Hot Tempers and Preparation

This week began with a lot of heat -- both literally outside and figuratively from those around me. With summer and the end of our year of service approaching, things are becoming a little tense. Most people are trying to amp up their work to ensure a successful year while others seem to be more interested in the freedom that summer promises. It was a difficult beginning of the week for me because I was feeling the frustration from everyone.

In Language Arts, students spent the week writing a persuasive essay. They had to pick a topic and a position that could be defended. A few students decided to write about gay marriage. I knew that this was a touchy subject simply because it is very controversial. My concern solidified because I know that these students may not fully understand the topic but are at an age when they will defend their feelings and opinions very strongly. Thankfully, the discussion was relatively civil – especially compared to the rants that many adults engage in.

I was very proud of the students for standing up for themselves, especially those who preached tolerance. Regardless of your feelings on gay marriage, I think it's important to respect our fundamental humanity – especially when having a disagreement. Some students attempted to rope the teacher into the conversation and while she did share her feelings, she did so while saying, "I don't really know much about it so I don't think it's fair for me to make a decision on it." I jumped in and reminded the students that above all else, respect was the primary tool for having these conversations. Though some may write these thirteen year olds off as culturally unaware and ignorant, I was very proud to see them becoming interested in the world's affairs.

Still, there was a lot of indolence around me, especially with my fellow corps members. When I'm around high levels of disinterest, I become easily frustrated. "I know there's work to be done, so why aren't you doing it?" I think to myself. Luckily, Thursday brought a big evening of preparation for NESA – New England Service Academy. This event was born out of NELA, a conference of corps members from CY Boston and CY Rhode Island. Only a few of us from CYNH were able to attend NELA and we thought, "Wouldn't it be great if we could get our three sites in their entirety together for a few days of service?"

Well, one of our corps members, Sarah, took the initiative and began planning an event that would unite us. We're calling it NESA and it's happening next Friday. The event may seem like a relatively small affair – one day of service with the Rhode Island corps – but it's a very big deal requiring a lot of planning and preparation. It is entirely corps-driven and we've been doing a majority of the work. On Thursday evening, we had to stay later to do some preparation for the event and an information session on Friday. Though I'm doing more work, I'm happier. It has given me something to focus my energy on and I'm incredibly excited! It was exactly what the second half of my week needed.

Friday was a day of looking to the future, both in the short term and the long term. In the morning, we had Make It Better conversations, designed to improve various aspects of our service. We were able to give feedback on PT, Cross Product Teams, IJ, Friday trainings and other elements of City Year culture. There were a lot of good conversations and it energized me. I get to be a part of the implementation of the improvements that will come from these feedback sessions. That afternoon, I was able to be part of rollouts for both NESA and a new thing that the Resource Development team is introducing. As the FY11 Resource Development Project Leader, I will be leading a lot of rollouts and will take a much larger role in leading corps members. Friday gave me the chance to begin working on those skills. Overall, my service on Thursday and Friday reminded me why I serve – I get the chance to work incredibly hard to make this world a better place and I'm proud of the work I do.