MY JOB CORPS EXPERIENCE, CHAPTER TWO: MY FIRST DAY IN DENISON

After getting on the bus I immediately felt the change. It was a reality and I was finally doing something with myself. I had thought about all of the actions that led me to this point, and it was almost like it was meant for this to happen. What I did not realize was how long this ride was going to be. Denison was six hours from Cresco, and we had to pick other students up as well.

I didn’t complain. I got to see the beautiful country side of Iowa, and the most important reason why I wasn’t complaining was because the ride was free!!. I got to see towns that I didn’t even know existed. Iowa was kind of vast, and if you’ve never saw a lot of the country before it is a really cool experience. I never knew how close we were to Omaha and to Kansas City. I was in the Midwest for real.

I was 22 years old and A million miles away from home taking a risk that I wasn’t even sure would work, but I knew on thing I’d be alright. I’m from New York, and you can make it in NY you can make it anywhere.

Six hours later we pull up in the Denison Job Corps Complex, we had to drive up this steep hill. You pass the logo and drive straight up to security. “Oh this looks cool!!!” I thought to myself.

It felt like I was in a special type of college. I grabbed my bags off the bus and stepped inside of the security office. I remember Security expecting us, as Job Corps gets new students every week almost. So the campuses are always filled with new students. We waited in the security area for a little while until a young lady who wore a black and white shirt striped came and got us.

“Hello” she said “my name is Kathy and I’ll be you’re welcome leader. I"m going to have you leave your bags here and when were finished the tour we will come back and get them. If you have any questions as were touring the facility please feel free to ask.

Each one of us introduced ourselves Kathy as we left our bags in security and walked out the door. Once outside the first place we visited were the boy's dorm room area. I thought to myself “These rooms look like colleges dorms! My mom was right!” We walked up the entrance way until we got inside of the dorm room areas. There were some staff there to greet us as we walked in. "Hi welcome to Job Corps, very nice to meet you!!" Each of them said with enthusiasm.Lisa introduced all of us to the staff and they made us feel welcomed.

After that we went to the lounge area where the big screen tv was and all of the new furniture. I was thinking " Wait a minute this is like college without the tuition!” Lisa was very kind she took her time and explained every thing to us and at the end she always asked if we had any questions.

Since we were closer to the cafeteria Kathy took us there, it was still fairly early in the afternoon. Dinner didn’t start until about 5 or 6pm, but she still made sure we knew which way to go when it was time for us to eat. My favorite part of the tour was visiting the recreation center for the first time. That thing lit my eyes up something beautiful!!.

The basketball court was amazing! It looked like it was just recently built. The floor was white with dark blue lines, that marked the foul line and three point line. It was clean, so clean in fact that they didn't allow you to wear your sneakers in there. You had to change into the sneakers provided by the gym!! They had a beautiful weight area and pool hall area. The computer area was small, but very organized and neat!! When you walked toward the back, and went directly to the left, there was a nice arts and crafts area!! That’s where everyone hand crafted things such as drawings or greeting cards!! It was just a great place to be creative. They had tables to play card games, and just hang out!!! I loved the recreational area, and I knew that this from that day!!

After the tour Kathy brought us back to security to pick up our bags, and took us to to our perspective dorms. She dropped me and another male student off first since the boys dorms was closer to the security desk.

The dorms were called Spirit Dorms. It was like Denison’s theme name and the dorms were ranged S1-S-6. Half of the dorms were occupied by the guys and the other half of them were occupied by girls. The girls dorm rooms were located directly across from the guys dorm rooms in another building. That is the same building where the career counselors were located. The closer you came to completion the more frequent you would visit the career counselor.

Kathy had the young ladies wait in the lounge area as she took me and the other male students to different dorms. I was in S4 and he was in S3. S4 was East and S3 was West. I taken to the S4 dorm first, more specifically to the staff residential advisors office. Since the carpet on the floor was new, we had to remove our shoes. I was taken to the aides office and that’s where I met the head Residential Advisor.

"Hey Ms Tiffany" Kathy said. "Here is your new student, Sakoli right? Kathy asked.

"Yes thats right" I nodded in agreement.

"Ok I have to run I have to take care of these other students, but it was nice to meet you and welcome again" Kathy said waiving as she walked away.

"Thank you Kathy." I replied waiving back

“Hello Sakoli” she said with a firm handshake. “ I am Tiffany Welcome to Denison Job Corps Center, I am one of the head residential advisor aides, how was you’re trip?

