That's a wrap! Week one

Over one hundred friendly, like-minded, serving young people have settled on-site in Denver and completed one week of AmeriCorps FEMA training. Though still learning the basics, we now FINALLY have an idea of what it is we could be doing during the upcoming months. Adding to the list of things I know:

• All ~115 of us will be divided to form groups of 7-11 people (plus one Team Leader) and will remain together for the entirety of the program*

• Each team will have a specific task, including (but not limited to): External Affairs, Individual Assistance, GIS work, Logistics, etc.*

• FEMA Corps members can evidently be stationed anywhere in the country, including Hawaii, Alaska and U.S. territories. Score!

• There is no way of knowing how long we will be in one place. We could be there for 2 months, or we could be there 2 days before getting summoned elsewhere

• A "spike" is when we get deployed to an area where a natural disaster has occurred and lots of help is needed

*We will be receiving our permanent teams and jobs during Week 2

To sign off: overall, the week has been very entertaining and informative. Everyone is so focused on contributing to the greater cause that there has been no time or space for cliques or negative attitudes, making it very easy to meet new people.