Corps Training Institute!!

Whew! Finally have some down time to write in here!

So Corps Members arrived last Thursday and wow was that a busy day! Each of us Team Leaders was assigned a Pod of 8 Corps Members, who we've led through CTI training sessions starting Friday morning. We all called our Pod members the day before they got here just to check in with them and make sure their flights plans were all okay, and then we met our Pods officially for the first time Friday morning. It was really cool--my Pod has people from all over the country: one from CA, MI, WI, AR, MA, MD, IL, and NY. They are a really great bunch, and over the past few days we've gotten to know one another, sitting together during training sessions and having meals as a group each night.

Our days (except Sunday) have been jam-packed with training sessions, and it is quite a tiring experience. But it's a lot of fun, and it's been a thoroughly positive experience thus far! Training sessions get a bit dull, but after a day of training you really come to appreciate your few hours of free time in the evening.

Friday night we all played Capture the Flag, which was a blast. Saturday we watched the Sandlot and had a baseball-themed dinner for 300 people (CMs and TLs). Sunday nothing was planned, but a lot of people went into Sacramento for the day (myself included) and explored the city. I sat in a coffee shop with two of the other TLs and we worked on getting some of our paperwork done (of which we have a lot!). Sunday was also the date of the "pack test," which is where CMs applying to be on Fire Management Teams (FMT) power walk 3-miles in under 45 minutes... with a 45-pound vest on!

Yesterday was a long day, mostly because we all had to get up at 5am (instead of the usual 5:30am) for PT Baseline! Baseline is the fitness assessment conducted several times a year where you do as many pushups as you can for 2 minutes, as many situps as you can for 2 minutes, run 1.5 miles as fast as you can, and then do a sit and reach to see how flexible you are. It was really cool to watch because people are really giving it their all and I think it's awesome to see people pushing themselves.

So Pods are just temporary teams during the first week in training... everyone will get their permanent teams tomorrow night at Team Reveal! The other TLs and I are planning a scavenger hunt where all the CMs start out on the football field next to the dorm buildings and then are given clues where they sort themselves out into units and then teams. And then each team has to follow their set of clues for the scavenger hunt in order to find their Team Leader! I'm going to do a photo scavenger hunt, where they will be given a picture and have to find that place on campus. Once they get there, there will be another picture waiting for them, and they have to go to that next place. That will continue until the picture is one of the license plate on the back of my 15-passenger van, and when they find the van they'll hop in and we'll all get frozen yogurt off campus! I'm pretty psyched.

But today while I have some free time I need to go out and run a bunch of errands... need to go to the grocery store to pick up the rest of the ingredients for tonight's dinner (my Pod is cooking chili), need to take pictures for my photo scavenger hunt, need to get the pictures printed off, need to check out the frozen yogurt place to see what the ambiance is going to be like... and then if I have some time after all that, I will take a nap!

So that's all for now. I have lots more to write about but I need to take care of the aforementioned errands during my free time today. I'll be sure to put up pictures soon!

Move In Day!!

Whew what a long day today! It's almost eleven and I am so ready to go to bed. This morning we all got up early for 80's PT and spent the rest of the morning getting everything ready. Then, from 10am until 9pm it was nonstop!!

When the Corps Members arrived on campus (shuttled from the airport by some other Team Leaders), they went through "in-processing," which consisted of getting their name tags, room keys, an orientation to campus, and giving us copies of their paperwork. I was at the paperwork station, which was hands down the most hectic! Here's what we needed:

Proof of citizenship (one of the following):
1. Passport
2. Birth certificate
3. Social security card (with copy of state-issued photo ID)

License and driving record (if they want to drive a government van during SPIKE travel)

Proof of education completion (one of the following):
1. High school diploma
2. College degree
3. College transcript

...it was nuts because people brought different things, and I had to sort through each person's paperwork to figure out what it was that they had, ensure that they had brought everything they needed to bring, and then copy what needed to be copied while not copying what they had already brought copies of. OH, and then afterwards, I had to file all of it, alphabetically. And what took a long time was that each person's paperwork was not filed in the same place... education stuff was filed in one mega folder, citizen ship stuff in another, and then driving stuff in another. And while each folder had a separate pocket for each letter of the alphabet, within each of the pockets, the papers had to be alphabetized.

So... this was a very arduous process for each person, and even though we had three people manning the station it was a huge challenge to collect and sort and copy and file everything, and ALSO make sure that they had given us what we needed. And there was also an intimidatingly long line at our station too, just because it was the longest station of the bunch!

After in-processing, we had a quick opening ceremony where all of the Team Leaders were introduced via slideshow and then we had some safety tips for getting around campus. Finally, we had dinner, which was a very simple yet satisfying spaghetti dinner.

And once dinner was over, it was back to the dorms to run our hour-long floor meetings discussing rules and policies and all that jazz.

So I probably met like 100 people today and I don't remember most of them but I'm sure as time goes on I'll pick up one everybody's name. I had a lot of great introductory conversations with people today and think I accomplished my goal of making people feel welcome. I try to go out of my way to pull in those people who don't immediately click with everybody else, and it's satisfying to get them included in the group too.

Okay, well I am exhausted (again), and have to get up at 5:50am tomorrow to go running with some other Team Leaders at 6am. Tomorrow is less busy than today but that definitely doesn't mean it isn't busy! Campus sure is different with 300 more people here now. Whew!

PT with Richard Simmons

So this morning for our last PT of Team Leader Training, we all dressed in 80s garb (at least, did our best to) and did a workout video with Richard Simmons. So ridiculous! It was pretty hilarious though, and it was a nice way to start the first day of Corps Training Institute (CTI). Even though we had to be up and moving at 6am (and as a result many of us only got 5ish hours of sleep), I think it was worth it. Corps Members arrive in 3 hours!

The Corps Members are Coming!!

...tomorrow!! Well, actually technically today because as I am writing this the clock just turned midnight. We've been running around nonstop today getting campus ready for them and in 10 hours they will start to get here!

I really should have been in bed two hours ago for a full night's sleep, but there has just been way too much to do today! I actually meant to get up at 5:45 this morning to go running with some of the other Team Leaders at 6am but I slept in until 6:43! Haha, I can't believe waking up at 6:43am is sleeping in for me now.

Today I made door decs (little name tag things that you tape up on the door... see picture at right) for my 8 Pod members, typed up their schedule for the next week, typed up welcome letters for each of them that I set on the desks in their rooms, spent 3 hours trying to get the printers to work so that I could print the aforementioned things out, did laundry (running my clothes through 3 perm press cycles before they finally got dry), tried unsuccessfully to fax a copy of my driver's license to Colorado State for a tuition refund (the fax wasn't working for some reason so I will check again tomorrow), went to a training session and a meeting, then had dinner out at The Old Spaghetti House in Sacramento with the other Team Leaders for an end of TLT dinner. Busy busy day!

So I'm pretty exhausted, but all my work is done finally! At least, the work I have for tomorrow. Tomorrow will be a whole nother adventure and there will be a whole new to do list. But we'll cross that bridge when we come to it!

Okay, well it's definitely time to go to bed now because I have to get up at 5:50am for 6am PT in the morning. More to update once the Corps Members arrive!