“It was a lengthy ride, but I enjoyed it. This is a really nice campus!” I said with excitement.

“Im glad you like it! I know you will enjoy you’re stay. We have a lot of trips and fun activities lined up for all of our students. We also have different on campus opportunities for our students as well.” Ms. Tiffany said

“Well I look forward to learning my trade and being apart of this nice experience!”. I replied with a smile.

“That name is really different, where are you from originally? Ms. Tiffany asked curiously.

“ I’m from The Bronx, NY, my godfather gave me this name when I was born.” I replied with a grin.

“Oh wow that’s really awesome. Does it have any particular meaning?” Ms. Tiffany replied in excitement.

“Yeah as a matter of fact it does” I said It means “Warrior” in African terms.” I replied

“Wow I love that!!” Ms. Diane said. Its very different and out of the ordinary!! Ms. Tiffany replied in awe

“Thank you, Ms. Tiffany I appreciate that. I try when I can” I said sarcastically with a smirk on my face.

Just as Ms Tiffany and I were conversing I saw a beautiful young lady walk into the room. At first glance I thought she was a student. She was tall, slender and she had silky like hair. I was and still am unknowing of her ethnicity, but she looked as if she was of Hispanic decent. She walked in and Ms. Diane introduced us.

“Natalie, this is Sakoli Norman, he’s one of our new students. He just arrived today." Ms. Tiffany said placing her hand on my shoulder.

“Oh hello, how are you? I’m Natalie I’m one of the dorm aides here. Welcome and if you have any questions or concerns feel free to ask. We are always here to help you.” She said in a very courteous manner.

“Oh, well thank you. I definitely appreciate the hospitality from both of you young ladies. I hope to do great things here.” I said with a smile.

After our conversation Natalie took me took the “Welcome Dorm Room”. It was the room that all of the new students stayed in before actually having our own room. It was a week stay. When I walked in the first thing I noticed was how big the room was. It had two beds on opposite sides of the room. Two newly furbished wooden dressers on opposite sides of the room as well. One for each resident. It had two windows counter-cornered to the doorway, and a small table that was near the door.

This room was almost big enough to have living room furniture in it. The bathroom was just as big, although you had to share it with a roommate, it didn’t even matter. At the moment I had it to myself so I definitely enjoyed the freedom of having it to myself while it lasted. Natalie told me I had an hour or two before dinner so I could un-pack and tour the campus if I would like. So I did just that. I put all of my clothes neatly into the dressers that weren’t used, and hung my book bag on the back of the chair where the table was.

I then stepped out side and noticed there were phones in the hallway, and I asked Ms. Tiffany if they were office phones or phones for personal use. She said the phones were for student’s personal use. She said as long as the student’s were courteous to the others student’s needs of phone usage, and talking at a respectable noise level she didn’t mind us using the phone. The first thing I did was call Lisa and told her that I made it there safe, how long the drive was, how great the center looked, and how friendly the staff was.

I told her I wouldn’t know my schedule until tomorrow, but that I would just enjoy the day today. She told me that she was glad that I made it there in one piece. I told her the center actually reminded me of a college. It had dorms, had a cafeteria, and it even had classrooms.

"Oh really its like a college campus huh? I guess it's right down your alley with all those cute girls that will be there" Lisa said laughing.

"Girl nobody is thinking about these chicks up here but you" I said laughing as well.

"Yeah right, you'll have a girl by the end of the week. Watch!" She said sarcastically while laughing.

"Well I'm glad that you have enough confidence for the both of us! Because I'm good, but not that good." I said giggling.

"Whatever you say Mr." Lisa replied giggling as well.

After about 15 minutes of laughing and back and forth with I told her that I would stay in touch with her during the week. I wanted to tour the campus on my own until it was time for dinner. We said our goodbye, I got up, put my shoes on, and walked outside to the lobby area. It was a nice area. Big screen T.V, chairs, and lunch tables, it also had soda and food vending machines. It was one of the hang out spots. Then I walked outside to the patio.

It was made of wood and it had two sets of steps one set on the right side and one set in the front. It also had a roof over top of it, and ledges on the side where everyone just felt comfortable sitting. To everyone it was all a hang out area. As I walked toward the recreation center I passed a couple of gazebos, which the campus had a lot of. It was another place where everybody could just do their thing and chill out after classes. It was a nice circular wooden structure that could hold about 20 to 25 people inside of it.

