FEMA Basic Academy!!
Dear readers… I AM TIRED! Long story short, my team and I lost another member so now it is me the team leader and 4 corps members. Remember last week when I thought the runner was the most difficult situation I would have to deal with throughout this year?? I was WRONG. This past weekend my team and I were presented with a scary and complex crisis. Never in a million years did I think at 22 years old I would have had to deal with something of this nature. I am not going to give any further information on the crisis, but I will share some words of wisdom… IF YOU SEE SOMETHING, PLEASE SAY SOMETHING. I am so proud of my members and am in awe at not only their support and love for one another, but their support and love for me.
On a lighter note, we are getting closer to starting our road trip from Sacramento, CA to Washington D.C. and I am so excited! This past Wednesday we had our pre deployment project briefing! This briefing was an opportunity for us as a team to present our project to campus staff, share the responsibilities of each specialty role once we arrive to our project, and how we plan to get involved with the local community. We also got more information on our project and our tasks within the Office of External Affairs which will include the following:
Managing IGA engagements calendar
Speakers’ Bureau coordination
Writing, digital, and creative products for FEMA that will help illustrate and incorporate equity into the overall message
Administrative support
Research & Analytics
Data entry and social media
Many of these tasks fall within areas that I am not familiar with but am interested in, so I am looking forward to gaining experience and skills. Who knows, I might want to work for the Office of External Affairs following my year of service! In addition to working in D.C. I am SO looking forward to exploring the area, visiting with friends and family that live nearby, the museums, and spending as much time outside as possible. D.C. has always been one of my favorite places to go visit and I am so excited that I will be living there for a few months!
Today is our second day of FEMA Corps Basic Academy (FCBA) where we are participating in trainings that are going to prepare us with all that we need to know about FEMA before we hit the ground running with our projects! The training days are long, but it is so cool to regroup at the end of the training day and see how much new information I have learned and all the new knowledge that I can take with me into the next day. As FCBA comes to an end on Friday, we have our FEMA induction ceremony at 1:00 PM PST and it will be on live streamed on the AmeriCorps NCCC Facebook page if anyone is interested in watching! I am sure it will be a very special memorable ceremony for all of us and to make it even better… MY BESTIE GIRL KATHRYN is the MC and if you know Kath you know she is going to rock it. Speaking of Kathryn, I will say that I am getting SO sad to leave my fellow TLs that are going to other states for their first projects. I am going to miss these amazing people so much, but I look forward to facetimes and trips to see each other during this first round and will be counting down the days until we get to see each other in person for the second transition! There are a few other teams going to Washington D.C. with me, a team going to Puerto Rico, three teams going to New Jersey, two teams staying in California, a few teams going to Texas and one team going to Missouri!
I know a fair share of you are wondering what route we are taking for our road trip, and I am excited to share that I am almost done planning all the details!! We will be going the following route: California -> Utah -> Colorado -> Kansas -> Missouri -> Kentucky -> WASHINGTON D.C.!! We will be passing right through Lexington and will be spending a night at my family’s house! My team is so excited to meet my family and have a nice home cooked meal with a side of Luna snuggles!
Rose: FEMA Basic Academy and the chilly mornings we have been having here in Sacramento!
Bud: Seeing my cousins this weekend and hugging my mama in a little over a week! (There is just something to comforting about a hug from your mom and I am in desperate need of a mom hug!)
Thorn: This past weekend. Hug your people and keep an eye on them! You never know what someone might be going through.
Catch ya next week!
xo, L