Summer of Service Blog Series: The Hardest Job I Ever Loved…

I’ll never forget my Summer of Service at Mile High Youth Corps… It was the hardest job I ever loved.

During my senior year of high school I was looking for a summer job, also my first full time job. I applied for the Water Conservation Crew and was offered the “floater” position. I was shocked that they wanted me to take on different rolls from water conservation, the trailblazing crew and rock climbing crews… Why had they chosen me was the question repeating inside my head.

On the first day of work, or rather orientation, I was nervous. I sat there alone for not even a minute when an AmeriCorps Leadership and Conservation (ACLC) Corpsmember sat by me. Orientation came and went. I learned the ins and outs of the youth corps, but still was not prepared for what was to come…

My first week on the crews was an experience. I began working for the water crew and ended up working overtime with the rock climber, or trail building, crew. My nervousness was replaced with enjoyment.

Through the weeks I got to know all of my fellow crews. I realized MHYC was where I belonged. I got to venture in the outdoors, places I have never been to, even though I’ve lived in Colorado my whole life. I befriended many people from around the country and even the world, learning their backgrounds and who they were. I learned about the world around me.

The memories I had during my Summer of Service is a sacred piece of who I am today, I’ll never forget the dances we performed while traveling to sites… nor the amazing mix CDs everyone contributed… nor the adventures (mostly fantasized) with fellow crewmembers… nor our competition for best lunch of the day… nor our failed attempts at themed days… nor the times, such as naming plants after food, and meeting a project sponsor’s pet black widow spider…

MHYC Corpsmembers check out our project sponsor's pet black widow spider Lucy.

Although it is over, the ACLC that sat next to me at orientation still brightens my day with weekly updates on her life… and my fellow crewmembers still keep in contact now and then even though we all went our separate ways.

At MHYC I did not belong to one crew, I belonged to a community, a community made up of youth, like myself, trying to better ourselves and the world, together.

-Christopher Vieyra, 2009 Summer of Service Corpsmember

Read Full Post »

MHYC Spring Happy Hour and Silent Auction

What are you doing for Earth Day 2010?

April 22nd is the 40th anniversary of Earth Day. Not coincidentally, it is also the seventh annual Mile High Youth Corps (MHYC) Spring Happy Hour and Silent Auction. At MHYC, we celebrate Earth Day by inviting new and old friends for refreshing cocktails, tasty appetizers and some healthy competition over exciting auction items.

Looking for great deals on museum memberships, premier Rockies and Broncos tickets, yoga and spa packages and mountain zip-lining adventures? Bid with us. Feel like spending happy hour at an open-air rooftop on a beautiful Denver spring evening? Celebrate with us. Need an excuse to enjoy libations and snacks after a hard day’s work? Toast with us. Interested in reconnecting with old friends and meeting new people? Socialize with us. Are you all about youth, the community and the environment? Support us.

Join us at Denver's Funky Budda Lounge for the 2010 Happy Hour and Silent Auction

<

By attending this event, you’ll directly support MHYC’s largest Summer of Service Program to date. Providing over 175 young adults (18- to 24-year-olds) with green jobs this summer, this year for the first time, our program will include camping crews out of the Denver office. Corpsmembers will load up their gear, head into the backcountry for up to 10 days at a time and complete important projects like trail building and fire fuel mitigation. Not only does this provide a unique experience for our youth, it also maximizes the time we can provide to project sponsors.

As a MHYC Board Member since 2003, I can’t think of a better way to celebrate Earth Day than to come out and support the Corps. So, I’ll be on the rooftop of the Funky Buddha Lounge at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday, April 22nd—join me!

For more information about the Spring Happy Hour and Silent Auction, contact Anna Black at annab@mhyc.net.
Buy your $30 ticket here.

