closing one chapter and begininng another.

My adventures at City Year Los Angeles officially ended on Thursday, June 17. Having completed 1700 hours in 10 months serving the city of LA, I have survived my first service year! Yes, I said first. I decided I'm not ready to kick my addiction to service and philanthropy quite yet. Next month, I will be doing a second year of service with AmeriCorps, working as a Volunteer Coordinator at Habitat for Humanity of Washington, D.C.


What a ride it has been. I cannot say that enough. On my first day, they told me, "this year will be hard, tough, and rewarding." It was that and sooooo much more. Initially I assumed I would impact the lives of so many people and those results would be tangible. Instead, I was blind-sighted by how much my life was impacted by others. And trust me, there were moments when I wanted to throw in the towel. But someone once told me that if it's not a struggle, you're not growing. I've grown so much as an individual, built amazing friendships, created memories I will never forget, and learned so much more about myself and others. It's such an amazing feeling to have come this far in such a short time.

Thank you to anyone who has ever read or commented on any one of my blog posts, provided me with a piece of inspiration, let me vent when I was angry and frustrated, or told me they were proud of me. It means the world to me and I am a better person for it.

This is my last blog post on "Devin in LA" so thank you for taking this journey with me. I'll leave you with some photos from my service year:


[skydiving field trip]


[team building activity]


[saying goodbye to friends]


[John Legend w/ his #1 fan, me.]


[co-workers at Griffith Park Observatory]


[high school students I mentored]


[protest day downtown w/ high school students]


[my team]


[work retreat]

Feel free to contact me if you currently live in the DC area or will be there to visit: devin (dot) cowens(at)gmail(dot)com.


-Devin

...back from a long hiatus

Since my last post, I've been busy applying for jobs, recruiting volunteers, hosting community service days, mentoring high school students, and completing an online course. Despite having a full plate, things at work have been going well.

I can't believe that I only have one month left in my service year! It has flown by much quicker than I expected.

I've been spending a lot of time reflecting on my experiences and focusing on the next phase of my life. I've outlined personal and professional goals that I want to achieve in the near future and look forward to accomplishing them.

Most recently, I've been inspired by City Heroes, a Saturday mentoring program for high school students which I've been a part of for the past 6 months. Two Saturdays a month, I engage in discussions and participate in activities with students concerning social justice issues and participate in community service pertaining to those issues.

This past Saturday, we gathered early in the morning to make posters and signs to promote service and volunteerism within the community. In the afternoon, 150 high school students, along with their 12 team leaders (including myself) led a march in downtown Los Angeles. Initially, I ignorantly assumed that marching around downtown LA would be a bit of a drag and extremely tiring. However, once we began, I was overwhelmed by the response from the community and the enthusiasm of the students. They led one another in inspirational songs and chants and those driving by honked with excitement (in response to the poster which read: Honk if you serve your community!). Bystanders cheered and high-fived us throughout the entire 2-hour march. The day was both remarkable and exhilarating and reignited my passion for service!

Below are pictures of posters and signs from the march.

[Serve the community with youth in unity!]

Camp City Year

Each year, City Year Los Angeles hosts spring break camps at schools in the communities where we serve. Through Camp City Year, we provided a week of fun activities, nutritious food, positive mentoring, and experiential learning for these kids. In fact, one mother thanked me, saying, “If it weren’t for Camp City Year, my children would be sitting at home watching TV all week.”

This year, we had three elementary school camps and one middle school camp. I was selected to serve as a Recruitment Manager for one of our camps in Boyle Heights at Sunrise Elementary School.

Our camp staff consisted of 10 Corps Members. We worked relentlessly for months before camp began. In fact, the week leading up to camp, I logged over 80 hours.

The theme this year was “Secret Agents of Change” where children learned how to be spies and gather evidence to solve a mystery.

