I have gotten in the bad habit of only posting once a week and I don't like it. Sometimes I think it's okay to only post about the "big stuff" but then you miss all the little, fun things that make City Year and this year incredibly special. So, my May resolution is to post more for you guys, but also to help me remember everything as the year comes to a close.
Anyways, this past Friday was a VERY big event! It was the NHCS/Harbor Community Meeting and it was AWESOME! Community Meetings take place once a month on Fridays and each one is hosted by a different team or teams. They are your one chance to show off your kids and your service to the entire corps and staff. We were paired up with the Harbor Middle, which is a middle school also in Dorchester, not too far from NHCS.
Ethan and Ramon from the Harbor were two Corps Members who were taking a sick day. They watched different day time television shows, which featured different aspects of our service. First was Family Feud. The Harbor team and NHCS team faced off guessing "worst place to have team time," "favorite thing about Ravi" and "favorite part of community meeting." The answer to "favorite part of community meeting" was JOYS, so Sam and Megan shared stories about the sixth grade class. Megan shared one about J-S and it was so touching it made me, Erica and Megan cry. Sam shared her story about KQ who she struggled with during Course Coaching all year until they had the scrapbooking enrichment together. Turns out KQ is an incredible scrapbooker and one day during scrapbooking, he told Sam that she was his best friend.
After joys came ripples which was my part! Pat and I had filmed a scene from "One Year to Serve," which was supposed to mock One Life to Live. Hopefully, I will get the videos from this and you'll be able to see our whole community meeting, especially One Year to Serve. Both Pat and I had friends serve last year and have friends serving with City Year next year, so we are both the second wave in triple ripples.
Next was Maury which focused on the starfish story. Your starfish is a student that you have worked with that has improved. For example, my starfish is MO because when he came to me, he was in jeopardy of failing sixth grade, but now, he's doing great. Jesse from the Harbor was Maury and Margaret, Anjum and Ramon were all guests on the show. Margaret told her starfish story about SR (not me! :)) and it was determined that "SR was her starfish" We had a special guest come and do a commercial break for us. Right next to HQ is a CVS that CMs, Senior Corps and Staff frequent on an almost constant basis. Lilah, the team leader at the Harbor, ran over and got a CVS employee and he came in and read off all of the specials/sales CVS was having. IT WAS HILARIOUS! After the commercial break, Anjum and Ramon get in fight about whether or not a student from the Harbor is Anjum's starfish or Ramon's. It is determined that the student is both their starfishes. So funny!
After Maury was Josh.O, which mimics the show Tosh.O. Josh from the Harbor was the host and he showed a bunch of different videos of our students and even had a section called "What Corps Members Say," which is basically like a bunch of City Year inside jokes. Maury was followed by Oprah, where PAT dressed up as Oprah in a dress. During each community meeting, teams always appreciate their leadership. Angela and Ethan were guests on Oprah and they shared their appreciations for both Erica and Danielle. We gave them flowers, a card, and treats. Angela also quickly appreciated Monica for stepping up and going above and beyond the call of duty. Two CMs from the Harbor came up and appreciated their leadership as well. The entire meeting ended with Angela as Jerry Springer giving some closing line about taking care of yourself and each other.
We had worked so hard on this event and it went so well. I was so proud of us because we've been through so much as a team, it was nice to hear everyone say how great it was and to watch the audience enjoy it so much. After it was all done, Erica came up to Sam and I and gave us a huge hug and thanked us for her gifts. Everyone was hugging and congratulating each other on a job well done. It was such a relief to be done and to have it go so well.
I walked over to Danielle and the first thing she says is "Okay, time to go work on Legacy" which was our next big event. Not a "great job!" or a "thanks for the gifts" or a "congratulations." Nothing. It was like a slap in the face. We had just told the entire corps how hard working and enthusiastic she was and gave her gifts and flowers. What do we get in return? Nothing! I was appalled. Not only is it poor management and leadership, it's just rude.
Anyways, it was a great event and I am SO proud of my team. From where I was standing, it was the best community meeting yet. We worked hard and it payed off. I hope I can get the videos of the show up here so you all can see how incredible we are.
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