Keeping it Together this Summer

It's been a while! I've been meaning to get a lot done over the past 3 weeks - a couple blogs posts, etc. but some curve balls have been thrown my way!
Not only have I been bouncing all over the midwest, working different summer camps and preparing for my friend's wedding, but also dealing with a 5-day power outage at my mom's house and a computer meltdown!
I'm attempting to back up everything from my laptop, in addition to getting my sister's old desktop set up to my liking, plus creating a video for my Notre Dame-AmeriCorps closing ceremony on August 1st.
It's been a whirlwind of a summer so far and it won't calm down for me until the fall (probably mid-September or October)!

Some exciting and unrelated news: I won a bike in a raffle last weekend!! It's a refurbished 1977 Schwinn and I love it! I wish we weren't experiencing a massive heat wave this week so I could actually go for a bike ride without suffering a heat stroke. Anyway, here's my new beauty!

My new bike! :)

Appreciate the Rain

Last weekend I went on a retreat with 5 other Notre Dame-AmeriCorps members and it was wonderful. It was close enough to Cincinnati to not be a long drive, yet secluded enough that it felt as if we left our busy lives far behind. The place is called Grailville and it's located in Loveland, Ohio. The property extends for about 300 acres and can accommodate several groups at once in its various farm houses. What really brightened my day was when I learned about their trails in the woods. I couldn't wait to go outside and "play"!

However, on the first day of the retreat it had stormed and continued to storm into the evening. Everything was wet and we didn't venture outside (much) for fear of being struck by lightning. I was disheartened and worried that my outdoor "play" time would be ruined by more storms. Luckily, only one more storm came on Saturday morning at 4am and the sun appeared for the rest of the weekend.

When we woke up on Saturday and made our way to the dining hall for breakfast, several things caught my eye and made me change my attitude towards the rainy weather. I had forgotten how rain makes ordinary things more photogenic and interesting, and I'd like to share some of the images that brought me joy - not only in taking, but also in sharing with the others on the retreat. Most of the photos below were possible because of the rain during the retreat... Therefore, I have learned to appreciate the rain because without it I would not have been able to capture these moments.

The word "play" is in quotation marks above because it is a word that now has a deeper meaning than it did before the retreat. Below is a quote from a handout we received during the retreat, and one I will remember.

“Play” By Pegge Bernecker

An antidote for suffering, play is healing and restorative. At its essence, play is free, dissolves conflicts, and builds connections. Life-giving, play leads us to appreciation and gratefulness.

When we play we discover our deepest self is seeded in creativity and generativity. Play is an act of restoration and remembering. Solitary and contemplative, or active and communal, play can occur anytime, anywhere. Planned or utterly spontaneous, play brings us into the present moment, embodied in time and place… Across gender, race, age, ethnicity, socio-economic status and geographical location, all people and creatures play. Play heals… We engage our senses and body, becoming refreshed and renewed.

Playing can be a catalyst for spiritual vitality to burgeon forth within each of us. It is through a spirituality of play –interacting with matter—that we encounter the sacred, one another, and our deepest self. Play is a gateway to skip through to increase our ability to be present, to heal, and to grow in gratefulness. Who will accompany you in  your next play date? How do you play?

Welcome to 2011

It's been a long time since I've updated my blog - and even longer since I've updated my website. For the new year, I figured it might work out best if I combined the two.

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2011 brings about many changes and challenges. I will be going back to school for Speech Pathology tomorrow, while still working full-time as an AmeriCorps member at an elementary school. Plus, a lot of health issues have come up in my family and my boyfriend's.

Aside from the challenges the year brings, in the early fall, my boyfriend and I are planning a trip to somewhere far away. We haven't decided yet between Brazil, New Zealand, or Japan, but we will start delving into our plans over the next few months.

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As far as this blog goes, I hope to update it at least weekly. I hope I can keep it up!

Here I Go Again!

It's official, everyone! I will be doing a 2nd year with AmeriCorps!!

Best Tuesday Yet!

Always be aware of the wealth of resources you have around you -- and use them when you can!