I found myself overwhelmingly exhausted during the week of camp and it reminded me of exam week during my college days. However, as I saw the children’s faces light up with excitement and enthusiasm while learning how to be a secret agent, engaging in service activities, piecing together clues, and having fun learning outside of the classroom, my long hours were nothing compared to the exhilaration I felt.

Although my City Year experience is nearing its end, it’s refreshing to witness moments which lift others up and provide meaning not only to the lives of those others but also to me and my service.

a small act

In honer of my half birthday today (yes, I said half), I am sharing some inspiration that I stumbled upon recently. This story touched my heart for a couple of reasons. First, I traveled to Kenya twice in high school and worked with some youth there and had a chance to see the education system first hand. Second, as a future philanthropist in the making, I often times wonder if and how I am changing the lives of others without seeing tangbile results.

"A Small Act" is a part of HBO's Documentary Film series and was showcased at The Sundance Film Festival last month in Park City, Utah.

Here is the story:

When Hilde Back sponsored a young, impoverished Kenyan student, she thought nothing of it. She paid roughly $15 dollars per term to keep him in primary school. She certainly never expected to hear from him, but many years later, she does. Chris Mburu has been thinking of his “angel” Hilde since he was a boy. The small contribution she made paid off – Chris went all the way to Harvard. Now, he’s a respected UN human rights lawyer, dedicating his life to battling genocide and crimes against humanity. Chris decides to replicate Hilde’s generosity by starting his own scholarship fund, and he names it after her. This scholarship will educate bright kids in his village so they can also succeed and give back. But Chris is stunned when Kenya’s public schools start failing, and only two new students qualify for sponsorship. Simultaneously, Kenya falls into ethnic-based election violence. After working on conflicts in neighboring countries, Chris knows that ignorance fuels ethnic hatred. Education has never been more important. Chris must decide what to do.

Check out the trailer for the film:

The movie is set to be released this summer on HBO. I hope you all will check it out or at the very least be inspired by this powerful story!

a day on, not a day off...

Every year, all City Year sites across the U.S. put on a service day in honor of the great Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. This year, our service day was held at Belvedere Middle School in East Los Angeles and I had the pleasure of recruiting 1000 volunteers for this awesome day. My team and I spent a full week working 15 hours days to prepare the school for the volunteers to paint murals. However, the weather reports predicted a 90% chance of rain on the day of. Because of this, we had to eliminate all of the outside murals that we planned for. This in turn cut down on the number of volunteers needed for the day. My team was weary, assuming that volunteers wouldn't show up and wondered if all of our work would go to waste (because when it rains in LA, people don't leave the house).


My alarm went off at 4 A.M. that Monday and I looked outside: torrential downpour. I threw on my rain gear and hoped for the best.

We arrived at the school at 6 A.M. ready to face what would be the longest and busiest service day of our entire 10 months. Once registration began, things were moving quite slowly at first. I was a bit discouraged but was busy setting up and didn't have time to dwell on it. Two hours flew by quicker than ever and I was back at registration. It was bananas--people everywhere, wanting to serve, despite the terrible weather forecast. There were so many people, we had a hard time finding projects for them! Throughout the service day, my team and I were running around non-stop making sure that everything was running smoothly. By the end of the day, we were drenched in water and paint, tired out of our minds, and couldn't believe that the day was ending. After all the volunteers went home, we "circled up" at the end of the event and chatted about the day. We were empowered by the number of volunteers that showed up on their day off to serve the City of Los Angeles despite thunderstorms and flooding. I am so proud of myself and my team for working so hard to plan the day and managing nearly one thousand volunteers in the face of various obstacles. Now that our largest service day is behind us, I look forward to our next six community service projects and hope that we only get better from here.

"Everybody can be great because everybody can serve.”-MLK, Jr.


(this is the flyer that I created for the event)

giving thanks.

Wow. It's hard to believe it's only been four months since I began this idealist journey at City Year Los Angeles. What started in high school as a passion for service has become the beginning of a genuinely rewarding experience.

This year, I don't have any resolutions, but I do have a few thoughts from spending a week in a half at home reflecting about the past.

