Thursday, October 29, 2009

AmeriCorps Kickoff in Las Cruces!

The Community Leadership Crew made the six-hour car trip to the Court Youth Center in Las Cruces for the New Mexico Americorps kickoff. Some of us had never been south of Albuquerque and marveled at the unique desert landscape and all of us certainly enjoyed the warmer temperatures.

Upon arrival we dove into an array of workshops like First Aid and CPR, True Colors- personality assessments, energy harnessing, drumming, Positive Youth Development, working with youth, and conflict resolution. That night students from the charter high school, Court Youth Center, served a delicious meal prepared by the culinary art students, while the flamenco dance team swirled around on stage.

The next morning we participated in a World CafĂ© and had the opportunity to talk with fellow AmeriCorps members about their reasons for joining their projects and future plans. We also learned what other AmeriCorps programs in the state are doing this year. After lunch our crew created a six-word vision statement “Developing Communities, Improving Landscapes, Reaching Youth” and an accompanying presentation to share with the kickoff participants. We all went on stage to present our statement and artistic interpretation.

On Make A Difference Day we helped paint a house across the street from the Court Youth Center, participated in recycled art, including making a mosaic garden table for the garden at the school and making earrings and magnets out of bottle caps. We enjoyed the chance to let our creativity flow and socialize with other AmeriCorps members around the state.

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Crews 1 & 10 SPIKE!

Hi everyone his is Coy from Crew #1 at Rocky Mountain Youth Corps. This past 8 days, crews 1 and 10 went work on the continental divide in Southern New Mexico. We packed up our vehicles on Monday, September 28th and we started our long drive down to Socorro, New Mexico. The drive was a long one. Everyone was cramped in the Suburbans with our equipment and bags. It’s about a 6 hour drive to Socorro. Every one caught up on sleep on the way down. When we finally got to Socorro we met up with our BLM sponsor. Then we had another 2 hour drive to the plains of San Augustine. When we reached our final destination, we were at our rocky camp site.

The first day was all travel but the second day we went to work on the trail. We were putting in trail head posts and building cairns. We did a lot of hiking throughout the plains. The first day we hiked about 3 ½ miles. After the first day lots of Corps member’s feet were sore. As we worked we ran into lots of wild life. We found horny toads ranging from babies to adults. They just ran away from us, but us being us we chased it and caught it. We let it go after looking at it and taking pics of him or her. I was lucky enough to get a pic of a Blue Tailed Skink. We ran into some Tarantulas and Brown Recluses. Not too many snakes out there at this time. We kept running into dirt mounds of dirt that looked like prairie dog holes but ended up finding out that they are pack rat holes. The biggest animal we saw the whole time was antelope. Crew # 10 ran into a coyote. Another person and I wanted to run into a rattle snake because we wanted a pic of one.

We worked hard day in and day out. When we were done with our work day, camp needed attention from wood being split, to cooking dinner, and many other chores. Almost everyone went to sleep early. There were only a couple of us that stayed awake till midnight. The first night was not that cold, it was a really nice night actually. The next night got really cold, then after that the rest of the time it was cold. In the day the weather was really bad. We worked in strong winds and cold conditions some days. Due to all the weather and conditions we were sun and wind burned. Lots of people’s lips got chapped badly. We all made it out fine.

We enjoyed our time out there and are looking forward to returning. Were going on another 8 days out to the same area to work on another section of trail. We enjoyed meeting the ranchers that lived out there. They told us what has been going on out there with the wildlife and with their cattle. They not big on bringing the Lobo back down there to that area not because of their safety but to protect their cattle. A Lobo is a small wolf that is native to New Mexico. They told us stories and shared what they know. We all had some laughs with them. Then we called it a night. Well until next time and enjoy the photos.

Coy Gokey