July 24, 2023

The final day. We were out of the dorms by 7:30 for room inspections. We turned in our room key cards we got a few days ago and our old key cards from the first day we arrived on campus. We waited in the main building until we had to line up outside by team and last name at 9:30.

Graduation went pretty quickly. A couple corps members sang the national anthem, one gave a speech about serving in AmeriCorps, the corps member and team leader of the class were announced, we watched a recording a congressperson made for us, etc... I'll probably elaborate later, but for now I'm busy and tired. We received our AmeriCorps completion certificates, changed and dropped our boots and uniforms in the back of a couple trucks, and packed the remainder of our stuff into the vans. We said our final goodbyes and departed.

There's one song I first heard back in the Corps Training Institute, and have come to strongly associate with this program after all the road trips, flights, and time away from home. I think it would only be fitting to end the year with it too:

July 23, 2023

We went to Emerald Pools today.

I'm very tired, so I'm not going to elaborate much. We did see a baby rattlesnake, though.

July 22, 2023

We went back to San Francisco again! We stopped by the Palace of Fine Arts, the same place from Day 33:

We walked out to Crissy Field Beach. I heard a pygmy nuthatch on the way over.

This San Francisco Fire Department vessel came by. We figure they might have been doing a drill for putting out a coastal fire? Each of the three spouts seems to operate independently:

We watched the fire boat and several windersurfers before heading to the south part of the beach. This side had dozens of dogs. We watched them play for close to half an hour. I saw a lone male surf scoter swimming behind them in the bay.

July 21. 2023

We had our tech check-in at 10:00. We removed the cases from the iPhone and iPad and unlocked them so the staff could check that they still worked. We had to return the following (they didn't care about the mouse, car charger, or earphones):

iPad

iPhone

Laptop

PIV card

Tech case

iPad case

iPhone case

iPad charger

iPhone charger

I dropped my red bag off at the van for the supply check-in at 11:00. I had Life After AmeriCorps (LAA) specialty role meeting at the same time in the main room. Each team's LAA representative gathered to provide our feedback on the role and resources Corps members could benefit from, including:

Financial planning and life skills from the start/round 1-2 transition (apartment hunting, saving and 401k, etc.)

More exposure to FEMA and other governmental jobs earlier in the year (takes a while to apply)

Mentorship from AmeriCorps alumni on LAA role and general participation in AmeriCorps

Forum on My AmeriCorps for current members and alumni

I met the rest of the team at the Operations building to help finish cleaning the van and unload kitchen kits and other equipment. Operations inspected the vans and told us to park them in the back. They wanted to throw away a bunch of plates and other things in the kitchen kit, so we took the extras for relocation; a lot of the kitchen supplies would be useful for future teams.

There was a Corps member feedback session at 13:30. Only one or two people from each team were supposed to go, so I wasn't there. Several of us met with the assistant unit leader (UL) afterward to discuss some issues/concerns with part of the program. I won't go into specifics, but it does seem like the assistant UL is going to make the program better going forward. The few changes implemented for the new classes already seem like an improvement.

July 20, 2023

Another job application before "work." We had a community meeting at 9:30 in the main building and were instructed to wear our gray AmeriCorps T-shirts. Most of the AmeriCorps staff were new or unfamiliar to us, so we got them to introduce themselves. We reviewed what we'd be doing during graduation, then listened to staff announcements. We were told that FEMA is switching its service provider... Only a day or two before we turn in our government phones. Not the best timing.

The next couple hours were the "AmeriLympics": kickball, water balloon fights, and other activities. I went shopping for an extra suitcase and took a nap instead.

We changed into our formal FEMA outfits. The two Seattle teams practiced for the round 4 debrief around noon. We listened to another team's debrief before presenting. Everything went pretty smoothly; by this point we're used to talking about our projects and giving these presentations. We had pizza waiting for us afterward, and we were allowed to change back into our regular clothes.

We had an awards banquet back in the main building at 16:00. We got back the letters we wrote ourselves on Day 20. We sat in teams and were called to go to a photo area with simple props and a white background screen with AmeriCorps logos. Then we got a somewhat odd buffet-style dinner from the other side. The AmeriCorps staff put on a PowerPoint trivia game and a rock-paper-scissors competition.

We watched the round 4 team videos, and team members were recognized for specialty roles and informal team roles. Some of them got AmeriCorps water bottles. The team leader of the year was nominated. Everyone got an AmeriCorps pin, a white AmeriCorps alumni T-shirt, and the President's Volunteer Service Award. Or... most of us did. Some of the service awards hadn't arrived yet and will supposedly be mailed later. Members who applied received their congressional awards.

July 19, 2023

May 9, 2023

Last day on campus until the end of Round 4. Very busy.

We went to meet Operations with the van at 7:00 to learn that only the two members who were vehicle safety tools had to be there. I walked back to the dorm and got more sleep.

A couple hours later, the team met at the kitchens in the main building to pack everything up. We had far too much food, so we put about half of it in the donation section of the kitchen for other AmeriCorps members to pick through. We learned shortly after that we were getting an extra van, so we didn’t have to worry much about the space, after all.

Our team leader (TL) met with us in the afternoon to announce that as of tomorrow, we’ll have a new TL. We knew this was going to happen eventually, but didn’t expect it to be so soon. At least everyone’s parting on good terms this time.

The unit leader met with us a while later to check in and discuss the TL switch and our plans for once the program ended. A few of us headed over to open office hours afterward to ask member benefits some questions about health plans. I’ll share that information later.

We got a small amount of downtime, then picked up dinner. Unfortunately we lacked time to have a final team meal. I did a load of laundry and continued packing until we had duty at 19:00. This wasn’t anything particularly demanding, just cleaning and vacuuming the main section of the main building / training room.

May 8, 2023

I added some final touches to our project brief slides. We presented it at 9:30, then stayed after to listen to another team present their brief. Each brief contains the following topics:

Lodging

Project work

Preparing for the project

Project concerns

The community

Entering and engaging with the community

Specialty roles

Team strengths

Team goals

We attended the Final Transition presentation at 11:30. This covered procedures around traveling home, health care & worker’s comp, and using the education reward. I’ll most likely be making individual posts on each topic in a few days (update: i lied).

The rest of the day was free, so I took a stroll around campus to watch the birds. Some of the other corps members found a lesser goldfinch hopping around on the ground, unable to fly. I was going to call a wildlife rehabber, but the bird seemed alert and overall well. I figured it was just a fledgling, so leaving it alone ought to be fine. I later saw a couple yellow-billed magpies. These birds have a range limited to California, so I’ve never seen them before.