I've realized how grateful I am for all that I have. I'm thankful for all the people in my life who have helped me become the person that I am. I'm thankful for each and everyone of the friends that I've made over the past few years. I'm thankful for all of the individuals that I've looked up to as mentors and have provided guidance and wisdom throughout my life. I'm thankful for all of the experiences I've had that have led me to this year of service in Los Angeles. I'm thankful for all the people that I've met since I've been here and the relationships that I've built.

I've thoroughly enjoyed the past, am looking forward to the future, and am truly enjoying the present, taking it one day at a time.

Happy New Year!!

time flies

I can't believe it's already November. It feels like just yesterday my parents were here helping me move in (and paying for everything...). Even thought it's fall already, it doesn't look like it at all here--it's sunny most of the time, freezing at night, and no pretty fall colors like North Carolina. However, things have been moving swiftly at City Year and I'm really enjoying the work that I get to do.

We had 2 service days at the end of last month, one with FOX, SAG, ICM, and EIF, and the other with ABC Daytime, Soapnation, & Disney. Here is a YouTube video from the first event--I may or may not have a cameo in this one...

The service days were hugely successful and super fun. Also, here is an article from November 9th that was on the front page of the Washington Post ("From Young Volunteers to Civic Leaders") written by Max Klau, City Year's Director of Leadership Development, to raise awareness of the growing importance of national service as a leadership pipeline.

Currently, I am working on recruiting 200 volunteers for our service day this Saturday out in Southeast LA. It has shown me that recruiting on a college campus is MUCH different (and a bit easier) than recruiting among one's own community. Volunteers are steadily coming in so I'm trying to remain optimistic. In January, we have a HUGE service project for MLK Jr. Day and I'll have to engage and recruit 1000 volunteers so I'm trying to use this upcoming service day as a practice round/trial period (while continually crossing my fingers and saying prayers along the way).

In other news, I am officially signed up to take the GRE on Saturday, December 12th and am also taking a Princeton Review Express Online Course in hopes of doing really well! So on top of working 9-12 hrs days, I have to study for the GRE. It's definitely keeping me on my toes but I'm counting down the days until I get my life back.

Here are some photos from our last 2 service days:



























And as always, I'm slowly but surely working on my patience. I'm learning so much about the various aspects of working with a team of somewhat similar but also very different individuals. Although some days it is more challenging than I envisioned, it also keeps things interesting and fun.

Here's my quote of the month: "It's important to have confidence in what you know and what you can do. You can't make decisions effectively without confidence. It's equally important to be realistic about what you don't know and what you can't do; without realism, confidence is hubris."

putting the pieces together

Lately, I've been feeling like I haven't been useful at work because I haven't had to recruit for our past three service projects. However, today was the first day well I felt 100% useful--I had to put together all the registration materials for our service day tomorrow and this Saturday. Today I really got a feel for what the rest of the year will look like in preparing for a service day. I'm thrilled to meet different people within my community and to build mutually beneficial relationships--something I miss about doing service in college. I will also get a chance to develop my public speaking skills (speaking to large groups frightens me) because I'll have to make presentations to colleges, high schools, various community and faith-based organizations, and possibly corporate companies/sponsors. Not to mention recruiting hundreds of volunteers for each of our service days throughout the rest of the year.

I really think that this job will allow me to develop my skill set and grow as an individual on so many levels. If I'm being completely honest with myself, I would say that I am 69% on the way to the person that I want to become. I'm hoping that through the work that I do and the relationships that I build at City Year, I can genuinely become the person that I want to be.

Here is a photo from me at my first service day, working my paint station. Also, there are some photos of the murals that we designed and painted at Christopher Dena Elementary School.














Quote of the week from my book: "Goals are important, but that night I realized that life is about the journey, not the destination. The steps along the way are what make use who we are."

odds & ends

Opening Day was amazing! 150 Corps Members were sworn in by the Mayor of Los Angeles and pledged to dedicate 10 months of full-time service; it was a powerful day. See the picture and video below.




