Woo-Hoo! We're trying out AmeriCorps!

[Lori D.]

[uPDATE #1 in post #11] - March 18

 

[uPATE #2 in post #13] - April 21

 

[uPDATE #3 in post #19] - June 21

 

[uPDATE #4 in post #22] - September 3

 

[uPDATE #5 in post #28] - December 18

 

 

Well, DS#2 just got the thumbs up from his phone interview that he is a "go" for a 6 month AmeriCorps project with American Conservation Experience! And… he has 1.5 days to get ready, as his project starts on Saturday, and Friday he travels to his location!

 

DS is SUPER-excited, as he was really drifting this past year, unsure as to what he wanted to do, after getting 2 years in to an AAS degree and realizing he really did not want to work in that field, so he (wisely) put education on hold until he knew exactly what he wanted to do and what kind of education he would need for it.

 

So, this gives him a chance to explore some Forestry and outdoor/wilderness activities to see if this is a good match, room and board is covered, he gets to meet people and see new places, and at the end of the project, AmeriCorps awards an almost $2900 educational credit. :)

 

After having researched and posted about all kinds of post-high school options, I never thought we'd be trying one out! :) So… I'll keep you all posted on how this goes. :)

Edited December 18, 2016 by Lori D.

[Eliz]

Congratulations!!!!  He must be really excited.  Did he get t choose the project and location or was he assigned to one? I just checked out the website.  If I weren't old and tired and a single, working mom, I would like to participate in one.  

[Slache]

Awesome! I was NCCC. I worked alongside many ACEers. It is so. much. fun.

[Lori D.]

Congratulations!!!!  He must be really excited.  Did he get t choose the project and location or was he assigned to one? I just checked out the website.  If I weren't old and tired and a single, working mom, I would like to participate in one.  

 

Yes, he picked his project and location. The project he picked has the added bonus of getting Sawyer 1 certified (chainsaw/tree cutting). So, I'm a little more nervous in the "woo-hoo" for that part (LOL), because, yes, this is the same son who had the 2nd degree burn injury over half his hand (hot oil) at work back in the fall (SO grateful -- completely healed by 4.5 weeks later). So I'm REALLY hoping that all the work-related injuries are ALL DONE!  :eek:

 

Thanks everyone for being excited for us! :)

[freesia]

Excellent! Dh ran an Americorp program in the nineties. I hope he has a wonderful experience.

[quark]

Sounds wonderful Lori!! So excited for him. Please keep us posted on how it goes!

 

Hugs!

[Sunshine State Sue]

Terrific!!!  What an adventure.

 

The project he picked has the added bonus of getting Sawyer 1 certified (chainsaw/tree cutting). So, I'm a little more nervous in the "woo-hoo" for that part

Gulp.  As my ds warms the basketball bench this year, I'm kinda grateful that there is less chance of injury.  Don't tell the males in my family, tho. :ph34r:
 

[Kareni]

Congratulations to your son, Lori D.  I'll look forward to future details of his experiences.

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Lori D.]

Thanks so much, everyone! It's esp. exciting to hear such good reports from Slache and Freesia, with personal experience with the program! :) Tomorrow is the big road trip to get him there!

[Penguin]

Very awesome, Lori.

I didn't know about this program before your post - it looks so interesting!

[Lori D.]

UPDATE #1

 

:w00t:  He's doing great! He says the staff and co-volunteer/interns are great, and that it's been a week of intensive training -- he now has his Wilderness Outdoor First Aid certification, and is working on his Sawyer certificate. Tomorrow they go out and have their first actual chainsaw practice. He's scheduled for his first project in a week and a half -- new hiking trail construction in a national forest area. They pack in and work for 8 days, camping there, and then pack out.  :patriot:

[bugs]

UPDATE #1

 

:w00t:  He's doing great! He says the staff and co-volunteer/interns are great, and that it's been a week of intensive training -- he now has his Wilderness Outdoor First Aid certification, and is working on his Sawyer certificate. Tomorrow they go out and have their first actual chainsaw practice. He's scheduled for his first project in a week and a half -- new hiking trail construction in a national forest area. They pack in and work for 8 days, camping there, and then pack out.  :patriot:

 

What a fun sounding job - for a kid who loves the outdoors and hard work! I may bring this up to some scouts I know.