I was stuck, and HATING Tuesdays. Those are the days I stay after school with 14 girls in grades 3-5 for an hour and make sure they get their homework finished. At the end of the hour some high school girls come and spend an hour with them, as part of the Big Sisters program. (It's from Big Brothers Big Sisters, but we only utilize the Sister part.)

This ritual started in October, after I had been at the school only 1 month, with no formal training on how to handle a group of 9-11 year olds. (Keep in mind, I work with only K and 1st grade all day, everyday.) The hour would consist of super-chatty girls that talked back to me, didn't get their homework done, and found lots of ways to waste time. There was no respect or real discipline to be had, since there was a lack of structure.

I was frustrated and I knew it didn't have to be that way. Luckily, I was able to vent my frustrations over dinner with a gentleman named Mike, another Notre Dame-AmeriCorps member from Dayton, Ohio. His specialty was working with kids in the same age range as those in my Big Sisters program and he gave me a lot of insight and a new perspective on a couple of things that had happened to me over the past few months.

When I got back to Cincinnati, I stayed a little later in the teacher's lounge to talk to the higher grade teachers and ask their advice. They gave me a couple ideas I could try and this Tuesday I went in armed and ready. I had my list of rules for the hour, new seating chart and all. Before we even went to the cafeteria I told them 'this is how it's going to be'. If the rules were broken, they would lose 5 minutes with their Big Sister because, after all, participating in the program is a privilege, not a right, and they should not be rewarded for disrespecting an adult for one full hour.

It must have gotten through to them because that was the quietest (and easiest) Tuesday for me yet this year. They sat in their assigned seats, did their homework, were respectful to me and each other, and hey, it even seemed to change their demeanor for the second hour with their Big Sisters. They were quieter, calmer, and seemed to have valuable conversations with their Big Sisters instead of being loud and somewhat out of control.

It was a great challenge for me to put down my foot like that and demand results from the students, but it really felt good to not have to argue and have a power struggle for an hour. It's really a win-win: They can be more focused on their homework so they have less (or none) to do at home later, and I can go home feeling more relaxed and less on-edge.

NDA Conference Thoughts

Sunday, February 14, 2010 at 9:12am

The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others. -Gandhi

That was one of the many quotes from our AmeriCorps conference yesterday that stuck with me. We listened to a couple Notre Dame Sisters and a Congressman from Maryland, Elijah Cummings. His speech was about his journey from special ed in elementary school to law school and then becoming a Congressman. It was very inspiring and he had quite a few words of advice for educators like us at Notre Dame AmeriCorps. He really had a lot of positive energy and his delivery was much like that of a preacher - which even got a few responses from the audience.

Some of the thoughts he left me with were the following:

"Never mistake a comma for a period." Even if you get what you've dreamed about, there could still be more to life. More to achieve, more to learn, more to teach, etc.

This other thing he said seemed to me to be so true: We have a culture of mediocrity. When something is tough in college, we just stay away from it and do something easier. What we should do is strive for excellence instead and tackle any challenges that come our way.

"Plan for success"

"Know yourself and be true to yourself."

A lot of people think that it takes a group to make a change or start something. But it only takes one person + commitment and dedication.

Now that you've read Elijah's words: "Store THAT in your DNA!"

Notre Dame-AmeriCorps National Conference

Sunday, February 14, 2010 at 12:18am

Today was such an emotionally charged day. I've been in a bit of a rut lately, trying to figure out what to do next in life, not sure what I else I can get from and give to my service site, etc. And today I learned a bit about other people's service experiences and I was blown away. It was as if some of them were talking directly to me and knew what I was thinking, even though they were talking to all 300+ of us. Some of the things I heard made me think about a second year with AmeriCorps in a different way: as an opportunity to do better and so much more the second time around. I'll have to post a few of the thoughts I was left with after our keynote speakers left the podium... But now I must get some rest.

