Prep for Vermont

7/15/09

Oh man, things have really picked up around here.  All sorts of events are going on.  Currently, we have two trips ongoing- sailing and Trailblazers, which both seem awesome.  The sailing program is a series of daytrips while the Trailblazers trip stays out for three weeks at a sleep away camp (check the camp out- google Trailblazers Camps in NJ.

I, however (along with Caroline), will be a counselor the Vermont trip, a ten-day backpacking, canoeing, rock climbing adventure trip with a handful of students.  This trip will be led by Project USE, which you should also look up.  This week has been orientation for our trip, which departs Monday the 20^th.

A funny thing happened yesterday.  I was eating lunch in the park with one of my students, L, who will be on the Vermont trip with me. L speaks very little, and the other students tend to ignore her, to the point that the staff has to remind everyone that she will be on the trip too.    All of a sudden, she just started describing her life to me: her sister, her sister’s newborn child (the sister is 17, but was pregnant at 16), her sister’s child’s father who lives at her house now but does nothing to support the kid, and all sorts of things.  I don’t know why L picked me to tell all of this to, having known me for two days at the time.  I hope she feels better for sharing.

CampInteractive Rafting Trip

Sunday was CampInteractive rafting day.  Two groups combined, a group of CampInteractive students and a group from Kingsbridge International High School, to go on an exciting rafting trip down the Delaware River Gap.  Kingsbridge International High School exists for the Bronx’s large population of recent immigrants, most of the students have been the United States for three years or less.

We met in the Bronx early Sunday morning, a CampInteractive group, a KIHS group, CI staff, and two KIHS teachers, also along was a volunteer from Inner City Outings.   The staff tried to convince the students to mingle – trying to convince them to sit with people they do not know and playing name games.

For this reason, we purposefully mixed KIHS and CampInteractive students on the rafts.  One important boat, captained by yours truly, had three KIHS students, two CampInteractive students, and one Washington and Lee CampInteractive summer intern.  We had a great time paddling down the river, which was gorgeous with steep green mountains on both sides.  CampInteractive was also blessed with perfect weather all day (finally!).  There was also a lot of swimming, and eventually I was pushed overboard by a CampInteractive student, deservedly since I had pushed him first.

We did have some problems onboard our happy vessel.  Those mainly grew from the language barrier.  Two of my students were recent Haitian immigrants who felt much more comfortable speaking in Creole to each other than trying English with the whole group.  The third KIHS student was Yemenite and also showed self-consciousness in English.  Still, we all got along very well and had a good time.  Everyone contributed to the rafting efforts, especially in waterfights with the other boats.  A common goal- trying to soak people on the other raft- can overcome language barriers.

CampInteractive Update

We’ve been doing a lot of prep work this week before the summer trips really get going.  Much of our time has been spent calling students and admonishing them to get their applications turned in.  We have had some success in getting new students to sign up for CampInteractive, I am especially proud that some of the students who we talked to in the community center the other day have followed through with applications (after a couple reminder calls).  I refer to the process as CampInteractive rush.

Yesterday we spent some time in the Warehouse getting things organized and ready for the rafting trip this weekend.  One student, V, came to help us.  V has been having a lot of trouble lately, missing a lot of school.  Yesterday, he was wearing a t-shirt from a CampInteractive trip.  When I asked him about the trip, his eyes lit up.  He talked at length about going to Aspen and hiking and camping.

Today was an awesome day of CampInteractive.  The staff went sailing on the Hudson River to preview a program that our students attend in a couple weeks.  We enjoyed the lovely weather (finally!) and great conditions.  The students will have so much fun with sailing.

CI recruitment

6/17/09

Today we worked a lot in the warehouse.  The whole project needs to be complete soon so that we can send the kids out on trips fully equipped for their adventures.  There is just a lot to be prepared for hiking, climbing, sailing, and other adventures this summer with CI.

The most interesting activity today was going to a meeting at a community center with Craig, Jesus, Caroline, and a CampInteractive alum to pitch CI to new kids.  It was amazing the range of reactions we got when we talked a little and tried to convince the audience to put in an application to become a part of CampInteractive.  Some kids, who were doing absolutely nothing this summer, had no interest whatsoever in the amazing scholarship opportunity that is CI.  They could potentially go on tons of trips, get after-school tutoring, and lots of technology training for free.  Yet, some of the students listening immediately latched onto the idea.