[Lori D.]

UPDATE #2

 

Well, DS is now 6 weeks into his 24-week service with AmeriCorps, specifically serving with the American Conservation Experience. He  has completed three 8-day projects, with 1 in our home state, and 2 out of state! So he's getting to travel a bit. He's enjoying the different scenery. He hasn't gotten to do as much chainsaw work so far as hoped, but he has had a few days of it.

 

Since he has no car, he walks everywhere on his days off (as well as all the hiking/packing on project days), and says he is getting into shape. He has to cook for himself on his days off, which seems to consist of DS cooking up a bag of pasta and grating a ton of cheese on it. lol. He sent a selfie, and he is growing quite the mountain man beard.  :laugh:

 

The most recent adventure was almost stepping on a copperhead snake!  :eek: Fortunately it was small, and while it reared back, it did not strike. Sincerely hoping that will encourage future caution. ;)

 

So, overall, it's been good!

Edited April 21, 2016 by Lori D.

[Miss Tick]

How neat! Can't imagine how I missed this earlier considering how much time I spend here! Does he have a plan for what he wants to do when this ends? All that hiking and camping sounds great, along with working on a job that would have so much "visual progress" to show at the end of the day!

[Lori D.]

How neat! Can't imagine how I missed this earlier considering how much time I spend here! Does he have a plan for what he wants to do when this ends? All that hiking and camping sounds great, along with working on a job that would have so much "visual progress" to show at the end of the day!

 

Well, he has mentioned that the sawyer certification he now has could lead into a job on a wild land firefighter hot shot crew… But no real plan yet. Hopefully this experience will either open (or close) some areas for him, which will help narrow things down. (Right?!?)

[Sunshine State Sue]

Thanks for the update, Lori.  I love hearing about his adventures. 

[GoodGrief]

Enjoyed reading this. Sounds great!

[Sunshine State Sue]

Time for another update, Lori.  Inquiring minds want to know how ds is doing.  :bigear:

[Lori D.]

Time for another update, Lori.  Inquiring minds want to know how ds is doing.  :bigear:

 

lol. You are so kind to want to hear more about what he's up to! :) Okay, for all those armchair adventurers out there, here's the update:

 

DS is halfway through his 6-month commitment! In his time with ACE, he has helped build a brand new trail; done some invasive species removal; rebuilt fences; and reduced fire load by cutting down some trees and clearing underbrush. He's worked on projects in 3 states. He's seen all kinds of native wildlife: tree frogs, birds of many kinds, rattle snakes, racer snakes, gila monsters, rabbits, a desert tortoise, a tarantula, a scorpion, and a centipede (he just texted and sent pix of those last few critters today). At one project area, they found a cool deer skull and some other bones. At another project site, for one day they were assigned to help out with the all-day nature presentations for several hundred elementary-age students -- DS's job was to wear the full body mascot suit for the National Refuge -- a wild duck! (Still waiting for DS to send photos of THAT one!  :laugh: )

 

On one of his off days in June, he went on an all-day hike with co-worker/friends to reach the top of the nearby mountain peak -- but they were stopped a few miles short of making it to the top of the 12,600-foot peak because they kept losing the trail in waist high snow! On another day off, he toured a famous cave. Several evenings he's gone with a group to a local brewery near his home-base housing that has dancing and he's had fun out on the dance floor.

 

Today, he finished up a 3-week hitch in a southwestern state, where most of the days he was working the temperature was hitting about 104Ëš -- so they were getting up at 4am to be on the job by 5am so they could get done and get out of the sun earlier in the day. This, from the young man I could barely drag out of bed at 9:30am in high school to start homeschooling for the day…  :tongue_smilie:

 

His beard continues to grow epically.  :laugh:

 

And some great extras: he has been offered jobs by two different directors of national refuges in different states after seeing DS and his crew at work. And his supervisor has offered to mentor him and help him move into a leadership position if he wants to sign up for another 3- or 6-month commitment.

