The beginning of the beginning
Wow, I actually have time to sit down and write. Ha!! I'm also watching 7th Heaven so this could take a while. Man, if I could sum up this week in one word, it would be CRAZY! Whoooooooooooooo weeeeeeeeeeeee!!! With Labor Day being on Monday and my orientation on Tuesday that was off-campus, by the time I arrived on-site on Wednesday I was a bit out of sorts. Luckily, I have a very understanding team.
So yeah...my first few days as a VISTA are now done and under my belt. Truthfully, I'm still working on getting settled, since GA has several things going on at any day and we're constantly in and out. However, I think things went well this week. My supervisors are great! They are really strong advocates for myself and the other VISTAs, they're knowledgeable, and they are constantly involved in my work and checking in on me. Which, in all honesty, I haven't had that in a job in a while, so it's kind of nice. Of course, there were the issues that I couldn't control...mostly technical related issues. Oy, you would not believe the struggle in just getting a college email set up. Three separate visits to the Technology Resource Center later, my Berea email is up and running. However, I learned a little lesson in grace: students are students, and they can only do so much. I was a student not long ago myself. The best you can do in those kinds of situations is walk back in with a smile on your face and appreciation for the work that goes on. So anyway, that's that. Yay rah! In addition to that, our office is currently in new-office-purgatory; that is, we have a new office space, but there's no furniture, no...anything, really. But it is clean. We are supposed to be there next week. Stay tuned for that.
I've been working on a couple of projects already, the first being a blog post to the Grow Appalachia website's blog, which you can read right here! I'm such a picky editor when it comes to things like this, so this post was two days in the works. However, I'm pleased with it (so was Candace, one of my supervisors), so feel free to read it if you feel so inclined. My second project is putting together a survey to send out to our partner sites regarding some feedback on workshop ideas that I'll be designing materials and curriculum for. It's finished, and I'm having it looked over, and the hopes is to send it out by Wednesday, the scheduled deadline. Gettin' stuff done!
We have a really busy week next week. On Monday I'm visiting the high tunnel shop (my immediate supervisor manufactures and builds them) and helping load up for our next site visit, which is Greenhouse 17 in Lexington. It's a domestic violence shelter on 40 acres of farmland, which is where we (GA) come in. They've been a partner site with us since 2011, and towards the end of "phase" treatment for clients, they have the opportunity to become part of a stipend project that allows the clients to earn a bit of extra income in exchange for working a few hours per week on the farm. We'll be building some high tunnels for them up there next week. I'll also be participating in a gardening class sponsored by the Madison County Extension Agency and UK. The class runs from Tuesday until December. I'm looking forward to gaining some knowledge that I can bring to the team. Lastly, on Friday myself and several other VISTAs will be traveling to Louisville to a celebration event of the 20th anniversary of AmeriCorps! We'll be up there all day and I'm really looking forward to a day of meeting new VISTAs, connecting with the current ones, and seeing the sights of Louisville. Plus, how awesome of a Friday will that be?? :)
One more thing: Yesterday I went on my first partner site visit. Chad's Hope is a drug and alcohol rehabilitation center for men. I talk A LOT more about it in my blog post mentioned above, but y'all...it was such an awesome visit! It's such an awesome facility; they're doing some pretty great things there. I think I'm really going to enjoy this part of the gig: the traveling, the meeting new people, the seeing first hand of the work going on with our partners. I really enjoy being a part of something that works to benefit others!
Sorry for the length; been meaning to write earlier this week but somehow the days just manage to slip right on by. Hopefully I'll be writing on a more regular basis. In the meantime, I hope you have a smashing weekend! :)
So yeah...my first few days as a VISTA are now done and under my belt. Truthfully, I'm still working on getting settled, since GA has several things going on at any day and we're constantly in and out. However, I think things went well this week. My supervisors are great! They are really strong advocates for myself and the other VISTAs, they're knowledgeable, and they are constantly involved in my work and checking in on me. Which, in all honesty, I haven't had that in a job in a while, so it's kind of nice. Of course, there were the issues that I couldn't control...mostly technical related issues. Oy, you would not believe the struggle in just getting a college email set up. Three separate visits to the Technology Resource Center later, my Berea email is up and running. However, I learned a little lesson in grace: students are students, and they can only do so much. I was a student not long ago myself. The best you can do in those kinds of situations is walk back in with a smile on your face and appreciation for the work that goes on. So anyway, that's that. Yay rah! In addition to that, our office is currently in new-office-purgatory; that is, we have a new office space, but there's no furniture, no...anything, really. But it is clean. We are supposed to be there next week. Stay tuned for that.
I've been working on a couple of projects already, the first being a blog post to the Grow Appalachia website's blog, which you can read right here! I'm such a picky editor when it comes to things like this, so this post was two days in the works. However, I'm pleased with it (so was Candace, one of my supervisors), so feel free to read it if you feel so inclined. My second project is putting together a survey to send out to our partner sites regarding some feedback on workshop ideas that I'll be designing materials and curriculum for. It's finished, and I'm having it looked over, and the hopes is to send it out by Wednesday, the scheduled deadline. Gettin' stuff done!
We have a really busy week next week. On Monday I'm visiting the high tunnel shop (my immediate supervisor manufactures and builds them) and helping load up for our next site visit, which is Greenhouse 17 in Lexington. It's a domestic violence shelter on 40 acres of farmland, which is where we (GA) come in. They've been a partner site with us since 2011, and towards the end of "phase" treatment for clients, they have the opportunity to become part of a stipend project that allows the clients to earn a bit of extra income in exchange for working a few hours per week on the farm. We'll be building some high tunnels for them up there next week. I'll also be participating in a gardening class sponsored by the Madison County Extension Agency and UK. The class runs from Tuesday until December. I'm looking forward to gaining some knowledge that I can bring to the team. Lastly, on Friday myself and several other VISTAs will be traveling to Louisville to a celebration event of the 20th anniversary of AmeriCorps! We'll be up there all day and I'm really looking forward to a day of meeting new VISTAs, connecting with the current ones, and seeing the sights of Louisville. Plus, how awesome of a Friday will that be?? :)
One more thing: Yesterday I went on my first partner site visit. Chad's Hope is a drug and alcohol rehabilitation center for men. I talk A LOT more about it in my blog post mentioned above, but y'all...it was such an awesome visit! It's such an awesome facility; they're doing some pretty great things there. I think I'm really going to enjoy this part of the gig: the traveling, the meeting new people, the seeing first hand of the work going on with our partners. I really enjoy being a part of something that works to benefit others!
Sorry for the length; been meaning to write earlier this week but somehow the days just manage to slip right on by. Hopefully I'll be writing on a more regular basis. In the meantime, I hope you have a smashing weekend! :)
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| For those wondering, this is a high tunnel. Ours don't quite look like this, but you get the idea :) |
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