Lessons learned through serving

BIG LAKE -- For the last eight months 10 young men and women from places like New York, Virginia and South Carolina have been eating, sleeping, playing and working together in the spirit of giving and community service. The members of team Artificial Green No. 5, who have built trails in California, shingled houses on an island in Washington and tutored at a Sacramento school, are now in Big Lake creating a ball field and parking lot at the elementary school. They are also living at the school -- and enjoying every minute of it.

"We spent about the first 50 hours cutting and clearing this whole area," said Tracy Dankers Tuesday, waving her hand in the direction of a large dirt field beyond Big Lake Elementary's playground where two weeks ago stood a thick wood of spruce and birch. "This was our first clearing," she said, with a smile.

The team is part of AmeriCorps*NCCC, or National Civilian Community Corps, which is a residential, team-based, national program that offers community service across the United States. The program is for young adults ages 18 to 24 and each team of volunteers work at various locations for a 10-month period. Artificial Green No. 5 -- a name chosen by the members because Green No. 5 was too boring -- is based out of the Western Region Campus, which encompasses Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington and the Pacific U.S. Territories.

The team has been busy since arriving in Alaska, working closely with site supervisor Wes Yuill of the Mat-Su Borough. The borough applied with AmeriCorps for its services and as part of the arrangement has provided the team with accommodations, food, a vehicle and the tools and equipment needed to get the job done. The Big Lake community has also been very supportive of their efforts, 18-year-old Dankers said.

"We've really enjoyed working outside and the borough has been amazing," she said, wiping wisps of blond hair from her tanned, dirt-smeared face. Dirt is one of the many things the team's members have shared while felling trees, chipping logs and moving rocks -- but none of them seem to mind. They talk about work, play and their service as a group, often with one member beginning a sentence or a thought and another finishing it or adding to it. They laugh as they talk about the dirt, the "cool" Alaska weather, what brought them to AmeriCorps, what they have accomplished and what they have each gained from their experience.

The Alaska tour is the last of the team's four projects -- called spikes -- during its 10-month service. Spike accommodations could be just about anything, such as tent camping, military facilities, hostels, cabins or private homes. Team Artificial Green has been more than happy with its "home" in Big Lake. The elementary school has plenty of room for dormitory-style living (cots and wrestling mats on classroom floors), a kitchen (teacher's lounge), computers and Internet for keeping in touch with friends and family back home, and a full gymnasium -- complete with all the equipment. After a full day's work, some members of the group might don roller blades and silly hats and play hockey in the gym, or maybe they'll shoot some hoops or work on scrapbooks of their adventure. One thing they are not, Dankers said, is bored. They have plenty to do in both work and play, she said. Their weekends are spent sightseeing, exploring glaciers and last weekend they rafted the blue-green waters of the Kenai.

When a group of people from totally different backgrounds and goals in life are thrown together there can be personality clashes, but Dankers said Artificial Green hasn't had any blowouts.

"I've heard of other AmeriCorps groups who've had problems," she said. "But our team all gets along. We've never had any fights or anything. We just pull together and get [the job] done."

Each of the members has different jobs based on their skills, and all went through a lengthy application process to be selected as AmeriCorps team members. In return for their work, they receive a stipend of about $100 a week, and when their 10-month tour is complete they receive an education award of $4,725. For some, it will be money to begin a formal education; for others, it is used to pay off student loans. Artificial Green is typical of AmeriCorps groups, Dankers said, each is at a different stage in their life and each of has different goals in life. Some members are straight out of high school, like Dankers, and others like 23-year-old Ben Koverman, who graduated last year from the University of Tampa with a bachelor's degree in political science.

"It's a way to experience many things, like education, trail building and construction," said Braeden Baker of New Jersey. Baker stressed the importance of learning teamwork through AmeriCorps, "… you learn such great team-building skills -- we have to live together and work together as a team."

Baker applied with AmeriCorps after learning about it from her older sister, who works for the organization, she said. Dankers said she applied after high school. She had been in JROTC during all four years of high school, Dankers said, and considered entering the military. "I wanted to do something for my country," she said, "but not four years." Instead, she chose AmeriCorps, where she could travel while giving 10 months of service to communities, then use the money for schooling.

No matter what the reason they applied, all of the members of Artificial Green said their families were proud of what they are doing -- despite some misgivings at the start.

"I left school for this," said Katia Sussman of Philadelphia, who had completed one year of college before deciding to join AmeriCorps* NCCC. "At first my parents weren't so sure." After hearing what she was doing, seeing photographs and learning more about the organization, they backed her decision completely, she said. "Now they are very proud," Sussman said, with a slight grin.

Meredith Charles' family was a little hesitant at first, too. But now, the New Yorker said, they have told her she is doing exactly what she should be.

Since they have been in Mat-Su the team members of Artificial Green have done maintenance work on the Crevasse Moraine Trail and also on the Bodenburg Butte trail. Tuesday, while the cleared area at the school was being covered with topsoil, they went to work at the Big Lake Library, preparing a trail behind the library. One of their members, Martine Hudson of New York, suffered an ankle injury early in their Alaskan stay and has been doing her service inside the library. The team is also a disaster relief team with the American Red Cross, Dankers said, so they could get shipped off at any time before their July 18 completion date.

Dankers said people often mistake AmeriCorps for Job Corps. While they are both programs for young adults, the purpose is very different, she said. Whereas Job Corps is based on learning, Dankers said, AmeriCorps is based on giving. "We're here to help, and along the way we learn," she said.

Through their efforts the team members have also formed a lasting friendship, a bond they feel will not be broken by neither time nor distance. Some will return to the east coast while others pursue interests on the west coast, and a couple have talked of applying for another tour with AmeriCorps, possibly after college. For this group of young adults, the days ahead are still open, but plans are being made to keep in touch and for a reunion at a later date.

"We're such a close team we'll definitely keep in touch," Dankers said.