Week One

Summit One: Deploying to Clinton, Mississippi

"First they're sour; then they're sweet." -Sour Patch Kids

2012 Southern Region Class 19: FEMA Corps (Below) and Summit One (on the right):

This famous slogan fits very well for the deployment of Summit 1 to Clinton, MS. Here's why:

Sour Ingredients:

1. We're leaving our friends. We have all spent time over the last seven weeks of training getting to know people: the corps members from our temporary teams, the team leaders from our and other units, the corps members from the rest of campus and the Southern Region staff members.
2. As we leave, we still aren't 100% sure what we'll be doing. We know we'll be working with the public assistance teams in the Clinton, MS Joint Field Office, but which part of this large branch of FEMA is still a mystery to us.
3. We've become SO spoiled. The food and hospitality in Anniston, Alabama's FEMA training facility has been far greater than anything we were expecting when we signed up for a year-long service project.

Sweet Ingredients:

1. There's a great transition. Unlike most other teams, we're going to be spoiled with having the amenities of being stationed at the Southern Region campus in Vicksburg. This also comes with being accustom to the surrounding area and knowing the city, since we were there for five weeks.
2. Being a part of the eighth Public Assistance Crew in Mississippi is an honor, and we are grateful for the people at the Clinton Joint Field Office for putting us to work to help the communities in central Mississippi.
3. Training is over! Although we have learned SO much, being a part of NCCC is evidence that we are an action-oriented group and moving out of the classroom and into the field is a feeling we're all embracing.
4. Team bonding: Nothing (at least in our short experience as a team) is going to help our team become a closer, stronger, more united team.
5. For the first time in seven weeks, we're actually going to go out into the Southern region (and some of our related teams, even further) and GET THINGS DONE. Summit 1 is ecstatic that making a difference is going to soon become a reality.