My Year of Service - #5

My Service Site, NDMV-AmeriCorps Family, Other Volunteering, and Settling In

My Service Site:
After about 3 months at my service site, I've finally gotten the swing of things.. Well, sort of. It never ceases to amaze me how each day is so different from the last when you work with children.
I've been learning a lot about the many situations they have at home - parents going through divorce, living with grandparents, etc. and the effect they can have on the children's moods and behaviors. I always knew I was lucky to have a healthy home and family environment, but this experience is making sure I remember it.
I'm also learning a lot, but one thing that I have yet to figure out is why some children feel the need to lie a lot of the time. If I go back to school at the end of my year with AmeriCorps, I feel like I'll have a million questions like this one to ask of my future Early Childhood Development professor.
My elementary school (site) has had quite a few special, and memorable, days this year and I'd like to take a moment to reflect on them. One day, I assisted the school nurse on a 'field trip' of sorts to the Museum Center with about 15 students from all the grades (K-8). Earlier in the year, some people came to our school to do some preliminary eye exam to see if any students needed glasses. They determined that these 15 students needed glasses and we took them on this trip to get their eyes tested further and pick out some glasses. The most amazing part of this day was that everything was free for the students - from my school and several schools throughout the city - including the pair of glasses that they will be receiving shortly.
More recently, we took Preschool-4th grade to a local high school that had an entire day of Christmas fun planned out. There must have been hundreds of parents and volunteers there that day to make sure everything went smoothly, not to mention the students of that school! First, we had a Christmas Mass in the school's gym, where each younger student participated side-by-side with their big buddy from the high school, carrying a beautiful poinsettia plant up to the altar. Then, they provided pizza, drinks, and desserts for everyone! After lunch, everyone headed to another part of the building where a festival of games, face-painting, and other activities were. The kids even got to meet Santa with their big buddies and they received a personalized gift from Santa (and their big buddy). I've never seen so many smiling faces!!
I must say, seeing such a successful volunteer-run event like that really lifts my spirits.

My NDMV-AmeriCorps Family:
Each week I meet with the 18 Notre Dame Mission Volunteers-AmeriCorps members at a central location. The meetings really bring together the whole 'year-of-service' experience in the way that we have each other to lean on and ask advice of, etc. Not to mention the great things we learn from each other.
So far we have visited a couple service sites and met with some of the people that our fellow members work with and we will be visiting all the sites by the end of our year. Some meetings we get to know each other and ourselves better through presentations given by our fellow members on various subjects. We also take some time every month to have a piece of cake and celebrate the birthdays of our fellow members.

My Other Volunteering:
In order to ensure that I reach 1700 volunteering hours by the end of my year of service, I try to volunteer at places other than my service site when I can. I have helped out at a Power Inspires Progress Brunch, a day of Bingo Bonanza that raises money for my school, 2 health fairs put on by one of my fellow NDMVA member's service site, and even once a week at an art school for autistic individuals. If anything, I can say that this year's experiences are well-rounded.

Settling In:
I'm very happy to say that I can finally get around most of downtown and out to the southeastern suburbs without my GPS! I'm learning to love the local market and I go there when I can. It took about 3 months, but I finally went on my first hike with the Tri-State Hiking Club this week and I made a new friend.
Overall, I'm definitely feeling the tight budget, but I think I may be the happiest I've ever been. This experience is invaluable and I'm learning a lot about myself. :)

Getting Settled

If you know me, you know that I move a lot. Since I graduated high school in 2003, I have moved 11 times. If anyone can learn to adapt to different environments, it would be me. However, my most recent move to Cincinnati is a bit different from my previous moves and it has me a little discombobulated. Don't get me wrong; I am not complaining. Everything has been wonderful here so far! Just different from my previous experiences.

For starters, I have never owned a car until this summer. Every time I've moved to a new city (Miami, Columbus, DC), the first thing I had to learn was the public transportation system. When I lived in Miami, Florida, I hardly left campus unless I was in Trina's car or exploring downtown with James by bus. In Columbus, I had to plan where I lived and worked according to the bus routes. If you can believe it, I lived, went to school, and worked on High Street, just on different ends of town. In DC, I relied on walking, the subway, and buses to get to work every day. It is such a strange feeling to now have the convenience of a car. I can hop in at any time and go wherever I want, even if it is across town. And, get this, I don't have to make my only grocery runs on my way home from work and have to carry my groceries a mile to my apartment building from the subway station!

