By: Jesse Newman
Deep in the woods of Western Mass, a group of young millenials finds themselves gathered in the historic Kenny D State Park. Coming from all different cities and towns across the United States, these 18 folks have come here for a plethora of reasons. But the one thing that perhaps stands out the most is our desire to give back to a community, and serve the country we all call home.
I’m Jesse. This is my third time swingin’ through the AmeriCorps world. I’m from San Diego, and have been blessed to travel the US and serve local communities for the last few years with AmeriCorps programs.
It’s been quite exciting to be here with the SCA Massachusetts AmeriCorps. We’re coming to the end of Week 3, and I wouldn’t change anything about the experience thus far. Week 1 was strictly orientation. Getting to know each other and our new home. Week 2 we started Ed Training, and had presenters from Project WILD, Project WET, Mass Wildlife, and the Plainfield Historical Society. Week 3 we continued Ed Training, where we really focused in on practicing planning and presenting lessons with a partner. We also had a presenter from Antioch University of New England come by, and we got to spend some time at one of our partner schools to get a refresher on working with elementary school kiddos — which was radical, to say the least.
These past 3 weeks have been full of so many good things, but I have to say the best part of it for me has been the amazing group of young adults I’ll be serving with for the next 10 months. No matter what you want to do or how you want to spend your time, I’ve found that our crew supports each other. Doesn’t matter if you want to ride a bike 44 miles, microwave a potato, or get a good game of Settlers of Catan going…our crew will most definitly be down for any/all of it. And that makes me feel truly happy.
I am stoked to see what these next 10 months hold, and to serve Western Mass along the way.