I have just realized that I have only one week left in the beautiful town of Frederick, Maryland. I sure am going to miss it here! I will especially miss going to DC every Friday and volunteering at DC Central Kitchen and then taking off into DC and visiting the museums! I went to the Holocaust Museum the other day, and later went to the Air and Space Museum. I highly recommend going to the Holocaust Museum- it takes hours, but not only does it talk about the Holocaust in Germany, but it also talkes about the current global situation of genocide and holocausts.
Other than exploring both Frederick and DC, we are hard at work at the Emergency Management Institute. We have had the chance to help out with exercises. You see, part of the Emergency Management Institutes job is to train people in different counties about how to deal with emergency situations. After they take classes and prepare, they are put into a simulation of a disaster- specific to where they live. So if the county is from California, it would be a tsunami/earthquake, if it is from Mississippi it would be Hurricane or Tornado, etc. The exercises are made to be as real as possible, complete with weather warnings, news reports, citizens freaking out, etc. It is quite interesting to watch. Ocean 7 actually got to be a part of the exercises by being on the "local news", and being in the Control room calling the Emergency Managers as citizens or media, etc.
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| Taken from a simulation done with Ramsey County in Minnesota |
We have also had the chance to modify the FEMA Corps trainings! This is exciting because we have gone through the trainings and therefore we know what works and what doesn't work. Each of us were assigned a unit to edit, and we are in the process of compiling it. Youe welcome, future FEMA Corps classes!
We also got to visit a Joint Field Office in Pennsylvania, as well as PEMA, the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency. I also was able to do a CAPping event at a high school, so I got to share Ocean 7's FEMA Corps experience to high schoolers in hopes of recruiting!
My team also helped out at the Frederick Mayfest in Downtown Frederick. We helped with Arts & Crafts.
If you guys remember, my entire Corps was on board ships during our first Hurricane Sandy deployment. I was featured in a news piece from Fox News. I finally have the link to the video. I'm hoping this link works..If not I would go to Facebook, search "AmeriCorps NCCC" and look in their videos- It's the only video they have right now.
"Sandy Volunteers Living on SS Wright"
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=vb.61265398450&type=2
This week my team did a reflection activity about what we are planning to do after AmeriCorps. Of course, I have no idea- but I have a sense of what I will be doing. We each had to choose a song and play it for the team and explain what it means and how it connects with what you will be doing after AmeriCorps. I chose "Learning to Be the Light" by Newworldson. Here is the link if you want to listen:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqscBWjjic4
Basically, after I graduate from this program, I am going to have the opportunity to look inwardly at myself and be able to strengthen my beliefs so that I can set an example to others.
Other than that I am just getting ready to graduate! Next time I post I'll be in Vicksburg Mississippi. We are going to be there for two weeks in order to out-process all of us and debrief this deployment, and GRADUATE.
Oh and my poison ivy is officially GONE!....but I have scars :(
Peace!
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