Another major difference is when I've moved before, I never knew anyone in the new town before arriving. There would be a few weeks or so of me living on my own, going to classes or work, watching tv, going on the internet, etc. and kind of developing a routine before I started making friends. This time, I've known about 20 wonderful people in the area for over a year before moving here, plus I met 18 more upon arrival through my AmeriCorps position. I've never been so social during my first 3 weeks in a new town before in my life. Heck, this is the most social I've been in a long time!

The last thing that has me all discombobulated is that as an AmeriCorps member, I have to keep track of all my hours spent at work, In-Service meetings, and other volunteer work I do. I have never been good at keeping track of my hours and my mother can attest to this. Not only do we have the paper time sheets to fill out (which, we were just informed, are now obsolete), we have to log our hours online, print out reports, get them signed by our Service Site Supervisor, and bring them to our weekly meetings. I'm working on creating a system that will work for me, and I'm sure I'll get better at it as time goes by.

That's it for now. I better get some rest because this is going to be another action-packed week, both in school with the Kindergarteners and after school with friends and meetings.

My Year of Service - #3

Yesterday was my first full day at my inner-city elementary school, and boy, was it different! I've never worked with a full class of kindergarteners or first-graders before, and I now get to work with both. I also help out in the lunchroom when the kindergarteners are seated and given their lunch tickets for the day.
My day is divided between the kindergarten and first grade classes, about 70% of it being spent with the younger group. I'm beginning to learn their names as they go through their daily routines of reciting the months of the year, days of the week, and numbers. During the day, I am one of their stations when they split into groups and rotate around the room. We do a worksheet that focuses on how to write the letter of the week: D and d. They are also learning to sort things, by size, color, etc.
Some of the kids are good listeners and others need to be told *much* more than once. I'm looking forward to mastering the "getting-the-kids'-attention" techniques the teachers use.
I am amazed at just how much my voice aches at the end of the day - and it's not even from yelling! There is so much talking involved when dealing with small children. Constant instruction, answering questions, etc.
With the first graders, I mostly help a couple kids at a time with an assignment in the back of the room. I make sure they follow directions and that they understand what they are doing. Now, in math, they are working on greater than ">", less than "<", and equal to "=". Remember that "Which number does the alligator always want to eat?" trick?
I am already getting hugs from a couple of students as soon as they see me in the morning and before they get on the bus in the afternoon. I know the job is going to be tough, but those little smiles and hugs really make it worth it! That and knowing there's a chance that my efforts may help them to achieve academic success in the future.

Classic Classroom Moments

*One of my kindergarteners called me "Miss Pimpins" for a day.

*Two of my kindergarteners are from Ethiopia, and I know a few words in their native language (Amharic). I showed them how I can count to 5 in their language yesterday. Today one of them dragged his mother in by the hand so she could meet me, and so I could show her what I know how to say.

My Year of Service - #2

My first week with AmeriCorps was awesome!

The first day, I met the other 17 members at the Notre Dame Mission Volunteers-AmeriCorps (NDMVA) office and we got an overview of the week and the year. We then went to Mt. Notre Dame (a community of Notre Dame Sisters) and learned about the history of AmeriCorps and Notre Dame. You have probably heard about Sister Dorothy that was murdered in Brazil a few years ago. She was a Notre Dame Sister from Ohio and they have a whole room dedicated to her and artifacts from her life and death.
We also spent some time filling out paperwork, but one of the neatest things was that we got to meet a Sister and talk to her about her experiences living a life of service. I was paired up with Becky and Sister Betty Anne; boy was she spunky!

The second day, all of the members were to meet at a service site in a neighborhood that we have never seen. We met at a newly constructed house in Lockland that was built by Cincinnati Housing Partners for a low-income family. We did some major yard work, pulled weeks, cut down small trees, planted grass, painted the deck, etc. Some of us even got to use some major equipment! Amanda and Connie learned to use a chainsaw and Sarah, Katie and I learned to drive a Bobcat loader! We even took loades of dirt down the street to another lot where a house is being built.

The third day, we met back at the NDMVA office and learned a little more about each other. Then, at lunch time, we had lunch with some of the people with whom we will be working at our service sites. After lunch, we went to our service sites to learn a little more about our duties, etc. I went to my elementary school and got to meet my kindergarten and first grade teachers. Sister Marie took me and Stacey around to introduce us to the kids and I couldn't help but smile when the kids said in unison, "Good afternoon, Miss Pickens!"

