Team Leader Alumni spotlight
Teams can create proud moments for Team Leaders Jeremy Exell, was a Corps member on Eagle 3 for Class XIV and a Team Leader on Raven 6 for Class XV at the NCCC Atlantic Region campus. How did you hear about AmeriCorps NCCC? I heard about AmeriCorps NCCC from two sources. First my dad told me I should check it out, and then a co-worker at my restaurant came back from a year of service at Perry Point and he had nothing but good things to say. I had a college degree, a dead-end job at a college food joint, and no idea what to do with my life. So I decided to give NCCC a shot.
Jeremy, center, works with his team in Louisiana. While there he made many friends with other Corps Members from around the country.
What was your most memorable moment in NCCC? There are two moments that impacted me in my time of service. The first was just how it felt staying in the volunteer camps down south in New Orleans and Biloxi. Coming home after a long day, seeing volunteers of all ages along with NCCC teams from Denver, Sacramento, and Perry Point was just really amazing. It really helped to make me realize how big a community we are all really a part of and how awesome a community it is. The second moment was at the very end of my second year. My team was working in Baltimore for our last project. Coincidentally, the submarine my grandfather served on in WWII was docked right outside the aquarium and there was a service day on the sub that my Dad and Grandfather were attending. I had travel plans already and couldn't attend the service day, which really broke my heart, but my team went in my place. My grandpa sent me a letter a few weeks later telling me how much that meant to him and how my team restored his faith in our generation through their selflessness. I've never been more proud of a group of people in my life and will carry that memory with me forever.
What are you doing now? Right now I'm in Washington DC managing an AmeriCorps program for Reading Partners, a non-profit that strengthens reading skills and lowers illiteracy . Know someone who’d make a great Team Leader? Deadlines for TL applications are April 1, 2012 at 11:59 p.m. Apply online at: americorps.gov/nccc 1