The First New England Service Academy (NESA)

This week was a very exciting one, though it demanded a lot of my time after normal work hours. Those of us who were helping to plan NESA (New England Service Academy) spent the week making last minute preparations for the big event. It was our attempt to recreate Cyzygy, an annual event that united every City Year site in the nation for a few days. The last Cyzygy was held a few years ago and we wanted to host a regional version. The original plan was to have CY Boston and CY Rhode Island join us for a day of service and reflection. While corps members from Boston were unable to attend, the corps members from CY Rhode Island were very excited.

The first third of the day focused on service. CYRI met us at Hampton Beach State Park to do a beach cleanup in connection with the Blue Ocean Society. Corps members were split up into groups, comprising people from both sites. After the cleanup and lunch, both sites went to our office space at Timberland for some reflection time and dinner. Corps members had the opportunity to contemplate the future of national service and our City Year. When we were done eating, we headed to a local park for the first of what will become an annual NESA Basketball Tournament and NESA Ultimate Frisbee Tournament. It was a jammed packed day and most people were tired by the end of it.

I did not have the opportunity to participate in most of the activities during the day, especially the first two-thirds of the day. My job was to organize and prepare lunch and dinner, so while others were cleaning the beach or learning about each other during reflection time, I was doing work behind the scenes. I was joined by Jawad and Sarah, corps member from CYNH who were responsible for logistics and the event itself, respectively. It was a little disappointing to miss out on the actual event, but we had fun and it was satisfying to see the faces of people enjoying themselves and the chance to meet other City Year corps members.

At the end of the night, Jawad said, "This is a good sign of things to come." He was referring to the fact that the two of us will be senior corps members next year. A lot of exciting things are developing at CYNH and we get to help support them. But more relevant to NESA, Jawad's statement reflects that what we did on Friday is the first of many events that unify the corps and staff of CYNH, CY Boston and CY Rhode Island. Even with only a few months of planning and last minute actions, we were able to host a successful event. We started it small so it can grow into something more powerful each year. I'm lucky to have been a part of something so exciting at its inception, and even luckier to see it first-hand next year.