Also, check out this article about our Opening Day.

We also got our uniforms the day before opening day--here is a photo of me in mine (we wear yellow instead of red just to be on the safe side because red is a gang color in LA). I must say, I felt pretty empowered to serve when I put it on for the first time (and still do everyday). Wearing our uniforms not only expresses our full time commitment to service, but it identifies each team member as a part of City Year, which is a recognizable symbol of hope, idealism and inspiration. I can't tell you how many times in just this short month someone on the bus or train has said to me "Hey, what's City Year? I see those yellow jackets everywhere." Perfect time for me to give my elevator speech and to talk about how much of a privilege it is that I get to serve each and every day.



Shifting gears...

I decided two things this weekend: 1) I'm going to read a new book every 2 weeks (thanks to my new LA Public Library membership) and, 2) I'm going to begin studying for the GRE!! (exciting...sort of). My projected start date is Oct 12th.

That being said, check out the "Currently Reading" section on the right side of this page. This particular book I borrowed from a friend here in LA and am loving it thus far because not only is it a memoir, but it's also a quick read. This weekend, I came across this quotation that I really liked in the book, which I felt spoke to me: "Don't think about the next job; focus on doing the very best you can with the job you have. Learn everything you can from everyone you can. Focus on the possibilities of each job, not the limitations." Each day, I have an opportunity to learn something new in this job and I LOVE that. I want to soak up all I can in these next 10 months so that I can truly grow and develop as a better individual. A wise woman once told me that opportunities like this help build character and that's exactly what I'm looking forward to with this entire experience.

Lastly, if anyone has any good book recommendations or good GRE books/practice tests, I would love to know about them!

am i growing up?

This past week at work was intense, to say the least. I put in 70 hours this week because we're prepping for our service day this Wednesday, which is opening day. I also ended up volunteering for 8 hours on Saturday, not realizing that the week was going to be so laborious. So needless to say, I'm exhausted. And this week is supposed to be worse...

I'm starting to realize quite a few things in this new job of mine. I'm a person who not only thinks I'm always right and hates being wrong but am also a person who doesn't like admitting I have flaws and especially hates when others point them out (but I seem to be excellent at pointing out other people's flaws; funny how that works). I also only like/enjoy doing things that I'm really good at (which makes sense, considering I don't like to admit my flaws). Through daily interactions with my teammates and different things we have to do for work, I'm starting to recognize my flaws. For example, when it's appropriate to say something and when it's not--often times I feel the need to correct things or voice my opinion at all times because I think everyone wants to hear it when in reality, that's not the case at all--basically learning to keep my mouth shut. Also, as stated previously, I'm extremely impatient. And it takes a mountain of energy for me to be patient with others but I'm slowly learning through working on a daily basis with an extremely diverse group of people. I find that some days I get home and I'm thinking, "We didn't do much today, but why am I so tired?" It's because I spent so much of my energy working on being patient or working to not voice my opinion on every little thing.

At City Year, we have these little nuggets of inspiration/information/advice called Putting Idealism to Work (PITWs). There are 181 of them in total. I saw one hanging on the wall in the office and it said "PITW #159: This is Hard. Be Strong." I'm becoming cognizant of this reality more and more each day. I guess this is a part of growing up (and I was over here thinking I'm already an adult)...and will only add flavor and spice to my "story."

Switching gears, here is a video of what will be happening this Wednesday, September 30, which is Opening Day!! We also will be getting our uniforms this week so that's exciting.

more on civic engagement

Last week, we learned more abut the positions on the Civic Engagement (CE) Team and what a typical service day looks like. As stated earlier, one of the main goals of the CE team is engage others in service that is transformational, sustainable, and inspirational. A community service event can be transformational if it leaves a tangible difference in the community, alters someone's values, beliefs, self image and behavior, creates new or strengthens existing channels of social change, or changes one's daily routine. A community service event can be sustainable if the work you performed will not revert to its previous state, or is continued by other in the future. Lastly, a community service event can be inspirational if the participants know they have made a difference.

