Healthy Heath

To the Capitol and Beyond! March 1, 2011

It has to be said that I LOVE the east coast! So, by that reasoning, I was an extremely happy camper that the AmeriCorps conference was in Washington, DC. This being my second conference for AmeriCorps, I can say with complete certainty that this was leaps and bounds better than last year’s. The Dulles, Hyatt was swanky (even if the food was not as delicious as I would have liked).

Midyear is a time to connect with members from all of the Notre Dame Mission Volunteers Sites. It is a time to commiserate over pitfalls and celebrate triumphs big and small. There are 300 some odd volunteers all working for a common goal. Everyone has a different reason to volunteer, but we all have the same desire to do some real good in the world.

We listened to John Gomperts, the head of AmeriCorps, the story of Dorothy Stang, a sister of Notre Dame who was murdered in Brazil for helping local people to farm sustainably, and Wayne Meisel, the founder of the Bonner Leaders. All the stories came back to the same idea that service is a crucial part of life. An idea with which I wholeheartedly agree.

The conference was a truly revivifying experience.

I came back with new ideas to try out, new tools for classroom management and a renewed sense of commitment.

It was a great experience, and I am so happy to have been a part of it.

On Monday night, some of my group had a good dose of AmeriBonding and went to see the monuments in DC at night.

First stop was the Jefferson Memorial:

Iwo Jima:

The Lincoln Memorial has a special place for me in terms of my year of service. Working for the I Have a Dream program. Truly inspiring to be able to stand on the spot where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his famous speech.

It was a rather chilly, but the monuments become more alive at night. Definitely not a sight to be missed.

The next day was filled with a trip to the White House. A little disappointing because there is no longer a guided tour. The highlight was a trip to the National Gallery. A quick trip though took us from Rembrandt to the Impressionists. A quick trip back to the airport brought on the next step of my journey.

Sadly, I was not as on top of my flight snacks as I was on the way out. One apple was not as delicious as blackberries had been. Jet Blue gave out animal crackers… talk about a throw-back to elementary school. My flight was delightfully on time, and my brother was waiting for me in Syracuse!