It's Moving Day

The day started off with the I-Corps moving from their current tents right behind the armory to the fields below with the participants or guests. 

The I-Corps then were tasked with taking the ground between the armory and the campground and making it into a trail, not a hard thing for these men of character.

This is what the trail started out as with the flags marking the sides

The I-Corps were also tasked with marking off the boundaries of the campsites for participants or guests they ended up marking off over 200 10x10 sites for tents.

The I-Corps are being given their instructions

Marking off the lines

As the day progressed the trail work got done the organic layer was removed, the rocks were being put into place and the fencing was being put up.

Teamwork is key to finishing

Here you can see all the different layers being removed

The trail was finished, the campsites were marked, and more staff had arrived so reregistration for staff finally opened.

To make sure that everyone was on the same page different departments had meetings to make sure all things are Green light for participants in less than a week.

With the week ending the I-Corps have to say goodbye to their adopted mothers, the cooking staff, but not before a group  photo to remember all the great food they enjoyed.

Lets not forget the shows staff working hard to prepare for their FIRST SummitCorps opening show on sunday, they even have a finished arena.

Working Hard to Get My Fill...

With more and more people arriving at the SummitCorps Service Project at the West Virginia National Guard Armory cooperation has become a key player in all the things that the staff does.  This is especially true with the construction of the Shows stages.  After the holes had been dug with the bobcat yesterday and the poles ad been built they had to be put into the ground with percision that only a elite team of OA volunteers can have.

Bringing up the poles was not as easy as it looks but these guys sure do make it look easy

A good portion of time had to be spent making sure that the poles were as even as possible otherwise the final product would not look right when the shows were put on.

After all the poles were put into the ground and placed properly electrical wiring had to be set to allow the lights to get power.  The volunteers who did this wiring did a phenomenal  job of it because once it was all hooked up it worked on the first try!

While all this construction was going on at the shows stage there was much more going around camp.  This included the construction of the staff tent site and the bathrooms/showers for everyone.

With so much going on around camp some parts of the staff had to get together to make sure everyone is on the right page.  Here is the logistics team meeting where everyone went around and checked off that everything is good and ready for participants.

Back at the stage the wires to run electricity had to be buried so that no one trips on them during the show, so they called in the specialists, the I-Corps of course after their days off.

With the frame built, the electricity hooked up, and the cables buried it is starting to look like a stage fit for an OA show, maybe not as good  as mysterium compass but it may come close.

After the I-Corps had finished burying the cables, they found that a large pile of wood needed to be moved down to the arena.  They cheerfully loaded their burden upon their brothers and burdened it until another took it from them.

As the day came to a close the I-Corps looked at the newly construsted stage along with the shows crew to find out that for their hard work in the past few weeks and for the hard work ahead they were being given pizza at night as a thank you.

And so ends another beautiful day at the SummitCorps Service project at the National Guard Armory in West Virginia.  The Trail awaits!

Holes, Holes and more Holes

Today was an exciting day, many new people arrived at the National Guard armory to see how the project was progressing.  The Communications guys are all set up right across from us the Digital Media Team in the logistics room. 

 

 Today was one of the rare days when the I-Corps has off and you can find them all around, some went to Kentucky, some to DC and some just stayed on the base.  There were a few of them who helped shows prepare the arena by starting to put together poles which are going to hang banners, lights, and the screen.  

 

This was done with many supplies and many kind hearted volunteers many of who working on their day off or vacation.  Thank You to all of you. 

These are some of the I-Corps members that gave up their day off for this better cause

Later five holes needed to be dug to put the poles that are needed in, the volunteers started to dig these holes, 8in X6 feet (with rock about 2 feet down). 

 

Luckily Terrel found a drill that could make the holes that were needed after  he had called everyone he could think of.  So the drill came out and was attatched to a Bobcat, then proceeded to make the necessary holes for the area show poles.

This contiued until late in the evening where another beautiful day at the SummitCorps service Project ended.

The Digital Media Team has arrived and survived

The Digital Media Team is the group of Photographers and Videographers who are documenting the SummitCorps service project at the New River Gorge National Park.  They will be at the SummitCorps Project all four work weeks and will get around to document the progress that each crew makes each week. 

The Digital Media Team is comprised of one main videographer,  Parker S. , one main Photographer Alan R. and their adviser Terrel M.  This group of people are joined by other staff members each week to help document this momentous project.

After arriving on-site Parker and Alan went out into the field to see the I-Corps last training day.  The I-Corps are the InstructorCorps who will be in charge of all the crews when the service project starts.  This group of highly skilled men have been chosen from around the country and are some of the best of the best that there are for trail building. 


They started off the day with an inspirational talk from one of the National  Park Service employees, Tom (not sir) helping  to assist them on their training.

On this last training day the I-Corps did not slack, they started off the day with a safety tool talk.  Then they went on to not only make the trail better but did it with a cheerful manner.

On one occasion a large rock needed to get up a  hill and over to the place where everyone thought it would fit best.  So about 8 guys grabbed a rock sling and pulled this rock over the hill.

Once this rock was put into the place where it was wanted the group could not do anything but cheer and cheer and cheer.

One important task of trail building is that the rocks be broken up into smaller rocks that are then used for the top layers of trail.

At the end of the day the I-Corps had to destroy some trail by naturalizing (adding vegetation to it so people do not use it as much) it and they were given the task of deciding what needed to be done and who does it.  As they listened closely they learned their assignments for the naturalization. 

At the end of a long hard day of work the I-Corps heads back to the National Guard Armory in Jean Glenn West Virginia to rest and get back onto the trail soon with crews.