As a kid growing up in Colorado I spent a lot of time outdoors and always wondered what it would be like to be a park ranger. It fascinated me that they got to spend all their time off in a remote area, working with nature and explaining how nature works to others. When I first heard about the Boulder County Youth Corps (BCYC), I was ecstatic to get the chance to work outdoors for a summer. After spending one summer with BCYC, I was extremely glad I had found this opportunity because it is so much more than an outdoor work experience.<\/p>\n
My family often spends summers traveling, but that was not true my last summer of high school. So when I became free, I decided I wanted a job. I was introduced to the Youth Corps at a job fair in 2009 and found out that it was the last year I was eligible to be a Corpsmember being 17 years old. It turned out to be a spectacular summer and I wanted to come back, but during college I spent my time following my passion for engineering. I was lucky to find another free summer and I was able to be in the Youth Corps again as a Team Leader this past summer.<\/p>\n
My first year as a corpsmember, I was placed on the Longmont Power & Communications (LPC) team. I was a little surprised that our project for the summer was to change light bulbsthis did not fit my expectations of the Youth Corps. This was the first challenge that showed me that BCYC was going to be more than I expected. At its heart, the Youth Corps strives to help the community through its projects. Not only was I able to help maintain street lamps as a benefit to walking and driving at night in Longmont, my team’s project was also to upgrade the light bulbs to be more efficient and save more energy. My team leader was great at explaining how our work benefited the\u00a0community, and now when I go around Longmont I feel\u00a0immense satisfaction to say I have been in that neighborhood and changed those lamps.<\/p>\n
In the end, I was not able to completely get away from typical BCYC work and did my fair share of weeding. On a few occasions my team went out to different LPC facilities to help maintain the land. Finally, we were able to get our gloves and shins dirty as we went about the never-ending work of pulling out weeds. The best part of these experiences was being able to tour the LPC facility after getting the work donewe got to see a transformer and a hydroplant. This was super cool as I wanted to study engineering in college. Another benefit to the Youth Corps is helping yourself as you are helping others.<\/p>\n
After a few years spent gaining engineering experience, I returned to BCYC as a team leader this past summer. I was glad to be asked back since it was a chance to grow as a leader and give back to my community once again. I was delighted to return to the LPC team and get another opportunity to learn more about Longmont. The repetitive work was not boring because the residents of Longmont are spectacular in the way they decorate their street lamps. Some had intricate paintings while other had funny signs like, “Beware of Security Squirrel.” The best part about coming back as a team leader was watching my corpsmembers grow.<\/p>\n
The BCYC is one of the best work experiences I have ever had, even with my short time with them. As my first job, it went a long way in teaching me how to be a successful member of the workforce. I am really thankful for all the leaders and the sponsors for making the Youth Corps a welcoming, fun place to work. If you have ever wanted to help your community and improve yourself, the Youth Corps is for you and there is the\u00a0additional benefit of working outside in great Colorado.<\/p>\n