This week our board is a little late... But we all drew our favorite animated characters!
Otter Six will be participating in the 2014 National Capstone Exercise as facilitators for FEMA Headquarters during the exercise and as FEMA Corps players in the Alaska Shield exercise.
Jessica will be playing as the Alternate Special Assistant to the Directors, making sure that the Directors are able to perform their Mission Essential Functions in and out of the office. Kendra will be playing as a Private Sector Liaison, a role she filled last round ensuring that our stakeholders in the Private Sector are functioning and able to assist in any way they can. Courtney will be staffing the FEMA News Desk responding to inquiries on the Capstone exercise as well as real-world disasters. Brandi, Eduardo, and Shane will be facilitators, making sure that the exercise itself runs smoothly by escorting VIPs into the National Joint Information Center hosted here at Headquarters. National Exercise Program (NEP) - Capstone Exercise 2014 “The Capstone Exercise, formerly titled the National Level Exercise (NLE), is conducted every two years as the final component of each NEP progressive exercise cycle. The Capstone Exercise 2014 will examine the nation’s collective ability to coordinate and conduct risk assessments and implement National Frameworks and associated plans to deliver core capabilities. The Alaska Shield 2014 exercise, sponsored by the State of Alaska to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the 1964 Great Alaskan Earthquake, will provide the central scenario elements: significant damage from both the quake and the tsunami it triggers will affect the greater Pacific Northwest. Capstone Exercise 2014 incorporates several preparedness activities sponsored by other departments and agencies and is designed to educate and prepare the whole community for complex, large-scale disasters and emergencies.” National Exercise Program Capstone Exercise (NEPCE) Fact Sheet Living with the same nine people for ten months, we have gotten to know one another exceptionally well! One funny thing I have noticed is the frequently used phrases amongst our team and how humorous it is when we catch each other quoting someone else. As we enter our final round together I thought this would be an amusing side of our team to share with the world.
AmeriCorps NCCC/FEMA Corps is unlike any other AmeriCorps program mainly because as a team of 18-24 year olds, we live our lives communally (approximately 92.78% of the time). Not only do we work together, we exercise, prepare meals, sleep and organize activities together. This combination can easily make or break a team. And although we have had some tough times, at the end of the day we always come back together, much stronger and wiser than before. I am entirely grateful to have spent the past eight months with this remarkable group of people. I have become much more patient, open-minded and successful because of everyone’s positive influence. We have such a diverse, intelligent, creative and fun-loving team and I’m sure I can speak for everyone when I say that what we have together is truly unique and special. Cheers to how extraordinary we have all been so far and here’s to our final two months at FEMA Headquarters! Much love Otter 6! Contributed by: Grace Simoneau After a week of transition at our Atlantic Region campus in Perry Point, Maryland, we were ready to get back to work and back to DC. Transition week occurs after the end of every round. It is a time for all 16 of the Atlantic Region teams to reunite for one week of presentations, trainings, and all Corps fun!
Some Otter Six transition announcements include: - Kendra Eull is our elected Round Three Assistant Team Leader - Eduardo Venancio received the Otter Six P.A.C.E. Award (Positive Attitude and Consistent Effort) - Brandi Briones received the Otter Unit Corps Member of the Round Award Congratulations to the three of them! They make the team extremely proud! Round Three begins today for us as we are deployed back to FEMA Headquarters in Washington, D.C. for our final project site. We could not have asked for a more welcoming first day back. Walking into the FEMA HQ External Affairs office, Otter Six had a huge banner and balloons as well as many smiling faces to start off Round Three. We laid out our candy gifts as well to share with the office. Share the sugar! This is going to be a wonderful 7 weeks! And before we know it, graduation! Thank you to everyone at FEMA HQ External Affairs who helped welcome back Otter Six today! We appreciate each and every one of you and we look forward to what this round has to offer. For those of us who are Instagram fiends (myself included), Thursdays are very important days. Thursdays are Throwback Thursdays! Our wonderful team leader, Harmony Chai, sent me these pictures from our first days together as Otter Pups, during our scavenger hunt! Enjoy them! #throwbackthursday
We were in the midst of a human knot. And it was hilariously awful. The team has discovered Key and Peele as of late, and with that comes the discovery of the East versus West College Bowl videos. Grace inspired Jess and Eduardo to make this post by making a comment about one of our members having a voice that sounds like one of the ones in the video. And so, without further ado, we have the East vs. West Bowl: Otter 6 Version. The Team from the East: Jackmerius Tacktheritrix (Brandi) D'isiah T. Billings-Clyde (Shane) Xmus Jaxon Flaxon-Waxon (Jess) Davoin Shower-Handel (David, our visiting STL this round!) Blyrone Blashinton (Greg) The Team from the West: Benedict Cumberbatch (Courtney) Ladennifer Jadaniston (Kendra) Scoish Velociraptor Maloish (Grace) T.J. A.J. R.J. Backslashinfourth V (Eduardo) Ozamataz Buckshank (Harmony) You can see the full videos below! Enjoy them! Wednesday, the team had a meeting with Deputy Administrator Serino. What made this meeting special was the fact that the Deputy Administrator is leaving FEMA at the end of this week. Otter 6 was extremely privileged to be able to be the last team to meet with him.
As all meetings go with Otter 6, there were plenty of questions asked, ranging from where he hoped FEMA Corps would be five years from now, to how his career in Emergency Management began. One of the best questions to ask FEMA staff members is what they did before joining the agency. It is extremely interesting to hear the different backgrounds people come from. The Deputy Administrator shared stories of his time as an EMT in Boston, Massachusetts, telling us that before becoming a volunteer EMT, he had planned on becoming an elementary school teacher. The team learned valuable lessons from this visit with the Deputy Administrator, such as to do what makes them happy and to take all of the opportunities you are presented with. We would like to thank the Deputy Administrator for all he has done for FEMA Corps and for taking the time to visit with Otter 6. Even our team mascot Harry made an appearance to wish him well! One thing that most people might not know about me is I adore names. Unique names, general names, interesting last names, names I can’t hope to pronounce without a bit of help because I’m likely to butcher them horribly by attempting to pronounce them phonetically, I don’t know why, but I love them.
As such, my favorite part of the morning is reading the News Clips. It’s not a particularly glamorous job, and sometimes it can get a bit tedious by the amount of articles that say about the same thing. But I can always count on a handful of interesting names making their way into the stories. For example:
Realistically this all may well simply be a way for my mind to entertain its compulsive reading. Or it may well be that my simple name “Courtney Elizabeth Green” has led me to find enjoyment in names that strike with originality. Who can really say? Over the holiday break, Otter 6 had a little fun between projects and getting things done (for America)! Check out this video that we made to show the Headquarters External Affairs staff that we're hard working and fun! For the last two months, Otter Six has been working in offices in Colorado responding to the floods. We have been tried and tested in different ways, but the knowledge and experiences we have been given by everyone we have worked with have made this an extremely rewarding time for all of us.
This experience has been much more than even I could have expected. After being told not once, not twice, but three times that we were going to different locations, it became apparent to expect nothing less than the unexpected. So, through this project round, we have all learned different things. We have learned patience, generosity, kindness, and sincerity. We have learned how to construct spreadsheets, use copiers, assemble packets, and distribute call-down lists. It has not always been easy, but it has been extremely rewarding. With that, I would love to take the time to thank each and every person I have had the privilege to work with over the last two months. Your bright personalities, your insight, and your attention to detail has made this experience not only enjoyable and worthwhile, but rewarding and inspiring as well. I look forward to seeing you all again in the future and wish you all the best. Thank you, --Jessica |