image of barnstable county courthouse

It’s Going to Be a Good Year

By Jason Bertrand, AmeriCorps Year 19

On the surface, the morning of October 3rd looked like any other Tuesday morning in New England. The sun shone strong in the sky, melting the frost on a chilly 40-degree morning. However, for Twenty-six general corps members this morning was anything but ordinary. For the past month, the members have been working hard. From shellfishing to brush cutting, from toilet costumes to disaster shelters, we have been training to acquire all the skills necessary to complete a year of dedicated service to the Cape Cod community. Today marks the first day of our individual placements. Every member will get the opportunity to serve one on one with an organization, for two or three days a week, for the next ten months. As I walked out the door this morning there was a sense of excitement in the air, but also a noticeable air of nervousness. So, as I rode in the car with the a few other people with placements close to mine, I decided to reflect on the past month to distract myself from the day ahead. 

The Year 19 AmeriCorps Members arrived on Labor Day and, after spending the month of September training, they are fired up and ready to serve!

Almost a month ago to the day, thirteen strangers and I stepped foot in a house with only the mindset of making a difference in the world to connect us. We came from different backgrounds, different states, different schools; we were thirteen unique individuals. I was nervous. It felt eerily like moving in to dorms my freshman year of college, except my mom wasn’t there. It was embarrassing then and it would have been twice as embarrassing now.  It took all of an hour after we had all arrived to laugh and joke like we were long lost friends. I felt at home among a group of people I had only just met. Not soon after, we met the other general corps house and the fire corps, the results were not much different. It didn’t take long before these strangers became my friends and then my friends became like family. Learning about the horrors of ticks and poison ivy, pulling out endless vines of bittersweet, and hearing about Cape Cod’s single source aquifer for the hundredth time really helped bring us all close together. It didn’t take long after moving in for my apprehensions to disappear and be replaced by excitement. As I sat in the car this morning, reflecting on the past month, my apprehensions were once again replaced by excitement.

“As I walked out the door this morning, there was a sense of excitement in the air…”

 

This is just the first day of the beginning of the rest of the year, but I could not be more thrilled with my decision to serve on Cape Cod. Over the coming months I hope to utilize this blog to allow my fellow members to share their stories and experiences with the program. There are sure to be tough times ahead; long and physically exhausting days, but just remember “faced with adversity, I will persevere.”

Edited by AmeriCorps Cape Cod Program Staff