A Day in the Life

When you serve at City Year New Hampshire every day is a chance to make a difference.  No two days will be exactly alike, but here is an example of what a typical day is like for four of our corps members. 

Kiowa Amelotte

My Typical Day

7:15 – Meet up with my team and travel about forty-five minutes to the school.
8:00 – Plan for my day and check my work email.
8:28 - Reading class - listen to the teacher, take notes, and then assist students in assignments in that class as needed.
9:15 – In-class academic support on reading, writing, or math during “snack-time.”
9:34 – Science class - take notes and complete assignments with students.
10:23 – Language Arts class - listen to the teacher explain the assignment we are going to work on that day and assist students if they need help.
10:45 – LUNCH
11:08 – Return to Language Arts class and help kids with academic work.
11:36 – Social Studies class - listen to the teacher explain the assignment and then help students if they have questions.
12:24 – Art class - help both the students correctly complete projects that they are assigned.
1:15 – Plan out any classes I teach during our after-school program.
2:10 – Prepare for after-school program.
2:30 – Lead after-school program by helping kids with homework assignments.
3:30 – Break-up into groups for after-school activities such as board games, arts and crafts.
4:30 – Debrief with team and head back to the Timberland office building.
5:30 – End the day or finish any planning for the days and weeks ahead.

My name is Kiowa Amelotte I come from the small town of Troy, Maine. I am twenty-five years old. I have my Associates Degree in Early Childhood Education and am only a few courses away from my Bachelors Degree in Teaching. Initially, I wanted to go back to college and finish my degree so I could teach at the Kindergarten or 1st grade level in a public school, but now I’m more interested in going into the nonprofit world and work with at-risk children.

I very much enjoy living and working in New Hampshire, because I am originally from a similar state weather wise.  I am pretty far from where most of the corps lives; I am in Rochester, NH. My drive is forty-five minutes but I get to do a job that I enjoy so it is not too bad really. I also carpool with another corps member which is something I look forward to!

My team is very much a family. The team I am on has very different personalities, but we get along and make it work. I honestly could not see myself on any other team; they are my brothers and sisters. Even though I find myself drained of energy almost every night after work it is a “good” kind of drained. I know the work, time, and effort my team and I put in will help the lives of the children we work with on a daily basis, and will benefit them as they get older just knowing that someone took the time to show they cared about them.

Jawad Ashour

My Typical Day

7:15 Meet up with corps members at Timberland Headquarters for Unity Rally. Unity rally consists of readiness checks and daily announcements.
7:25 Travel with teammates to Nashua. Perform morning physical training in public place in community to raise awareness.
8:30 Arrive at Phoenix Program Middle school in Nashua. Team greets students as they enter school to encourage community, good work and strong attendance among students.
9:40 Work with seven 9th graders to solve word problems involving ratios and proportions in math class.
10:35 Assisted students in understanding the meaning of the Declaration of Independence.
11:30 Began construction on marble slide competition for science class.
12:25 Lunch with students
1:00 Assist students with reading comprehension and journal writing.
2:30 Arrive at Elm St Middle School after school program
2:45 Assist students with any incomplete homework assignments in Homework Help station
3:45 Spend time with students in planned activity of their choosing such as sports, exercise, music, puzzles, etc.
4:45 Depart from Nashua back toward Timberland Headquarters.
5:35 Reflect on day with team and discuss what is expected for next day.
5:50 I head home to my beach house in Hampton which I share with 5 other corps members to end the day.

I am Jawad Ashour. I’m 23 years old, from Houston, Texas and just graduated with a degree in Biology from The University of Texas in Austin. I will begin with a beautiful quote: "Eureka." This simple and single word, said by Archimedes, encompasses my feelings about a lot of things in life. Like Archimedes, I am constantly trying to discover new things, and if I can have one Eureka moment each day, I feel fulfilled. These new discoveries may involve food, music, joy, suffering, emotions, reason, awareness, or anything else involving the human condition.

One life changing Eureka I had was realizing how privileged I am. For me, this took a trip to Palestine in 5th grade. I realized people needed help and that I should take advantage of my situation to give that help. I believe everyone should experience this humbling moment at some point in their life. Without it, I might not be here.

I did some service work in my college years, and it was the most fulfilling experience of my life, so rather than pursuing medicine right away after I graduated, I decided to postpone more schooling for another adventurous service opportunity, and now I am here at City Year, serving on an in-school service team in Nashua.

Descartes once said, “It is not enough to have a good mind. The main thing is to use it well.” Middle school is a time when kids seek social acceptance, oftentimes at the expense of academic passion, and if I can somehow help these children realize how important their education is and offer a safe, nurturing space for them without judgment, and if I can help them feel empowered, then I will have done a great deed.

Sandra Carbajal

My Typical Day

7:15- Meet with teammates and fellow team members outside of Timberland and perform readiness check to prepare for the day.
7:30- Hop in the vans and travel to school with my team.
7:50- Greet the students coming into school to get them excited for the school day.
8:05- Plan for the day and think of fun activities for the various after-school programs.
9:00- Work one-on-one with students from the 6th grade to the 8th grade.
11:20- Sit and talk with lunch mentoring group
11:45 - Help 5th grade classroom with their math.
12:40 - Lead 5th graders in fun games and activities during recess.
1:00- Tutor graders in reading and social studies.
2:30- Run homework club after school with my teammates. We also run various other after school programs throughout the year teamed up with Seacoast Youth Services, such as, Earth keepers and Project Adventure.
4:30- Meet up to review the schedule for tomorrow.
5:30- Travel back to Timberland to discuss the day and plans for tomorrow.
6:00- I head home to my house on Hampton beach (which I share with two other City Year roommates) where I spend the rest of my day.

