Graduation in sight

In Februrary of this year I embarked on a new adventure-a second term of service with AmeriCorps, this time working with their new FEMA program. I've been terrible at updating, and I was somewhat shocked when I realized that I haven't written since July. Now it's November, and I'm nine days away from graduation. It's incredible how quickly this year has gone, and how many new skills I have gained.

A Recap of my Adventures
Feburay 2013- Arrived at my new home in Denver Colorado! We had a month of basic training which included a week of FEMA basic, essentially a crash course to the organization that we would be working for.

March-Head to a two week training in Artesia, NM, home of the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center. This is where we were trained in our FEMA specific role- in my case mass care. We learned how to set up and operate shelters, work at a distribution center, and what to expect.

April-Arrive in Red Bank, NJ, our home for the next several months. We worked out of the Joint Field Office doing shelter surveys for the state. We went to different schools and public facilities to see if they could be used for future sheltering in the event of an emergency. We would check for kitchen space, smoke detectors, accessibility (wheel chair ramps, elevators), and showers among other things.

July-the Red Cross was impressed with the work that we did in Jersey, so for our second round project we would be doing the same thing, this time in parts of Colorado and Wyoming. PS Wyoming is incredible, even if the project wasn't. 

So beautiful!












Round two finishes, and after a week or so of transition we are off for about two weeks of summer break! I was able to split my break between Arizona, and home which was so nice. In Arizona my boyfriend and his familiy introduced me to racquetball, and I really enjoyed it. However, the highlight of that visit was GETTING ENGAGED! He proposed a few hours after my plane landed and I was not expecting it at all!

 The ring is gorgeous! I'm sorry that this picture isn't of the best quality. The picture below was taken right before his brother took us out to dinner to celebrate our engagement.

My team was origionally supposed to be heading to DC for our final round to work in the FEMA headquarters. In this program however you learn to be flexible, and with the flooding in Colorado, all teams were redeployed to work locally in Colorado. My team became a logistics team. We assisted in setting up the Joint Field Office, and then moved to a warehouse in Golden, where we would pull supplies for Disaster Recovery Centers. We were also responsible for setting up the facilities and then taking them down when services were no longer needed. Towards the end of the round, we usually were sitting in the warehouse playing cards (I played a lot of Hearts and got somewhat decent), or watching movies on our computers.

Tomorrow I head back to our campus in Denver for a week or so of wrap up, but I'm counting down the days until I get on the plane to head back home. Transition means lots of meetings, surveys, equipment turn in, debriefing our project, and finally, graduation!

I'm grateful that I listened to my mom when she encouraged me to sign up for another term of service. I've grown more as a perosn, and have learned how to better communicate with my peers. Through the ups and the downs of the program, I did learn a great deal. I had experience doing a variety of different tasks, and learned how to adapt to ever changing situations. I'm more outgoing, and try to go out and do things. My plan for after is to go back to work and try to figure out my life. This also included coming up with the courage to overcome my fears and learn how to drive.

I promise that I will get better at updating this blog as new developments are made. Glacier 4, it's been great. See you in nine days KC!

My team at the first Disaster Recovery Center (DRC) that we set up