The Mind Of A Pathfinder

Have you ever heard the saying, “you don’t know a person or what they go through until you step into their shoes?” Of course you have. So how do you do this for a team? Let me tell you. First, you will need boots (steel toe), a hard hat, and working gloves. Now, pick up a tool and prepare to carry rocks. This is the mind of a PATHFINDER.

With the grace of a ballet that we have learned, we venture from park to park performing projects that leave the land better then how we found it. BALLET?! Yes, ballet. A bonus during a unique session of Environmental Education (E.E.). With this job comes a great deal of E.E. Not only was the E.E. new information for us, but it opened our eyes to the real world and opportunities that lie outside places, such as Starbucks and even the bus.

As a team we’ve encountered a collage of tasks and obstacles, ranging from the construction of “bunny condos”, aka wild life piles, to our battles against the Dalmation ToadFlax. Another plant we battled was the Thistle Family. We have come to learn that picking thistles in the great outdoors is a brilliant way to engage in long, fun conversations and make new friends at MHYC.

It is now 1 pm. Just after lunch. So far, it has been a scorcher. The “Red Rocks” make it seem to be 110 degrees. As we pack slowly, getting ready to get back to the days work, this is a moment to take a deep breath and look around. If you were standing where we were today, your eyes would be filled with bright blue skies, giant white cotton clouds, tall ponderosa pines that enrich the forest with the scent of butterscotch, and of course, many rocks. This scenery being what makes the heat bearable.

It’s amazing what people can accomplish together. With our team strength to move dinosaur egg shaped rocks, we’ve been able to finish our 8 projects with plenty of time to spare. SPARE TIME is GAME TIME! Though we have found other projects to breeze through, we have adopted many games along the way. One of our favorite comes from our Crew Leader, Alex. The title? “STICK.” The cool thing is all you need is a stick
(A lot more fun than it sounds).

Be it food or games, we find ways to get through each day. Team chemistry goes a long way. Along with one other opportunity we have yet to talk about… I.S.P. Independent Service Hours (I.S.P.) is a plus. Not only do you get the opportunity to volunteer your hours to helping a community, but it’s also an excellent time to work on your farmer’s tan.

Above all, this is a day/life of a Pathfinder. Hey are you still there? Good, we could use two extra hands.

~Pathfinders Crew, 2011

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Third Times The Charm

If I had been asked in the first half of my very first summer here if I would ever think of coming back to work at MHYC again, I’m not entirely sure what my answer would have been. As a friend and fellow ’09 CM, Chris, once said, “This is the hardest job I ever loved.” And I think that is the best way to sum up my work here at MHYC. I was blown away when I started here, it was the first time that I ever had to do real, hard labor for ten hours a day and then as I moved to the office I had to negotiate between phone calls, copy machines, emails, and various paperwork every day. Each of these summers has been a totally new and totally different experience for me. But it was a chance that I have grown to take full advantage of and really appreciate all that it has brought to my life.

This is the final week of my third summer here at MHYC, and as I sit here and reflect on the various summers and what I have gained from working here one thing stands out—my growth, both personal and professional.

As much as I have tried to contribute to MHYC, I think that I will leave here having gained so much more than I was ever able to give. For three summers now I have given my time, my energy, my hard work, my perseverance and my laughter. And the past two summers, I have spent long days orienting new CMs, sorting through piles and piles of paperwork, travelling from crew to crew to offer support in any way I could, hiring and recruiting new members to MHYC for all our programs, and helping crews get out of the door in the mornings as efficiently as possible. Yet despite all of this, I think that when I remember my times here at MHYC it will be all of the things that I have gained that I will remember most fondly: the friendships that I created that will continue for years to come, the dance parties in the vans to and from project sites, the courage to be myself, the support from all of the staff members no matter the endeavor, the knowledge about the environment, nonprofits, and life in general, the importance of loving and having passion for what you do, and most importantly how it is the little things that you do every day that are the most important when it comes to making a difference.

I like to think that I grew into the person I want to be because of my work at MHYC. I was pushed and challenged in so many different ways and situations that I now have professional skills that will help me for the rest of my life, and I personally have learned so much about myself, who I am as a citizen of this world as well as how I see the world and what I can do to change it.

I would also like to offer my sincerest gratitude to all of the staff here at MHYC, whom I believe have been the extremely influential when it comes to the great experience that I have had.

~Roni, Summer of Service Super Corpsmember!

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Service Project: The Urban Farm

Last Friday, all the MHYC CMs headed to The Urban Farm for an All-CORPS SERVICE PROJECT. Our new Energy and Water CMS joined the Summer of Service Crews and some staff to spend the morning working at The Urban Farm. The sky was blue, the sun was out and so were everyone’s smiles. It looked like a great day to get out into the community and do some positive work!

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Composting Comes To MHYC!

The ACLC program involves many components. One of these components is the capstone project we work on throughout the year. The group I am involved with, Adriana Lopez, Allison Boese and myself decided to bring composting to MHYC. We began back in March and have been working hard to get this program off the ground. We held multiple bake sales as well as a bagel sale in order to raise money to purchase the bins.

