All new AmeriCorps members and College Possible staff descended upon Hamline University in St. Paul, Minnesota, last month for an annual event we call Kick-Off.
This is a few days every August that the entire College Possible team gets together to kick-off the year ahead. Most of the time is spent in trainings, but it’s also a time for everyone to get to know one another, hear from senior leadership members and learn about (or recommit to) the work of College Possible.
Once we got back to Portland, we spent the next several weeks in even more trainings. These trainings were broken up by community building activities like cup stacking (using only string connected to a rubber band), compiling a list of attributes we’ve found helpful in a coach or mentor (no repeats), creating shapes using graduation tassels without talking or seeing… the list goes on and on.
Some of these activities set up deeper discussions, while some were purely for fun. When you have 30-40 team members turn over every year by design, it’s imperative that everyone gets to know one another as soon as possible.
AmeriCorps members have all entered their high schools, held their first sessions, made their first calls and met their students. In other words, they’ve hit the ground running. Please join us in welcoming them to Portland and the team!