-Diana Cordova, Mile High Youth Corps Board Member

Read Full Post »

Getting to the Nitty Gritty: CO Springs Energy Crew

We are the first crew of the new Colorado Springs location of the Mile High Youth Corps (MHYC). Last July, we started working with the Energy Resource Center (ERC) here in Colorado Springs as Energy & Weatherization Interns. The ERC is a local non-profit organization that is part of a network of agencies for Colorado’s statewide weatherization program. Operated by the Governor’s Energy Office through programs such as LEAP, we provide full-scale insulation and furnace service at no cost to the client. The ERC services El Paso, Fremont, Teller, Douglas, and Elbert Counties. So far we’ve completed over 450 units this year – houses and mobile homes.

On any given day, depending on the house or mobile home, we do anywhere from a couple to all of these tasks. In basements and crawl spaces, we install perimeter, box sill, and floor insulation. We wrap water lines, duct work, water heaters, and furnaces. Under mobile homes, we do perimeter insulation as well as belly patch.

On the main levels, we put weather-stripping on doors, install low flow toilets and storm windows, and vent out dryers. We blow cellulose into side walls from the interior or the exterior, which involves working with drywall, stucco, and all types of siding. We patch, texture, and paint. To do all this, we drill, and drill, and drill, sometimes over 200 holes in a single house!

We also blow cellulose insulation into attics. This requires building fire blockings around flues and hatches, venting bathroom fans, blocking recess lights, and sealing open chase ways. On top of mobile homes, we cut large square holes across the roof and blow fiberglass insulation on top of the ceiling. This requires an extensive patching process using sheet metal, tar paper, blow torches, and final a coating of Roof Pro paint. The work is usually hard, almost always dirty, and requires masks, respirators, and full body Tyvek suits.

Every other Friday we meet here at MHYC’s office in Colorado Springs for the education portion of our program. We are well into a curriculum covering Energy and Environmental Education, as well as Healthy Living and Job Skills training. As part of this, we have also been able to go on some great field trips. We visited both Mueller and Cheyenne state parks and the Bear Creek Nature Center. We took a tour of the Ray D. Nixon coal-fired power plant, as well as the National Renewable Energy Lab and the EPA building in Denver. It provides us the opportunity to look at the big picture after spending most of the week in the nitty gritty.

Read Full Post »

Summer of Service Blog Series: Top Ten

10. Amazing spots. Last summer our work sites varied from Denver city parks to Pike National Forest to The Rocky Mountain Arsenal. Along with these great spots came some amazing field trips. Most notably was the Repository located on the grounds of The Rocky Mountain Arsenal where all the smuggled illegal animal products (furs, rugs, ivory, stuffed cheetah heads, etc.) that were confiscated across the United States are stored.

9. Environmental education. As part of the Summer of Service program, four hours a week are dedicated to learning about the communities and world around us. Every Corpsmember has the opportunity to give a presentation on an environmental topic that interests them and gain knowledge on things like Leave No Trace, global warming and healthy lifestyles.

8. Leadership skills. Working in a team environment gives the opportunity to step up and help lead your crew to success.

7. Technical skills. I bet you never thought you’d be a pro at using a Pulaski. Do you even know what a Pulaski is? By the end of your Summer of Service you will. Days spent in city and state parks using tools, pulling weeds, planting trees, chainsawing, building trails and rock walls will leave you with priceless outdoor technical skills.

6. Van rides. Long rides in the MHYC vans out of the city and through swerving mountainsides leave lots of time to get acquainted with your fellow Corpsmembers. Not to mention plenty of room for mix CDs and synchronized dance parties.

5. Muscles. After a hard day’s work you’ll be sore in places you didn’t know existed, but by the end of the summer you’ll have chiseled and defined muscles galore.

4. Incredible tan lines. You may not realize how much sun action you’re getting until you go to wear something other than your snazzy Mile High uniform and notice that even when your green T-Shirt is off, the sleeve and neck edges stay put.

3. Working outside. How many people do you know that can call a state park their office or use a shovel more often then their email account? Summer of Service offers the opportunity to work in some of the most beautiful areas Colorado offers. With wild life sightings a plenty (bison, bald eagles, deer, etc.), who needs a lap top or cell phone?

