Why working at WGA is the best way to see Denver

Two Words: Field Trips.

With all intensives 2 field trips are generally scheduled per week in order to allow the kiddos to get out of the classroom and really see the field that they are interested in. So due to this, I have gotten to see a lot of Denver and the surrounding area. This blog post is dedicated to that.

Cool places I’ve seen in Denver thanks to DPS.

NREL (National Renewable Energy Lab):

We got to go both to the NREL facility as well as to the NREL wind turbine testing center which is very beautiful and very top secret. At the wind turbine testing center, ex NFL Panther’s (yes the kids made fun of me for about an hour after I told them I was a Panthers fan) football player Sean Tufts talked to us about energy. After hearing about wind turbines we headed to NRELs main campus. At NREL the kids got to do experiments and learn about renewable energy. The place was actually really cool looking and the welcome center was really cool.

Colorado State University:

CSU was quite a hike from WGA… about an hour and a half to be exact. But, I had never been to Fort Collins so I looked forward to seeing it. The campus was pretty big and it was like any other college campus I’ve ever been to… really pretty. Green grass and big buildings. We got a tour of the engineering department led by same gendered tour guides which was neat. All the labs were super cool and they were doing a lot of awesome experiments and designs. For a brief moment I had the desire to become an engineer, then they went over the course catalog and I quickly remembered why that was never on the radar.

Hat Creek Energy:

We went here to learn about oil. The most impressive thing about the whole thing though was the building this business is located which was beautiful and also the awesome collection of bronze art work including one by Remington. All the bronze in the collection were old west in theme. It was really quite an impressive collection. So we got to learn about art, engineering, and the Gates Family (no, not THAT Gates family).  Oh, and they bought us pizza.  All in all it was a good day.

University of Colorado – Boulder:

Boulder is one of my favorite places I’ve visited yet during my AmeriYear, so obviously I was stoked about going again and seeing CU Boulder. The campus was absolutely beautiful and there was a lot going on. It made me miss college a lot. We introduced the kids to the perks of college including: tons of free stuff, free on campus art museum, and the world of promotional awesomeness. During our day at CU Boulder there just happened to be every middle school boys dream on campus: beautiful girls selling Play Station as a brand. These girls led us back into what was probably one of the coolest things I’ve seen. A small concert hall full of play stations. The kids went nuts. After all that excitement we actually had places to go, including a tour of the engineering department. This engineering department was even cooler than CSU’s. They had all sorts of little interactive and experiments to play with. It was a lot of fun.

JUMP STREET:

 

So my kids earned all their classroom points and we got to go to jumpstreet. Jumpstreet is this really awesome place with tons of trampolines where you can jump around. They also have a dodgeball court with trampolines where you can throw dodgeballs at your students heads. While this wasn’t the most educational of trips, I have been wanting to go to jump street since I first came to Denver, so it was kind of a dream come true!

ISP not to be confused with ICP

So during our service term with AmeriCorps NCCC Corps Members are required to do 80 hours of Independent Service Projects. Luckily for us based in Denver this includes the possibility of volunteering at Rocky Mountain Village (RMV) an Easter Seals camp in Empire, CO. RMV is a place where during the summer children (and adults!) with disabilities come for a week at a time to come to camp. However, since it is not yet summer (as the weather keeps reminding me during it’s cruel Monday/Tuesday snows each week) the camp holds respite weekends during the winter months. Respite weekends usually consist of kids coming to camp in order to give their loved ones some time to relax. However, the weekend we were volunteering was a different type of weekend which was called Talking with Technology. For this weekend all the kids who came up had just recently received a new device which they can use to talk. The weekend was all about assimilating the family to these new talkers. So not only were there 8 kids up at RMV there were 8 families. So we got to spend the weekend with brothers and sisters and moms and dads in addition to the children there. It was a weekend full of great fun. There was dress-up, arts and crafts, an ice cream party, a talent show, and my favorite part of the weekend, a chance for all the kids to do the zip line. 

Now most of you should know how much I love Experiential Education considering I spent 4 years in undergrad working for Venture doing just that. I love the idea of pushing yourself  out of your comfort zone and growing through that push. So, you can imagine how it was to watch kids with disabilities go down the zip line. Some kids were able, though wheelchair bound, to use their arms in order to climb up the wall and zip down. For those unable to climb up, the opportunity was not lost. The kids were still able to experience the thrill of zipping down the zip line after being pulleyed up to the top. The look on the kids faces as they zipped down was something that I won’t soon forget. It was such a look of happiness and joy. To be able to do something they had never done before and experience it was something to behold. It was such an awesome thing to see.

Beyond the zipline, the atmosphere at RMV is magical. The staff there is awesome and it is clear that they really love what they do. It’s refreshing to see people who really do love their jobs and thrive at them. It was also a great experience to share with my shuffle team and I think it brought us closer together. We bonded over our mutual love and attachment to the children and the camp. We had a really great time and were able to “Leave our Mark”, quite literally in the camp directors home.

Unfortunately not all ISPs are so lovely… like when you get to one and they tell you ‘just stand there’ but what can I say, it got me my last 30 minutes of ISP hours and  some free SWAG. My enthusiasm for my task and my pouch of free stuff can be seen in the picture below.

Truffle Shuffle Round

So here I am in Denver. It’s so nice being local and on campus because we know our ways around the city and where things are, how public transit works, the whole sha-bang. Also the weather in Denver in the spring is proving to be quite AMAZING. (Though it is suppose to snow 4-8 inches on Tuesday, in this way it’s very similar to NC weather back and forth). This round is shuffle round so the team has been switched up quite a bit. I am still on the lovely Sun 1 with Sargento my Team Leader. Also Viviana and Felix ended up on our team as well. In addition we have a lot of very awesome people joining us from other teams. Our project right now is working in a school as teacher assistants. We basically sit around all day telling 8th graders to get to work while they ignore or curse at us. But I swear we are making a difference! It’s only been a week but the kids are really starting to connect with the team. For my time at the school, I am working in an intensives calss. Intensives are kind of cool because they are the way that the school teaches their students about future potential job opportunities. The kids are in these intensives all day on Tuesdays and Thursdays at which point we go on field trips, visit college campuses, and have guest speakers. On Monday, Wednesday, Friday the students are in their intensives until lunch and then after lunch have rotations in Math, Reading, and PE. During these rotations I work with students in a math program on the computer called ALEKS. What this usually entails is me telling students to focus on their classwork rather than all the other stuff that is more interesting on the internet than math.  The intensive that I am working with has to do with Energy and renewable energy. We went to NREL (National Renewable Energy Lab for those in the know) and we got to do all sorts of cool experiments and learn about renewable energy.  We’re also going to be hearing from an Ex Panthers player next week who now works in renewable energy (what a small world!) That’s about all that’s new on the job front. Otherwise, I have been exploring Denver more and more. I went hiking several times and went to a Rockies game last night! It’s been really great being in this beautiful city. I’m definitely going to miss it when I’m gone.