Green Crew Update

After our project in Wagon Mound ended, the Green Crew had a summer intensive training week which consisted of: hauling and splitting wood; camping and hiking at the Great Sand Dunes National Park; visiting a solar array in Southern Colorado; visiting the Earthship Biotechture visitor center; learning about indoor air quality risks; and Wilderness and Remote First Aid training. Through these trainings and field trips we learned quite a bit about nature, alternative energy, off grid housing, toxic chemicals and head/neck/spine injuries.

Last week Green Crew partnered with Taos County Housing Authority. We've been working with recycled newspaper insulation. It has been hard but rewarding work and its nice to work with non-toxic materials. We have to break down the insulation into fluffy pieces and feed them into the insulation blower machine. Two people must go into the hot, cramped attic spaces and blow a few inches of insulation over the existing insulation. This will save the home heating and cooling energy by increasing the R-value of the insulation. Even though the materials are non-toxic, we have to wear goggles and face masks to prevent the tiny particles from getting into our eyes and lungs. Wearing proper gear does add to the heat factor and makes it little harder to see and breathe. This work definitely makes for a good night's sleep and a clear conscious!

Today is day two of Education Block. Ed Block is one week of intense education and training for all corpsmembers. Yesterday consisted of preparing for life after RMYC, like learning proper interview techniques and setting up our AmeriCorps online accounts to access our scholarships after graduation. My $2700 will go straight towards my existing student loans. Some RMYC graduates will be putting their scholarship towards their first years in college or vocational training. We also discussed the preparation needed for our Presentations of Learning (POL) that we do at graduation. POLs are five minute presentations we do as individuals to explain our experience and growth during the program and to share what our next steps are.
The rest of the day was held at UNM-Taos' campus where we played some icebreaker games, received a self-defense lesson from IMPACT Personal Safety out of Santa Fe, and chose from several breakout sessions like "The Roots of Violence", Media Literacy and a Parenthood Panel. The day ended in the computer lab where we prepared and printed resumes and cover letters.