line.

Corps members for class 18 arrive on the 8th this year.

I’d just like to mention (proudly) that Maple 7 corps member from my team in class 17, Rachel Evans, is now class 18’s Maple 7 team leader!

So she will be carrying on the legacy of Maple 7, our traditions and everything.

:)

Now that a new class is starting, I will rarely be using this blog.

My new blog at least for the month of January is http://teaaday.tumblr.com/

where I chronicle my tea tasting project that I’m doing through Art Clash for Fun-a-Day. Check it out.

Thanks for reading!

Team Leader Training for Class 18 started yesterday. A lot of my friends from last year and a few colleagues from other campuses last year are beginning their Team Leader journeys. Part of me wishes I was there with them, but I know it’s not my time.

I wish them luck, good projects, and great teams in the months to come!

What’s everyone doing for MLK Day? Gotta plan ahead!

We graduated two days ago and flew home yesterday. It’s been good!

I’ll miss my team and I’ll miss the Corps.

But it’s awesome to look back and think about all the ways we served, the communities we helped out, and the ways we grew.

Sorry i stopped posting towards the end, i had no internet…

But thanks for reading and following my Corps Year.

One week till graduation….

Sorry i was so out of touch during Round 4, my computer ended up being unable to connect at Camp Ohiyesa.

Some highlights: Facilitating camp activities with several different groups of kids, putting our unit leader down the zip line and the giant swing, playing video games with our unit leader, going sky diving with Maple 2, leading campfire songs for the kids, playing an amazing prank on Nick, dinner to celebrate Sabrina’s 19th birthday with our sponsor and site supervisor… and more!

Now we just have a week left of meetings and projects till we go home, graduates of NCCC.

 :)

The team has been working hard at Camp Ohiyesa, doing maintenance tasks and also fall programming with kids! There are a variety of activities we facilitate with the kids, including “bog walk” which is a wetlands tour, low ropes, paintballing, zipline and rock wall, archery, giant swing, various team based bonding games, petting farm, and “pioneer village.”

Here is a picture of the team doing low ropes together!