2. Friendship. Working eight or ten hour days in the blistering Colorado heat makes for a quick bonding experience. Inside jokes start flowing early in the Summer and secret handshakes are a common greeting.

1. The incredible taste of a gulp of water at morning break after putting down your chainsaw, taking off your chaps and helmet and wiping the sweat off your forehead. Trust me, water NEVER tasted so good.

Mile High Youth Corps is already interviewing for Summer of Service 2010 Corpsmember positions, so hurry and apply today!

Read Full Post »

Kits, Kits, Kits

We’re in full swing at Mile High Youth Corps with four crews up and running; they’re out in the community building houses, installing toilets and saving energy. The Energy and ACLC crews have just begun week two of kit making. They’re over at our new warehouse space using the ol’ assembly line model to pump out these kits stocked full with energy-saving light bulbs and water-saving sink aerators and shower heads. The kits are sent out to homes across Colorado so residents can install these efficient items and save money on their electricity and water bills and conserve our precious resources. Check out kit making blogs from the past here: A Day In The Life, Kit Making, Back To Basics.

Read Full Post »

The Stuff of Legends

There are those that seek glory. Those that valiantly overcome insurmountable odds and pass into the annals of myth. Few have dared to venture to this mystical land where young people become heroes and their deeds become the basis of legend. Someday children will hear from their elders about a group of courageous young men and women who gambled their lives to save the world.

For the young men and women that execute the duties of the Energy Conservation program, there are tasks that must be completed. Lightbulbs, showerheads, aerators, and client education. Every Corpsmember has crafted an elevator speech designed to effectively communicate the goals and procedures of this team, this brotherhood, and this sisterhood of the traveling BDU’s.

But beneath the surface of the green t-shirt and under the shiny badges is the true story of the ACLC/Energy crew. Everyone has seen the pictures of Corpsmembers installing light bulbs, but no one… until now… has dared to reveal the secret inner-workings of this society.

Days on the Energy crew begin by scrolling over tool checklists and restocking bins. This simple assignment is not for the faint of heart. Paper and cardboard cuts are a reality as well as a rite of passage. The staircase in the Mezz is not unlike the ascent of Mount Kilimanjaro, and many a brave soul have perished on this unsteady climb in the wear house. Then Corpsmembers are sandwiched into 12 passenger vans equipped with light speed capabilities and thrust onto the unmerciful avenues of Denver. Yet this group is willing to do anything to get the job done, including diving headlong into the mud to retrieve an errant Frisbee during the ultimate lunchtime ritual.

Within the crew a deeply fostered sense of competition exists that frankly put, would cause most grown adults to crumple like an empty light bulb box. Teams forever strive for the “perfect week” of paperwork; a flawless and epic representation of precision, skill, and teamwork. Rivalries develop between teams; and Corpsmembers may even be traded for some of Mike M’s gourmet Cheese Its.

The intrepid spirit of this corps is tested everyday, and everyday these heroes enthusiastically rise to the challenge. Yesterday Jesse was witnessed doing backflips as he smashed the dumpster full of recycled boxes. Brendan F frequently leaves his sweatshirt in the van in subzero temperatures as if challenging Mother Nature to a duel. It has be rumored that Colin stood on Ben’s shoulders to form the “World’s Most Giant Corpsmember,” successfully changing a 13 Watt on a 60 foot high ceiling. Not to be outdone, Sam overcame a lethal combination of West Nile Virus, Mad Cow Disease, and Swine Flu in merely one week. And Simone demonstrates such exquisite penmanship that the Energy intake staff is oft brought to tears.

Through the dedication of this crew, it can be assured the 2010 ACLC/Energy crew will live long beyond their term of service. Never before has humankind seen the amalgamation of such a diverse crop of talent fused together to form a mega-team. This crew is, and will always, remain classy.

