A-MER-icorps

Hey everyone and welcome back to Mind the Gap! After a long hiatus I am reviving my old gap year blog, mostly for convenience (because the website already exists), but I’m not calling this year a “gap” year. It’s just a year, where I’ll learn and grow and gain experiences just like in any year.

So what am I doing??

After graduating from WashU in May, I decided to join the AmeriCorps NCCC (National Civilian Community Corps, pronounced “N-triple-C”) program. This is a full-time, residential service program in which teams of 8-10 young people travel throughout the United States completing a variety of service projects in areas including disaster response, infrastructure improvement, environmental conservation, and urban and rural development. I have been assigned to the Pacific Region, so I might serve in California, Oregon, Washington, Nevada, Utah, Idaho, Montana, Alaska, Hawaii, or the Pacific Territories. As you all know I love to travel, and I’ve also really been wanting to do more to help people and give back to my country, so I thought this would be the perfect opportunity.

I arrived at the NCCC campus in Sacramento about a week ago. We’re based on a former air force base called McClellan Park, and we’re here for our training until the end of October. The lodgings are actually pretty nice; I get my own room!

There are about 120 corps members here in total, divided into two units, Red and Gold, with eight teams on each. My team is Red 6. There are eight of us on the team plus our Team Leader (TL), Leah. We’ve been having trainings on expectations as corps members, safety, community outreach, as well as team-building activities. Also, today I got certified to drive the big 12-passenger van we take with us on our projects! That was scary, but maybe now Mom will let me drive her minivan.

I’ve been having some fun adventures too! Part of our service requirement is completing a certain number of hours of independent service projects (ISPs). I got a head start last Saturday by volunteering in a community garden in Sacramento, helping clear the plots for the new growing season. I love working in gardens and I hope I get to do much more of that kind of work this year.

Last Sunday my team went and explored downtown and old Sacramento. I never in my life expected I would travel to Sacramento and it’s so cool to visit a new city!

So there’s one question I’m sure you all are asking. “Do you know where you’re going next??” Actually, I do! Last night, Leah gathered us all for a team meeting. She wrote “Where are we going?” on her white board then gave us a bag full of clues. There was a Starbucks cup, an umbrella, some rain ponchos, a couple quarters, a bag of Swedish fish, and a flag of Norway. Then she announced: we’re going to Poulsbo, Washington to work in salmon habitat restoration! Poulsbo is a city on the Puget Sound just across from Seattle, nicknamed “Little Norway.” I am SO excited for this upcoming adventure and I can’t wait to share my experiences with you!

I will definitely post again soon with more updates. On Sunday my team is going to visit Lake Tahoe and I can’t wait!

Thanks for reading!