"PITW #54: Build the Site. Build the Organization. Build National Service.
These are the three goals we constantly strive to reach in all that we do at City Year" --Idealist Handbook
This year marks the fifteenth anniversary of CYNH and the twentieth anniversary of Americorps (fun fact: City Year was founded BEFORE Americorps, and actually inspired its founding). So in its honor, our opening day (a sort of "convocation" if you will) was celebrated as part of a series of events which made up Red Jacket Weekend!
The "weekend" began Thursday evening when the entire CYNH site (CMs and Staff) met in a circle to receive our red jackets and dedicate them. The idea is that when we wear the jackets, we will think about the people or ideas we dedicated them to, which will help to keep us grounded through the challenges we will inevitably face during our year of service. I chose to dedicate my jacket to my parents and my past teachers. I dedicated it to my parents for always putting my "needs" before their own (and the many sacrifices they have made in order to do so), for always believing in me and being my greatest advocates, and for their unrelentless support in helping me to succeed. They are the most incredible parents, and I cannot begin to articulate how lucky I am to have them. I also dedicated my jacket to my past teachers (specifically SF), for helping me to develop as a person throughout high school and for encouraging me to recognize that I am greater than a label from college. Going around the circle, we became rather emotional in revealing why our year of service was important to us. It was periodically reiterated to us by the staff (many of whom have done this annually for several years) that it was easily one of the most important "traditions" we will be a part of during our year.
On Friday, several Americorps programs serving in NH met in Manchester's City Hall to watch the live streaming of President Obama and former president Bill Clinton as they recognized Americorps' 20th anniversary and swore in the newest class of volunteers (for more info, click here). Seeing so many programs within one room (including AVAP, VISTA, FEMA, etc.) really helped me to realize that my year of service is part of a movement that is "bigger than myself," which was really quite incredible. Later in the evening, a couple hundred alumni, friends, and family arrived for RJW registration, and we "officially" kicked off the festivities with a concert benefitting City Year played by Guster.
Saturday morning we had our "opening ceremony." We were presented as "school teams" the the community, and individually stated our "I serve" statements. My sentence was: "I serve because I believe that every child should have the opportunity to obtain a quality education." We were honored to be joined by representatives from several of our sponsors as well as some rather high ranking CY members: in fact, we were sworn in by CY cofounder Alan Khazei! The large turn out from alumni who came out to show their support for CYNH in honor of its fifteenth year anniversary was inspiring. As a testament to this, all of the RJW events were put together and sponsored by alumni. And additionally, at the ceremony it was announced that, for the first time, the alumni will be sponsoring one of our school teams for our year of service. After the ceremony, we broke up into groups to complete various service projects around Manchester and later came back together for a community BBQ.
It was almost eerie to think about the impact my actions will have on myself, CYNH, CY, Americorps, and beyond. Meeting alumni and being apart of so many festivities helped me to realize the history of CYNH and how far national service has come to be where it is today.
These are the three goals we constantly strive to reach in all that we do at City Year" --Idealist Handbook
This year marks the fifteenth anniversary of CYNH and the twentieth anniversary of Americorps (fun fact: City Year was founded BEFORE Americorps, and actually inspired its founding). So in its honor, our opening day (a sort of "convocation" if you will) was celebrated as part of a series of events which made up Red Jacket Weekend!
The "weekend" began Thursday evening when the entire CYNH site (CMs and Staff) met in a circle to receive our red jackets and dedicate them. The idea is that when we wear the jackets, we will think about the people or ideas we dedicated them to, which will help to keep us grounded through the challenges we will inevitably face during our year of service. I chose to dedicate my jacket to my parents and my past teachers. I dedicated it to my parents for always putting my "needs" before their own (and the many sacrifices they have made in order to do so), for always believing in me and being my greatest advocates, and for their unrelentless support in helping me to succeed. They are the most incredible parents, and I cannot begin to articulate how lucky I am to have them. I also dedicated my jacket to my past teachers (specifically SF), for helping me to develop as a person throughout high school and for encouraging me to recognize that I am greater than a label from college. Going around the circle, we became rather emotional in revealing why our year of service was important to us. It was periodically reiterated to us by the staff (many of whom have done this annually for several years) that it was easily one of the most important "traditions" we will be a part of during our year.
On Friday, several Americorps programs serving in NH met in Manchester's City Hall to watch the live streaming of President Obama and former president Bill Clinton as they recognized Americorps' 20th anniversary and swore in the newest class of volunteers (for more info, click here). Seeing so many programs within one room (including AVAP, VISTA, FEMA, etc.) really helped me to realize that my year of service is part of a movement that is "bigger than myself," which was really quite incredible. Later in the evening, a couple hundred alumni, friends, and family arrived for RJW registration, and we "officially" kicked off the festivities with a concert benefitting City Year played by Guster.
Saturday morning we had our "opening ceremony." We were presented as "school teams" the the community, and individually stated our "I serve" statements. My sentence was: "I serve because I believe that every child should have the opportunity to obtain a quality education." We were honored to be joined by representatives from several of our sponsors as well as some rather high ranking CY members: in fact, we were sworn in by CY cofounder Alan Khazei! The large turn out from alumni who came out to show their support for CYNH in honor of its fifteenth year anniversary was inspiring. As a testament to this, all of the RJW events were put together and sponsored by alumni. And additionally, at the ceremony it was announced that, for the first time, the alumni will be sponsoring one of our school teams for our year of service. After the ceremony, we broke up into groups to complete various service projects around Manchester and later came back together for a community BBQ.
It was almost eerie to think about the impact my actions will have on myself, CYNH, CY, Americorps, and beyond. Meeting alumni and being apart of so many festivities helped me to realize the history of CYNH and how far national service has come to be where it is today.