-Sean Ransick, Energy Corpsmember

Read Full Post »

Summer of Service Blog Series: Memories

When I was asked to write about what I gained from my Summer of Service last year, I was a bit nervous since a.) the only thing I can remember gaining is an incredible farmer’s tan, and b.) I have no idea how to write a blog that is completely about getting a great farmer’s tan.

Ultimately, my 2009 Summer of Service memories populate myriad locations in my brain, akin to how, at the outset of a game of pool, all the balls are neatly and tightly racked, yet after a solid break they are scattered to the four corners of the table. Well, I have had a solid break (nearly half of a calendar year), and now the memories are scattered, so that the oddest things will trigger them: mention of the film Stand By Me, for example, will send me spiraling back to the Rocky Mountain Arsenal (where we spent nearly all summer working), arguing during lunch about whether the kid from The Sandlot is the same kid who is in Stand By Me (he is not).

As I sit here, struggling to herd all of my Summer of Service memories back into a pen of meaning, as it were, I am inclined to tell stories, share anecdotes, jokes and times of trial. Like the time my fellow Corpsmember Chris found a small troll/gnome. Or our irrational fear of discovering fairy-children with bright blue eyes and falsetto voices. Or the song Homeless. Or dance parties in the van to MJ.

But these stories, they do not mean anything to you. They are the kind of story that when you tell it to someone who did not share the experience, you end with, “Well, guess ya had ta be there”. Because the stories, the experiences, are not in and of themselves meaningful; rather, the fact that they were shared imbued them with special meaning. That meaning is very much like a language, a language, perhaps, that you make up with a childhood friend, and only the two of you speak it.

So if you are looking for neatly packaged experiences, or skills, or whatever, to look forward to gaining from Summer of Service, I am sorry. My memories have experienced Diaspora; I cannot recall them, bring them back to the fold, to extract some kind of concrete juice of meaning. But I am comforted knowing that, like the voice of an old friend, my memories will call when I need them to, and I will listen, and smile.

-Steve Lynch, Conservation Alumni Mentor and former AmeriCorps Leadership and Conservation Corpsemmber

Read Full Post »

The Difference

This Is the difference,
Between lions and mice.
This is the difference,
Between fire and ice.
This is the difference,
Between a monster or beast.
This is the difference,
Between the Booth and the streets.

I speak about reality, life and its fatalities
Love and all its fallacy, war and lost cavalry
Seen the dark nights, through the eyes of a lion
When the people are angry, and the children are cryin
Their faces show promise of never ending the fight
The people who won’t give under the pressures of life
We struggle and we rise, we hustle and we pride
Ourselves to be alive through the life that we’ve survived
We never talk to talk, were too busy in action
We walk the walk and we bleed out our passions
We raise our hands as a fist and we swing it fight
Not for whats left we only fight for whats right
They take their classes on speech but never been on the streets
Ya see they talking they talk and never missing a beat
They never hunger to the point where they needed to steal
Where they needed to steal just to eat up a meal

This Is the difference,
Between lions and mice.
This is the difference,
Between fire and ice.
This is the difference,
Between a monster or beast.
This is the difference,
Between the Booth and the streets.

It’s the difference we make and the difference you don’t
Between the people who will and the people who won’t
Theres only few who would fight, and fight with their life
At the end of a barrel or at the blade of a knife
I’ve looked fear in the eyes with out a shiver of fright
Turn the world with my words and deliver the night
We feed our families with our hopes and our wishes
And starve ourselves ona quest for a vision
And some of us wander with no where to go
And freeze to death in the streets because the world is so cold
We’re political activists who protest the war
While your sending your troops to murder the sick and the poor
So raise your hand In the air try to grab it and miss
And what your left with is your hand as a fist
So swing it to fight for the people who can’t
and when your legs are the weakest hold yourself up and stand

This Is the difference,
Between lions and mice.
This is the difference,
Between fire and ice.
This is the difference,
Between a monster or beast.
This is the difference,
Between the Booth and the streets.