The fourth and last day, we met at another location where we had an all-day team-building workshop. The man who worked with us is also a police officer in one of the worse areas of Cincinnati. We did several activities that got us to think and work together as a team. My favorite was called the "Power Walk" because I had never learned so much about my peers without speaking a word like that before. There was a line down the middle of the room. One side of the room stood for "agree" and the other "disagree". The farther away from the middle of the room that you stood meant the more you agree or disagree. We were asked questions like "Do you know where you are going?", "Do you practice religion?", "Are you afraid of death?", "Have you ever been in love?", "Do you have or want kids?", "Are you politically active?", along with some other loaded questions. At the end of each question we were reminded to look around the room to see how our peers answered the questions. I must say, it was a very powerful activity.

I'm really excited about the group of people I'll be working with through NDMVA. They seem like great people and I think we can learn a lot from each other. I can see some great friendships growing this year.

Now it's the weekend and I feel like I am more at home since I have groceries and a clean area to cook on. My first day working at the school is Tuesday because of the holiday weekend. I'm a little nervous, but excited too!

My Year Of Service - #1

Following the suggestion of an old classmate and a friend of my parents, I applied for an AmeriCorps position in February of this year. After several essays and interviews, I got multiple acceptance letters in June and ultimately went with a program in Cincinnati, Ohio.
The AmeriCorps program that I'll be participating in this school year is run by Notre Dame Mission Volunteers-AmeriCorps and today is my first day of orientation. Today I'll be meeting with other NDMVA volunteers and learning about the service sites that each of us will be working in. My service site is an inner-city Catholic elementary school.
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It has been quite a journey since the day I first submitted my application to AmeriCorps!
These last few weeks have been a bit of a challenge: packing, finding housing for my year of service, etc., but this last week was like finally getting that carrot on the end of a string.
I drove to Cincinnati from Chicago on Monday and stayed with a good friend. When I got to his house, my best friend from Illinois was sitting on his front steps to surprise me! The next day, the three of us visited what would be my apartment and then went sight-seeing for an entire day. We visited the Carew Tower, Fountain Square, Graeter's, the Purple People Bridge, and the Serpentine Wall.
After a long day in the sun, we went back to his house to find about 20 of his friends and family members waiting there to surprise-welcome me to Ohio. Not only that, but seconds after arriving, everyone in the room began to snap to a rhythm... And then my friend broke into song:

Josie Welcome to Cincinnati, girl
You'll be happily living in a world
Where we cheer on the Bengals and the Reds also Hello Ocho Cinco

Chili on hotdogs and fries
It is our speciality
So please have some pride
And if you do you'll see
The weather is nice at least sometimes
here's a hint : meteoroligists lie

if you like ice cream
there's nothing greater than Graeters
and Montgomery Inn's got the right flavor
i think that you'd agree to Skyline for lunch
and for dessert baby UDF caramel crunch

so Josie welcome to our metropolis
and actually, we call it Porkopolis
we wrote this ditty
to try to make you smile a little
Josie, Welcome to Cincinnati, girl

The party was fun and it was great to see so many familiar faces (and meet a couple new people as well!). I couldn't have asked for a more memorable first couple of days in Ohio. :)

The next day, I drove to Columbus and visited with my cousin and some former coworkers. Somehow, we managed to squeeze in a visit to the Columbus Zoo and see the baby elephant!
I hit the road again the next day, this time to eastern Ohio to visit family for a few days. It was nice to see them and I'm glad to be living a lot closer to them now (about 5 hours instead of 10, driving).

Sunday afternoon, I drove all the way back to my friend's house in Cincinnati and re-gathered my things. Monday morning we packed the cars and moved everything into my new apartment* (*rented room). Everything was done by 5pm!

Now I have merely one hour before my first day of AmeriCorps Orientation, and I am very excited! I'll get to meet the volunteers that I'll be serving and meeting with over the next 11 months and seeing the various service sites they will be working at.

I can't wait!