I would like to apologize for, frankly, sucking at blogging thus far during my VISTA year. You should know that work is keeping me busy and that I am sort of on my way to being a responsible adult.
One thing I love about working at College Bound is the playfulness in the office. I have laughed until I cried several times during lunch. The Director of Finance played a prank involving "regulating" the girls' bathroom (labeling each stall with names of employees who were assigned to use it, in order to balance out usage) during one of my first weeks. All of the supervisors left early one day (to buy the AmeriCorps members presents, presented to us at the holiday party at our CEO's house), so we decided to surprise them by "decorating" their offices with wrapping paper, including covering the main doors and wrapping many of their office supplies. When they came back one of them karate-chopped through the paper on the front door and we spent around an hour following all of them to their offices, cheering as they unwrapped their "presents" ranging from laptops to Coke cans to individual paper clips. We also take birthdays very seriously. So far since I've started working, everyone who has had a birthday has gotten a card signed by all of their coworkers, and we have surprised them with some sort of baked good (or multiple baked goods). I was particularly proud when I was able to bake brownies for my own roommate without her knowing that they'd be given to her at work the next day! (I had been planning to bake them at a coworker's apartment, but an ice storm made it impossible to drive anywhere that night. Luckily, my roommate decided to visit our neighbor for just the right amount of time.)
All of the departments at College Bound go by superhero names within the office, and since the arrival of our new Development Director (aka my new boss), who is fantastic, Team Development has evolved into the FUNDERcats (a play on Thundercats). Also, I recently joined a lunch group, which means now I only have to bring lunch once a week, and the rest of the week other people cook delicious lunches for me like chili dogs and sloppy joes. I have been particularly impressed and touched by their willingness to accommodate a vegetarian - I bet they never knew that so much "fake meat" existed!
As a final note about College Bound, I encourage you to read the article about us that was featured on the front page of the Post-Dispatch the Friday after Thanksgiving. It highlights a few of our seniors and their process of turning stories of hardship into impressive college application essays. Our students' accomplishments amaze me. http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/education/article_ca05bd1a-045d-53e8-b387-ce7f219c76c9.html
What we do for our students is so much more than academic - I have put together care packages, chaperoned film screenings of award-winning documentaries and listened to coworkers negotiate buying winter clothes for unprepared collegians - and it is clear that we are changing lives. I love hearing our success stories, like the collegian who visited in December and proudly showed off his new tattoo - a stylized version of the College Bound logo on his ankle.
In non-work-related news, I am slowly adjusting to the world of paying bills, negotiating car repairs and the fact that many businesses do not cater to those working a 9-6 schedule. Now that I no longer have a college meal plan to fall back on, I am more in the habit of cooking for myself, which I enjoy. I have recently decided that my New Year's resolution is to bake or cook something new every week (or maybe every other week - I'm not sure if every week is too ambitious). I love drooling over the Food Network and baking blogs, and I think it's about time that I put some of the recipes I've collected to good use.
Time to enjoy the rest of my first three-day weekend as a working woman. :o) I will try to update more regularly from now on!
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