-Chance Two Crow, AmeriCorps Leadership and Conservation Corpsmember

Read Full Post »

An Illuminating Presence

Like an anthropologist, I piece together the living remnants of a stranger gone to work. We are not welcomed into their home, but enter with permission and authority. Once there, it is our job to access their most personal, most private, most intimate spaces – their bathrooms, their bedrooms, their closets, their fridges… Where we proceed to change light bulbs, aerators, showerheads, and check for any unnecessary energy and water seepages.

I tiptoe and creep through, careful to leave no trace behind but an education pamphlet and flyer as telltale signs of our illuminating presence. And when these strangers return, they will return to a newly illuminated home – a home filled with warm fluorescent light cast by swirly light bulbs.

I scan his CD and DVD collection, noticing approvingly an abundance of Rambo and Chuck Norris films, the pet fish already illuminated by fluorescent lighting, and his closet where I discover to my great delight a top shelf stacked high with cowboy hats. The bedroom, like the rest of the apartment, is spare and clean. There is a single pair of jeans laid out on an ironing-board unforgotten – he will get to them later.

I change out the small, dimly-lit light bulbs in the matching set of bedside lamps, taking note that they match, and the tasteful rustic styled pattern and stitching on the shade and body. The swirly fluorescents are brighter and too flashy for the deliberately cultivated subtlety of the bedroom. I leave them in for the sake of my conservationist conscience, but also leave the apartment with the distinct feeling that sometimes some things are more important than conservation…

-Jeri Ho, AmeriCorps Leadership and Conservation Corpsmember

Read Full Post »

Summer of Service Blog Series: An Awakening of a Princess

I have always been convinced that I was switched at birth, and am truly a princess. My job during high school indulged my fantasy– working at a high-end jewelry store. However the summer after graduation came around and I was ready for a change. One night at dinner my mom’s friend, Shanda, recommended that I apply to a non-profit organization where I would spend the summer doing manual labor full-time. I originally thought that this would be the last thing that I would ever want to do. Yet, I went to the interview and was soon afterwards a summer-of-service employee for Mile High Youth Corps (MYHC).

While driving to work on my first day, I was beginning to freak out. I had never done manual labor before, never was required to wear steel-toed boots and a hardhat, and certainly never worked for 10 hours a day. Somehow I managed to convince myself that this was just a job and I would put my time in and get out of there with a paycheck and a scholarship for college and that was all there was to it.

Before I knew what was happening that first day, I was stuck in the back of a twelve-seater van with a bunch of people I did not know- and may not have associated with otherwise- off to cut down a species of invasive trees in northern Colorado. To put it quite simply, I was totally in over my head– I had no clue what I had signed up for. I came home that night looking like I literally stepped off a battlefield—my arms were scratched and bloody from the tree branches, my entire outfit was drenched in sweat from the day’s work, and I was more exhausted than I had ever been. I had never felt or looked any farther from a princess than I did at that moment. I had no clue how I was going to make it through the rest of the week much less the rest of the summer.

Slowly, but surely I fell into a groove. The scratches began to hurt less, the sweat became less noticeable, and the days began to pass more quickly. The van rides promptly became the highlights of my day. I also began to become close friends with some of the members on my crew. I met a number of the most amazing people from completely different backgrounds than I. They were so different than the people I had spent high school with and being with them was like a breath of fresh air to my stuffy world. I felt so comfortable with them; I could be myself. As the inside jokes, familiarity, and daily routines began to set in, there was a sense of security and tranquility around the roar of the chainsaws, the falling trees, and the laughter that would rise above it all during our breaks.

It took about half of the summer for me to realize how much I had changed and grown while working at MHYC. I was no longer afraid of having to work hard with my hands, I no longer cared what my hair looked like when I took my hardhat off or that my t-shirt was outlined with salt lines at the end of the day. MHYC ended up, to my surprise, being one of the best things that I have ever taken part in. On the outside I looked very little like a princess, but in my heart I knew that the summer had changed the type of person I was and the type of princess I could have been.

-Veronicca Solis, 2009 Summer of Service Trailblazers Corpsmember

Read Full Post »