About AmeriCorps

a lot of people have been asking me what americorps is and what exactly i'll be doing. so, here's a link to the official americorps nccc website.
http://www.americorps.gov/for_individuals/choose/nccc.asp
americorps has split the us into regions so that each group has a certain area to work in. i am in the southwest region. the states in this region are colorado, arizona, new mexico, kansas, oklahoma, missouri, arkansas, and texas.
as i said in my previous post, there will be 50 to 60 corps members assigned to the southwest region. the region is then split into four units- earth, fire, sun, and water. then the corps members are split into our groups of 8 to 12 and each group is assigned to a unit. each unit will have five or so groups under it. and each group will be assigned different spikes. a spike will be in any of the eight states in my region and will last anywhere from a couple days to a couple of weeks. all the groups will come back to denver in between spikes where we will all live together in the dorms.
within each group each member is assigned a role. a member can have one or multiple roles or multiple members can be assigned the same role. the roles are- capper, media representative, project outreach liaison, service learning initiator, vehicle safety and tool coordinator, peer helper, isp coordinator, portfolio editor, yearbook representative, pt coordinator, food poc, and assistant team leader. i'll let yall know what i get! oh, and our mornings start at the crack of dawn :( we have to have a team meeting at 7 AM (gasp) and be ready to leave at 7:15. so, there's no telling how early i will have to get up. considering we have communal bathrooms... this might be really hard.
according to my welcome packet (!!!!) "the southwest region campus is about nine miles southwest of downtown denver. located at the highest point in the city and boasting a spectacular panoramic view of the rocky mountains, colorado heights university is a landmark in the denver area. originally founded as loretto academy in 1891 by the sister of loretto as an all women's catholic college, and changing to loretto heights college in 1918, the campus is full of history."
all of the corps members will live in the same dorms together and share bathrooms. they do not assign roommates who are in the same group so that we can mingle with everyone and not just the eight or twelve people we're used to. we have a cafeteria where we'll eat when we're in denver. but it also says that we will only spend between 15 and 25 percent of our time in denver. the rest will be spent on spikes.
we're allowed to have visitors come and see us in denver but they can't stay on campus, they have to stay in a hotel near the school. we have all weekends off and we're given a few days off here and there and all major holidays. we are also allowed three paid days off! yay! but with the distance and crazy schedules i doubt i will venture back to sc during a break. i do get to come home on december 18th through january 2nd. and mom and dad said they will probably come over for my spring break which is just a long weekend :) we get all weekends off and according to the book "if tehre aren't any team or corps obligations unscheduled time is free" :D
i haven't read the whole welcome book yet, but yall it looks like they're going to be seriously strict! they do room inspections and make sure your bed is "neatly made" that your fridge is clean with no spoiled food, and make sure you're cleaning up after yourself and keeping your desk tidy. they also make us come up with a fitness plan. we are required to work out three days a week as a group for 45 minutes. also, the part i'm DREADING "the southwest region campus also challenges corps members to improve their physical condition during the program by conducting periodic baseline tests. during cti all corps members will be timed on a 1.5 mile run and will do as many sit-ups in one minute and push-ups in one minute as they can. the test will be repeated during the transition weeks, so members can measure their improvement." crap. i guess i'm kind of following in weldon's footsteps... goodness i do hate working out. thank gosh i have already been to russell and told him i have to get back in shape. it doesn't matter how much weight i've lost, i still need to be able to move my body!
so, as i said we have at least four spikes we have to do. in addition to our hours at spikes, we will each individually have to complete 80 hours of our own individual service projects (isp). in the ten months i'm working i will complete at least 1700 service hours :D wow! that's a lot!
wow, this is a long post! i pretty much just gave yall a complete overview of the welcome packet i got! ahaha except my book is over 50 pages... so, i guess that's it for now! all i have to do now is turn in the last of my forms then i'm all set!!! i'm so excited! i really can't wait! :)
xoxo, B