The positions on the CE Team include: Recruitment Manager, Operations and Logistics, Visual Arts Coordinator, In-Kind Manager, Tools and Materials Manager, and Site Manager. We applied for these positions on Thursday and had to rank them, including why we wanted each one and how we might excel in each position. I ranked my top 3 as Recruitment, In-Kind, and then Site Mgr. I have zero interest in the other 3. I mentioned that I had experience both in recruitment and in-kind positions and would excel at both because I could develop my interpersonal communication skills and I love building relationships and nurturing those relationships. We did some recruitment training at the Claremont colleges on Thursday and the experience felt so natural and I loved every minute of it!!! I'm crossing my fingers for my first choice!!

We had the morning off on Friday and had to be in Pershing Square at 1 pm for Unity Rally which was hot and almost unbearable; but something I have to get used to for the next 10 months. I'll post a video sometime so you all can really see what we do. It's hard to explain with just words. We then learned about our "Idealist Journeys" and were given workbooks to accompany our "Idealist Handbook." The idea of the journey comes from Joseph Campbell, author of The Hero's Journey. The first quotation in our Idealist Journey Workbook is from him and reads,

"What I think is that a good life is one hero journey after another. Over and over again, you are called to the realm of adventure, you are called to new horizons. Each time, there is the same problem: do I dare?"

Adorning the same page is a quote by Robert F. Kennedy which reads,

"Each time a person stands up for an ideal or acts to improve the lot of others, he or she sends out a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other through many centers of energy and daring those ripples create a mighty current that can strike down even the strongest walls of oppression and resistance."

In the introduction, there is a quotation by President Barack Obama which states, "What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility--a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task." [Obama below supporting City Year in Chicago].

The introduction goes on to talk about how City Year believes in the power of a young person to change the world and we agree with Robert F. Kennedy that even the smallest acts of service create ripples that spread through communities, and that ten months of service is far more than a small act. City Year recognizes that the decision to dedicate ten months of one's life to citizen service is a heroic choice. It is a decision that is sure to take us out of the familiarity and comfort of the lives we've known so far, and launch us down a path of meaningful challenges, interactions with fascinating people, and unforgettable experiences. It is also a decision that will test our skills and abilities in profound ways, and provide experiences that will leave us powerfully transformed. City Year describes us as Boundless Idealists.

A Boundless Idealist is one who constantly seeks to become his/her best self and a better citizen. Someone who seeks meaning in his/her life through giving back to communities in need. Someone who seeks unique experiences that challenge traditional views in favor of something better. The handbook goes on more but I don't want to bore you with the details. The introduction ends with the words..."Welcome to the adventure of a lifetime; your journey starts here, right now." [We will meet in small groups every other Friday and go through the exercises in our handbooks].

We also have this thing in City Year called "Joys and Ripples" which is something we do either at the beginning or at the end of the day. Drawing from the Kennedy quote earlier, a "ripple" is the telling of a brief, inspiring anecdote about an act of idealism, courage and belief and a "joy" is the sharing of joyful news or information. I was walking home the other day, pondering my brief time in City Year and all the things I had learned in only 3 weeks, and stumbled upon the pciture below only a block from my house (I thought it was kinda cool).

FAST FORWARD to Monday....

So I got my first choice and I'm the Recruitment Manager!--I was so elated!!! We were given our psitions in an envelope, and inside there was a quotation which read "Happy are those who dream dreams and are ready to pay the price to make them come true" [Leon J Suenes]. We'll see how that plays into what I accomplish this year. I think I can do a lot with this position and hopefully recruit thousands (daunting task?) of volunteers of the course of 10 months.

That's all for now but I will try and post more than I have been, maybe twice a week; I've just been extremely busy. Look for a post coming Friday!