My name is Sandra Carbajal and I am on the Seabrook in-school service team. I was born in Fairfield, CA and grew up in Vacaville, CA. I joined City Year because I really enjoy being around children and having them see me as a role model. I must admit that I also like being around kids because it brings out the child in me. It makes me remember my childhood, the fun times that I've had and, of course, the bad times too. The troubles that I've gone through could come up in the lives of some of these kids that I will be working with and I will understand their frustration and their sadness and their loneliness and try to help them work through it. I see that these kids could have more problems than I could ever imagine and I just want to be a person that they can talk to and look to for support.

What am I into? Well, I enjoy doodling (even though I'm not Picasso), laughing, and making people smile. Doodling was, and is, a big part of my life. Whenever I am stressed, I draw a silly picture and laugh to myself, and when I’m down I like to draw a picture to represent what I'm feeling and then rip it up; I'm not sure why but it makes me feel better. If you can make me laugh then you aren't very special; sorry, but anyone can make me laugh, I love it so much. I also enjoy putting a smile on peoples’ faces, whether it be by doing or saying something nice, or through the contagious smile technique. I am a crazy person and I like to do crazy things, like jumping up and down, acting silly, and cheering runners on at Reach the Beach. My favorite quote is, "Its okay to be a copy cat; just make sure that you copy the right cat."

Peter Lucke 

My Typical Day – Wednesday

9:00 – Arrive in Timberland parking lot.
9:05 – Perform PT (physical training) with my Young Heroes team to get our bodies, as well as minds, ready for a day of service.
9:30 – Meet with Young Heroes Curriculum team.
9:45 – Back to the computer lab to work on planning an activity for our Young Heroes that ties in both the issue of valuing those with different abilities and growing the Heroes’ leadership skills.
12:00 – Lunch in the Timberland cafeteria known as the Gorge.
1:00 – Continue to work on preparation for the Young Heroes Saturday service day.
4:00 – Leave for B.R.I.N.G. I.T., our after-school program in Manchester.
4:45 – Prepare for after-school program.
5:00 – Students begin to arrive at after-school program and I sit down to work with students on any homework they need help with.
7:00 – Leave after-school program and drive our van back to the office.
7:40 – Return to office at Timberland headquarters.

My Typical Day – Young Heroes Saturday

7:25– Arrive at Timberland and go inside.
7:30 – Begin filling balloons with helium and tying them in bouquets to boots.
7:45 – Bring one of our City Year vans to the security entrance and load it with all of the materials needed for the day.
8:00 – Depart for Portsmouth Middle School.
8:30 – Arrive at Portsmouth Middle School and unpack all of the materials we had loaded.
8:35 – Set up the registration table for any Heroes coming straight to Portsmouth Middle School.
8:50 – Young Heroes from Manchester and other Seacoast schools arrive. Bring them into the gym to play large group games.
9:10 – Begin Unity Rally once all of the Portsmouth Young Heroes have arrived. Unity Rally consists of doing PT (physical training, such as jumping jacks and basic stretches), as well as running over the Weekly Briefing, a one-pager explaining to the Heroes what the day will look like and provides the why behind what we are doing that day.
9:45 – Young Heroes from Nashua arrive. Unity Rally finishes, and I begin setting up for my curriculum activity.
10:00 – Begin the curriculum activity I have created over the past week with half of the Young Heroes that simulates living with different abilities. The other half of the Heroes are listening to a panel of speakers on what it is like to live with brain injuries.
11:00 – Rotate the two groups of Heroes. Begin my activity with the other half of the Heroes, while those who were with me go and listen to the speaker.
12:00 – Lunch time! The Heroes are provided with a bag lunch from the Portsmouth Brewery.
1:00 – Service portion of the day begins. Half of the Heroes teams walk into downtown Portsmouth to talk to businesses about being more handicap accessible. The remaining teams finish painting murals about drug awareness we had begun on a previous Saturday.
2:00 – Teams switch. Those who were inside painting murals head out into downtown Portsmouth, and those who were out in the community come and finish painting the murals.
3:15 – All the Heroes regroup to do debrief their day. They talk with their teams about their favorite parts of the day, as well as journaling about something they learned today.
4:00 – All of the Heroes leave. Portsmouth Heroes are picked up while the other Heroes board their buses and head home.
4:10 – I begin cleaning up after the Heroes. This consists of sweeping the gym, rearranging the tables in the cafeteria, and reloading all of our supplies into the City Year van.
5:00 – Leave Portsmouth Middle School and head back to Timberland.
5:30 – Arrive at Timberland and unload all the supplies from the City Year van.
6:15 – The day is done for me! Head to the Timberland gym to work out for about an hour then head home.

My name is Peter Lucke, and I am a 22-year old from Minnetonka, Minnesota. I spent two years attending Creighton University, a Jesuit college, in Omaha, Nebraska. I have one younger sister, age 21, and one younger brother, who just recently turned 13.

I have lived in Minnesota almost all my life, except for shorts periods of time when I lived in Colorado and when attending college in Nebraska. After spending the majority of my life in the frigid north, I have come to love winter. It is my favorite season by far, and I am looking forward to seeing what a real New England winter is like. Some of my favorite activities are sledding, skiing, playing tennis, and reading.

What drew me to City Year was the desire to try to change the world, or at least the community around me. This work seems especially important to me as I watch my brother grow up. He is the same age as the kids we will be working with, and I see that at times what he really needs is a mentor or role model to look up to. I know the results of our work here at City Year might not be the most physically tangible, but I know that if I can help one little child keep their life on the right track, help them stay in school, and teach them the importance of being an active community member, then I will have made the world a better place for that child, and for my brother, to live in. I would like to close with a quote from Winston Churchill that sums up what I think is a necessary attitude for me to have in order to have a successful next ten months: “A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.”