Whether in anticipation of the T-mobile event itself, being so close to the Democratic National Convention, or perhaps the enormous Papa John’s pizza that eluded us on the airplane ride (which, apparently is crafted into a large field somewhere near the Denver airport); there was a buzz of excitement amongst Team Care Force, as we flew through Denver to our final destination in Colorado Springs.
We arrived in Colorado Springs late in the evening of Sunday, August 24th. As we pulled out of the Enterprise parking lot, the team felt at home in the minivan -- immediately drawn to its sleek design and bucket seats. Alice Newman drove us to our hotel in comfort and in style. We woke Monday morning bright and early, inspired by our beautiful mountain surroundings and ready to check out the service site at John Adams Elementary School.
Upon entering John Adams, we were warmly greeted by several staff members. As we toured the school, the team noted a friendly, homey atmosphere, where well-behaved students and teachers worked in tandem to achieve their academic goals and where students dream big! As we quickly learned, the John Adams learning community encourages students, staff, parents, and visitors to follow their dreams. The dream theme is prevalent throughout the school, and is further supported in classrooms, where students and teachers discuss the development of dreams (i.e. what the students are doing to work towards the achievement of their dreams) throughout the year.
After our tour of the school, we began our prep work for the week. Prior to the trip, Project Manager Vanessa Meisner worked closely with the school principal to create numerous exciting and transformational projects – we had our work cut out for us! Moved by the beautiful surroundings, in addition to the bright students and inviting atmosphere of the school, Team Care Force went to work! Throughout the week our prep work consisted of sketching; taping and tarping; cutting wood; cleaning; organizing.
Not to be forgotten in the midst of prep work, Team Care Force celebrated a special birthday during the trip. In true City Year fashion, Tom Wingert celebrated his 21st birthday -- in the John Adams cafeteria, where hundreds of students sang him Happy Birthday during lunch!
We had an incredible service day in Colorado Springs with T-Mobile at John Adams Elementary, on Thursday, August 28th. Fueled by dedicated T-Mobile PCs, Team Care Force and over 100 T-Mobile volunteers, we transformed the interior and exterior of the school through numerous projects. These projects included: refurbishing the after school room into a Huddle Up Zone; building storage containers and painting murals in the gym/cafeteria; several painting projects in the hallways; building and painting mural benches; painting blacktop games, creating a large US map, repainting the basketball court; and painting a mural on a 420 foot wall!
A special highlight of the service day was the creation of a Dream Mural and a Dream Box in the lobby at John Adams. T-Mobile volunteers built the Dream Box and painted the corresponding Dream Mural, in order to encourage staff, parents, and visitors of the school to share their dreams with the students.
The service day ended with a touching ceremony in which the entire student body gave T-Mobile volunteers thank you cards, and in return, T- Mobile presented the principal of John Adams Elementary a check for $10,000! In addition, the principal of John Adams presented Team Care Force with a commemorative plaque. We could not have asked for a more powerful ending to our Colorado Springs trip!
Amy Draybuck
Senior Corps Member
Team Care Force
No comments:
Post a Comment