We have created a partnership with Denver Urban Farms and caretaker, Rick Garcia. Every two weeks, we collect our compost and drop it off at the farm. Multiple school groups as well as a 4-H club are able to use the resulting soil in their garden plots at the farm. Soil from the compost pile is also used by Feed Denver; an organization which helps feed people who can’t afford food on their own.

The following items can be composted in our bins:
- Uncooked & unseasoned produce (veggies + fruit)
- Coffee grounds
- Tea bags
- Grass clippings
- Eggshells
After a lot of hard work, we received the bins in the mail; it was a great milestone in our project and allowed us to start composting. We distributed the bins to the three locations and the agency began composting! Our group is still working out some logistics of the project, involving the pick-up schedule from the three MHYC locations, but overall things are going great! We hope the composting continues, even after our term is done!
~Adrienne Balsamo, ACLC 2011

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Moving Up the MHYC Ladder

Summer is a little over half way through and our crews have gotten into a comfortable groove on the project sites. A lot of this is due to their crew leaders who have done this work before at MHYC.
Andrew Kennedy, Brendan Michaud and Signe Hawley were Corpsmembers last year and came back to be Crew Leaders for our chain saw crews this summer!

During the month of May, I went out to visit them on their project site where they were removing the invasive tree species, Russian Olive. There I got the chance to ask them why they decided to come back to MHYC as leaders.

~Michelle, Outreach Alumni Mentor

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What A Great Year!

Our wonderful VISTA in Colorado Springs, Sylvia Sedrak, has left us for greener pastures!

Sylvia has spent the last year as our Outreach VISTA doing a phenomenal job getting the MHYC name out in the Colorado Springs and Southern Front Range communities in addition to building the capacity to hire all the wonderful CMs for our summer crews!

A little bit before Sylvia left, she and I went on an adventure to visit the Hayman Crews from Colorado Springs. With our backpacks, GPS, map and instructions from Ryan (one of our staff members), we were off on a camping adventure! We spent some time with both crews and learning more about the trail that they were building for the dirt bike visitors of the park. When the day ended we got to use our backpacks…. We were lucky enough to hike 2 miles to our camp sites. Happy, a little dirty, and exhausted from all the hiking we did during the day, we reached our camp!

What a great place it was too! The Hayman crews has created a great little community for themselves and welcomed us to join with open arms! We set up our temporary home and got into the camp life. Sylvia hung around the kitchen area and chatted with CMs, while I followed the trend of some CMs of finding a great place to sit and enjoyed my book for a little while.

After a delicious dinner of breakfast burritos and a couple of games of ninja we headed to our tent for a night under the stars. I had a great time camping and an even better time with Sylvia on our last adventure together! I wish Sylvia lots of luck in her future and can’t wait to hear about her newest endeavors.

Sylvia has embarked on her own adventure in Tel Aviv and you can follow her story on her blog at http://sylviasedrak.wordpress.com.

~Michelle, Outreach Alumni Mentor

I was fortunate to work closely with Sylvia this past year in her role as Outreach VISTA serving the Colorado Springs office. Sylvia made a lasting contribution to Mile High Youth Corps. Here is a snapshot of some of the work Sylvia did:
- Wrote a ton of blog posts
- Developed a video for the NTEN Digital Storytelling Contest
- Wrote e-Newsletter articles
- Made connections with nonprofit and government partners in Colorado Springs, Pueblo, and Canon City
- Developed and refined processes for effective recruitment and hiring of Corpsmembers

Thank you to Sylvia for all of your hard work and positive spirit this past year! I can’t wait to see what the future holds for you.

~Al, Recruitment & Marketing Coordinator

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Back For Another Summer!

After a season at MHYC, many Corpmembers ask about coming back the next summer. Returning alumni are a huge asset to our crews and often have the opportunity to step into new roles with more leadership opportunities. Lynae Shepard joined MHYC’s 2010 Sawyer Fall Crew and this summer she came back for more saw work, but in a leadership role, as the Crew Mentor.

What is the difference between the work you did last year at MHYC and the work you are doing this season?
It is the same hard work as last season but this year I am a mentor, not only do I have to worry about the education I would like to receive, I have to worry about everyone else on the crew. I make sure we get the four hours of education needed each week and try to keep it fun so it actually sticks in our head. I enjoy the responsibility and knowing that I am trusted with being a mentor is great.

What made you come back and work at MHYC?
I came back to MHYC because last season I had a great time even though it was just the fall season I wasn’t there long but being out there and trying to making a difference. I wanted to come back and try to make another dent. It is a great experience something new, different and once the season was over I talked about it non-stop, about how much I learned, how much I did and I even tried to convince my younger brother in California to get into something like MHYC in California.

What is your highlight of the season so far?
I don’t know if I have a highlight just yet, but I am so happy to be in the crew I am in. The guys are great we get along great, we work hard and get the job done, I really can’t ask for more.

What are your future plans after this season?
I know I am going back to school, not sure if in Colorado or California yet I just know that I’m going continue to work at making a difference.

~Lynae Shepard-Colorado Springs Saw Crew

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