August 2010-September 2010
Wow, this was such a time of movement and opportunity. First, I applied for and was accepted into the Long Beach City College Clean Energy Workforce Training Program. This program provides free training and job preparation for people in the Green Workforce. I went to classes nightly for a total of 6 weeks and ended up taking two tests. I passed both tests by God's grace and received the accreditations. I knew that these could open up doors and get my resume seen.
LEED Professional Credentials
I also had the opportunity to visit a community of Church Resource Ministries called NeiuCommunities in San Diego. This is a small group of 20 to 30 people who live intentionally together in life and mission. They live within walking distance, share meals, worship, and open their homes to their neighbors. They have all decided to be missionaries of sorts through CRM, but the concept is very applicable. This gave me a lot of vision for a community that I'd like to be a part of in the near future.
NieuCommunities
September 2010 - December 2010
The fall went by in a whirlwind! I had a close group of friends over for my birthday and served homemade pizzas. I spent most of the time in the kitchen while my friends hung out and played games, but I had so much fun. I was so blessed to celebrate my birthday with friends.
In October I took the LEED Green Associate exam and passed! This is the first step in the process of becoming a LEED Accredited Professional. LEED Accredited Professionals can be architects, engineers, real estate agents etc and serve as consultants in getting a building LEED certified. Many states and principalities are now requiring that new government buildings be LEED certified, so this is a great area to be in.
During my time at the Long Beach City College Workforce program, I got to know a young man who is active with the United States Green Building Council LA Chapter. I had attended a few meetings but up to this point hadn't made any real connections in networking. I attended Emerging Professional meetings in October and November and in December I started volunteering with a project here in Long Beach.
The project (which is still going on) is a student design competition set here in Long Beach. We are partnering with the Long Beach Redevelopment Agency for students to design a mixed use structure out of shipping containers. I headed up student marketing, and it was a great opportunity to reach out to people I used to work with.
Christmas
For Christmas I went to Phoenix to see my aunt and cousins, who I hadn't spent Christmas with since I was Seven. It was so much fun to hang out and just laugh over silly things. I am perhaps most myself around my aunt and cousins, so it was amazing to spend the weekend with them.
More to come...
