Hello friends and readers,
I realize that I have most definitely let you down this
AmeriCorps NCCC term in terms of my usually exciting and informative blog
posts. I hope that this post is
the first of many about my TL life.
It is an incredibly busy and stressful job that I have a love/hate
relationship with, to say the least, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything. If my lack of posting says anything,
its how many other responsibilities I have been fulfilling ahead of blogging,
and I want to fix that.
When I last left you, it was 1 week away from Corps Member
arrival in Denver. Obviously quite
some time has passed since then (though it doesn’t always feel like that). We went through CTI with our CMs,
trained them, observed them, lost a few, and eventually came up with our teams
for first round. My crew (of 10
and me at the time) headed out for first round to work at the Arkansas Children’s Hospital in Little Rock.
We worked all over the hospital in almost every wing, and then
some. I worked a morning shift in
the surgical unit as well as intermediate care, and a night shift in the
post-surgical unit, the infant/toddler unit, and the NICU. I really feel like I got my feet wet as
a TL, learning how to manage a team that was never working together. I loved my work because, let’s be
serious, who doesn’t love holding babies for a 4-hour shift before going to
sleep.
We said goodbye to Little Rock after just about 5 weeks of
getting to know each other and learning what this class 19A term was
about. I am now completing my 5th
of 10 weeks in Wichita Falls, Texas, working with the North Texas Area United Way on the VITA tax project. My
team (now of 7 and me) has been trained up to advanced tax prep and has
prepared hundreds of returns to date (go to myfreetaxes.com/texoma to do yours
for free!) Since being here in Texas, we've done a lot of cool things: free pancake breakfast, PBR bull riding tournament, hockey game, chocolate event, etc. We work long days and
never have 2 days off in a row (except for this Sunday/Monday because of
President’s Day!) and the work is mentally challenging, but we are growing a
lot as a team. I have learned A
LOT more about what it takes to be a team leader during this round, good and
bad. I’m struggling with the fact
that my team is not like the Fire 2 of my CM term and am learning how to adjust
to that. I am working on my
confidence as a leader and I’m getting there. What I have learned so far is to never underestimate the
power of communication, especially with those who understand you.
On a non-AmeriCorps side of things, I’ve been accepted to
graduate school for my MSW at both Denver University and Fordham University! I am still waiting to hear from Rutgers
in NJ and also for financial aid information from every school (late March) and
I will then be able to make a decision.
That’s all I’ll update on for now. As I continue with this service term I am going to hold
myself accountable for posting here for any and all who read. Until next time,
-Christine
No comments:
Post a Comment