It was interesting to hear reasons why people were uninterested in CI, or reasons why they were.  Some were just not interested in the outdoors at all.  Others didn’t want to put time in.  Others were dying to go outside and dying to go on trips and get tech training.

I was happy for the opportunity to talk to some kids who were not already sold in CI, just people who were forced to enter.

One couple, a boyfriend and girlfriend, were very interested.  When filling out the application, the boyfriend got to where it asks for an e-mail address.  He admitted to having never sent an e-mail before.  He is a high school sophomore.   All of my little brother’s friends have iphones; it blows my mind that he doesn’t have an e-mail address of his own.

The first week is over already?!

6/14/09

Wow, we’ve been here in NYC for just one week.   I feel like we’ve done a lot in such a short time span.

Caroline and I now have new titles at CampInteractive: project coordinators.  Our boss believes that the term “intern” works against us, that people pay less attention to staff members titled “intern.”  For this reason, he wanted an alternate title for us and I coined the term “project coordinator.”

The project that we have been coordinating for the last couple days is working on scraping and repainting the warehouse.  Time Warner of New York City donated some space in its warehouse for CampInteractive to store backpacks, sleeping bags, hiking boots, and other camping supplies for the kids, most of whom have no outdoors gear of their own (why would they?  They live in the Bronx).  Caroline and I spent lots of time the last two days scraping and repainting the ceiling of the warehouse, which was peeling and dropping paint chips onto the equipment.    Soon, we will move lots of the equipment from a POD storage unit in the parking lot back into the warehouse.  Then, we will organize it to prepare to outfit all the students for their trips this summer.

Summer in the city is lots of fun.  I’ve managed to see several of the Washington and Lee students who either live in the city or are working on other internships here.  I’ve found my favorite nearby independent coffee shop, the Grey Dog’s Café on University Avenue.  However, a cup of coffee there or at Starbucks ($1.90 either place) is a big percentage of the food budget, so one must be careful.

First Day of Work

6/9/09

Caroline and I had our first day of work at CampInteractive- very exciting stuff.  CampInteractive, for those who do not know is a leadership program that combines outdoor adventure with technology training and after school tutoring. The Center is in a little room in the Bronx, almost 1000 square feet, and it is packed with computers, cameras, outdoor gear, and people.  There center has a giant table in the middle and internet-café style computers around the edges.  The room appears a high-tech rustic cabin with the sounds of the Bronx trickling in through the walls.

We met a lot of the staff and some of the students who attend the afterschool program.  The staff and other interns seemed happy to meet Caroline and me, and ready to work with us for the summer.  The executive director, Craig, took us around the neighborhood and got us acquainted with the program and the area.  We got tech training and received our CampInteractive network passes.     At around 2:30 the kids began to come in.  Many of them had taken Regents’ exams today, and were pretty drained.  Tomorrow we should be getting more real assignments and projects for the summer.  I think it was a solid first day of work.

Arrival/Start

6/7/09

I considered writing the instant we got to NYC, but then decided sleep was more important. Sorry. In return, you get a much more coherent blog entry to read.
Yesterday morning the six of us (Caroline, Virginia, Chris and myself of Washington and Lee, Ato of Morehouse, and M’Ballu of Spelman) woke up in Berea, KY. We traveled by bus to Lexington, VA then van to Washington, DC, and the Greyhound bus to New York City, arriving at our dorms at 4:00 in the morning.
This morning, I went with another intern and explored the city before we went as a group out to lunch (Chipolte!), our first meal since lunch the previous day.
Once we were full, four of us decided to travel up to Harlem to see the Harlem Children’s Zone, where two out of our group will be working, starting tomorrow. Ato and M’Ballu wanted to map their commute for tomorrow; Chris and I just wanted to see Harlem. It was a neat experience, to see such a famously tough area. I didn’t really feel super-unsafe, mainly because it was a bright day and I was in a group. We found the Harlem Children’s Zone and kept walking the surrounding neighborhood, including the Jackie Robinson Housing Projects. We walked past all sorts of people espousing religious and political views- lots of people shouting about the Back to Africa movement and brandishing large pictures of Marcus Garvey.
I got off the southbound train at 72nd street and walked the 60 blocks back to our 14th street dorms, passing through Times Square, Chelsea, the Theater District (Tony Awards tonight!), and into the Village. I passed lots of restaurants that looked both delicious and way out of the $11 a day budget. The long walk helped me counterbalance the previous day’s inactivity and mentally prepare for work at Camp Interactive tomorrow.
Well, off to find dinner and maybe check out the red carpet for the Tonys.