 

The biggest surprise: We actually got to see him for half a day, about a month ago, when he was on a short hitch near our home town! They weren't going to be able to come into town due to some logistics, so we weren't going to be able to see him -- until one of his crew members took ill and he and another crew member brought the ill member in to the hospital to be checked out. He called from the waiting room of the hospital near us and said come on down -- so we got to give him huge hugs. And it was so late in the day by the time the hospital released the crew member, we extended the invitation (and DS's supervisor okayed it), for all three of them to come back to the house for dinner, a shower, and to crash over night. So fun getting to see DS AND get to meet two crew members! They were off again by 6am, but mama's heart was happy seeing what a fantastic and responsible young man DS has grown to be.  :hurray:  :thumbup1:  :001_tt1:

 

Okay, proud mama signing off for now…  :patriot:

 

 

PS -- And yes, he's safe and far away from all the terrible forest fires going on right now… They won't put their crews anywhere near an area that is under fire danger.

Edited June 22, 2016 by Lori D.

[Sunshine State Sue]

Thanks for the update.  What an adventure!  I'd love to see the wild duck pic. :lol:

[Lilaclady]

Great. Love the adventures.

[Lori D.]

Sept. 3 - update

 

Four weeks ago we got to snatch DS for 3 days of his 6-day break for a family mini-vacation and really enjoyed our time together. I think he really liked a bit of a break, as well! :)

 

His next hitch after we saw him was deep into an environmentally protected area to clear trees that had fallen and were blocking the trail. Because it was a protected area, no motors allowed, so no chainsaws -- 2-person saws and axes only. They packed in 4 miles and set up base camp, and then hiked miles up and down the trails each day to clear over 300 trees in their week there -- and never saw anyone else the entire time. Talk about remote! He got to see a black bear from a distance, as it was high-tailing it away from them. ;) That hitch has been the highlight of his time with ACE (the program DS actually works for, that AmeriCorps partners with). :)

 

Now DS is down to just one last short "hitch" that starts next week in what will be the 5th state that he's worked in over the course of his 6-month commitment! He will be getting a bit more chainsaw and handsaw time. It will be a bit like the hitch he did at Bitter Lake NM, which you can see at the ACE Blog here -- alas, he's not in any of the pix nor was he interviewed, but the blog gives you an idea of what kinds of work the crews do. :)

 

He has decided to re-sign for another 3 months with ACE, this time with a state organization doing the funding (and it pays more for the weekly living stipend than AmeriCorps!), which means all of his hitches will be within the state. He'll be rolling straight in to that next 3-month assignment, so it's a good thing we went to visit him a few weeks ago! Don't know if he'll get any furlough time in there at all, but if not, then unless we go to visit again, he won't be back until sometime in mid-to-late December.

 

After that, he is considering getting his certification and trying out for Wildland Firefighting, and maybe a hot-shot crew.

 

He is excited and happy and having the time of his life! This has been such a fantastic life-changer for him, and we are so happy for him! Oh... and yes, he's still growing that beard -- he's moving from "mountain man" look and approaching Z-Z-Top mode...  :tongue_smilie:

 

Here's the website for AmeriCorps, in case anyone else would like to look into it! The educational credit you earn by completing a commitment can be used for future college tuition -- OR, to pay down student debt. :)

 

Thanks for sharing the ride with us! Warmest regards, Lori D.

[Sunshine State Sue]

Thanks for the update, Lori!  There was a story about hiking trails on NPR this morning.

[Lori D.]

Thanks for the update, Lori!  There was a story about hiking trails on NPR this morning.

 

Thanks Sue!

 

Wow, what they were talking about in that NPR story about packing in with your own camping gear plus trail equipment, and the work described, is exactly some of the work that DS is doing -- although he says their loaded packs are more like 60-70 lbs, rather than the 150 lbs in this story. And I don't think the teams that DS works with are quite so ... earthy... or salty... ;)

 

But setting rock stairs -- that's one of the things he did on the very first hitch he had!  :w00t:

[*LC]

Thanks for sharing his experience. I am glad you were able to see him for a bit.

[Kareni]

Thanks for sharing your update, Lori.  I'm glad your son has been having a positive experience.

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Sunshine State Sue]

Sept. 3 - update

...

he won't be back until sometime in mid-to-late December.

It's mid-December.  Time for another update.  :bigear:

[Lori D.]

It's mid-December.  Time for another update.  :bigear:

 

UPDATE #5 -- for you, Sue!  :laugh:

 

 

Success! He finished his 3-month commitment, and all limbs are intact. (LOL) I say this with good reason, as you may remember that just 13 months ago, he severely burned his hand (2nd-degree, around all fingers, thumb and a little into his palm) in the hot oil fryer at his then-workplace. (Praise the Lord! completely healed up in 5 weeks, and after 2 months, no tenderness or any residual problems!) So you imagine how "excited" I was for him last March when he was accepted into the program, knowing he was moving on to chain saws...    :ohmy:

 

All of his "hitches" (trail projects) for this commitment were in the same large National Forest (just different trails/sites -- this is the project, I can't tell if he's in this photo or not). He got a lot of saw time (hand saws and chain saws), and has become very good at weighty backpacking -- they hike in with all their gear (about 30 pounds) AND with all their heavy equipment (usually another 30 pounds). All of his hitches have been pretty uneventful, which is good, because one of the last hitches he had when he was still going out of state, he was in eastern TX, and they were running into a dozen rattlers a day. He said he had numerous close calls where he found himself suddenly leaping backwards or sideways, and his brain only realized after the fact that it was because he sensed the rattler before almost stepping on it, because they didn't often rattle.

 

His only "adventure" was that for the last 2 hitches, his air mattress kept deflating and he ended up sleeping on hard ground and sleeping cold, as the temperatures were dropping to about 20Ëš, and no longer had the insulating effect from a sleeping pad or air mattress.

 

He kept his epic beard going through October, and was off duty on Halloween, so he bought himself a leather pirate hat, had one of the ladies in his group put a few braids in his beard, paint his fingernails red, and apply black shadows around his eyes and he went out partying as a pirate -- he looked a lot like Captain Jack Sparrow of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies! And then the next day he cut and trimmed his beard down close because it was getting to be a pain. ;)

 

We drove up to get him and all of his gear a little over a week ago, and now his plan is either hire back on in the spring with ACE for another 6 months (would start at the end of Feb.), or to go into the Wildland Firefighting (would start in April). So he's home for at least 2 months, and he should know by the end of the year if either of those options is going to work out, as he's already put in his applications, and just needs to hear back/do phone interviews.

 

So that wraps up his 9 months of working with ACE, an AmeriCorps partner. It's been a fabulous experience for him; he's matured and learned some terrific skills, and it's giving him a vision for his future. I never would have guessed this is where this guy would end up, but I'm very happy and excited for him. :)

 

Thanks for asking Sue! And how's your guy doing at college in Colorado? Warmest regards, Lori D.

[Sunshine State Sue]

He finished his 3-month commitment, and all limbs are intact.

:party: Thanks for the update.  I think it's a wonderful experience for a young man.  Except for the rattle snakes - yikes!

 

And how's your guy doing at college in Colorado? Warmest regards, Lori D.

He's doing fine as far as I know.  He arrives home tonight.  He said he's 70% sure he got a 4.0 this semester.  He's also been playing about 20min/game.  Last year, it was 5min/game, so a definite improvement.

 

Edited December 18, 2016 by Sue in St Pete

[Lori D.]

:party: Thanks for the update.  I think it's a wonderful experience for a young man.  Except for the rattle snakes - yikes!

 

He's doing fine as far as I know.  He arrives home tonight.  He said he's 70% sure he got a 4.0 this semester.  He's also been playing about 20min/game.  Last year, it was 5min/game, so a definite improvement.

 

That is fantastic! Good for him! And have a fun and special holiday!