This also had a circular roof on top of it, it was another good place to hang out incase it was raining. Once I reached the recreation center and saw the majority of the students in there. This was clearly the spot to be after classes. A few people were playing ball, a few people were playing pool, spades, and I even saw a couple of people in the gym area. I walked around for a second just admiring the building. This was probably the nicest rec center that I had ever been to with the exception of two rec centers that I had visited. One was the recreation center in Cresco, Iowa where Lisa lived and the other one was the recreation center in Pleasantville, NJ where I grew up.

This center was probably even better because it was newly renovated. It seemed like every thing in that center was brand new. I had never saw pool tables in a recreation center before. It was just a really cool thing to see. I walked over to the window of the gym and just stared for a couple of minutes. As I'm looking into the gym window I over heard the gym RA remind a student "Please take off your shoes and put on the required shoes in order to play basketball." I thought to myself "They don't play about their gym".

After I took my little tour of the recreation center I stepped outside just to sit on the bench and get some fresh air. I just sat there and thought about everything. From when I first got back to Cresco to the moment I walked through those job corps doors. It was definitely more of a mental journey than anything. I didn’t realize it at the time but I was creating a pattern of uncertainty and incompletion. It felt like every time things got hard I left. When I left Lisa in September of 2006 and went to Florida with my mom it was because things were getting hard and I didn’t want to see it through.

When I left Florida in May of 2007 and went back to go see Lisa, which was basically doing the exact same thing in reverse, it was because times had got hard and I didn’t want to see it through. I was in the Salvation Army shelter in Orlando, Florida and I was working Temp Jobs for a temp service called Right Hand Man getting paid only for jobs I worked. I had almost landed a full time job at a place called Mears Transportation. It would have me just cleaning buses for 8.25hr, and it would of put me in a better situation financially. I didn’t stick it out and see it through and I chose leave.

At the time it seeing my mom cry because I was on my way to the bus station really didn’t register. I knew she was sad, but I didn’t know the other reasons why she felt like that. Now looking back on it was because of she knew my potential, but she’d knew I’d never reach it if I was always running away when things got hard. She knew if I kept running and using people or situations as safety nets that I would never be the person that I was meant to be. I now understood that things happen when they are meant to happen.

It was meant for me to find that brochure, it was meant for me to be here at job corps, and it was meant for me to have this experience. I didn’t fully understand the reason at the time, but understanding comes after the experience not before or during. Jumping out of my thoughts like a skydiver out of a plane, I looked at my watch and noticed that it was almost time to eat dinner. It was about 5pm and I saw everyone start walking toward the cafeteria. I figured I needed to start walking in that direction too, if I wanted to know where everyone ate. So I followed everyone to the cafeteria.

When I got there I noticed all the lunch ladies standing in line waiting to hand out the food, I also noticed how spacious the cafeteria was. During the tour I didn’t really see because we didn’t stay long enough for me to notice. Being that it was the time of day that everyone ate dinner, it was a pretty lengthy line. I stood there for a while before I got my dinner. I finally got to front of the line

“Hello, young man, what would you like to eat? We have Cheesesteaks, hot dogs, or grilled cheese! ” one of the cooks said as she as she picked up a plate to prep my food.

“Hi” I replied. “Ill take an Cheesesteak and fries.”

“ Ok, one cheesesteak and fries coming right up.” The cook said smiling.

“You must be new here because I’ve never seen you before.” She said with a smile.

“Yeah I’m new here, I just got here today.” I replied.

“You’re definitely not from Iowa sounding like that. Where are you from originally?” She asked.

I’m from New York” I replied back.

“Wow!, New York huh, I’ve never been there, and I’ve heard its huge.” She said in amazement.

“Yeah New York is definitely a big city, I was born there and I grew up there.” I said while she handed me my plate.

“Wow!” The cook said “that’s excellent, well welcome to Denison Job Corps young man, and enjoy you’re dinner!”

“Thank you Ma’am I will!” I said with a smile as I walked away.

The line led to the back of the cafeteria so I saw some empty tables near the long entrance walkway on the opposite side of the room. So I sat there and dug into my food, now I’m not going to lie a brother was hungry man. I hadn’t ate anything since that morning when Lisa grabbed something from Casey’s. So I probably looked like a true fat boy out there eating, but I didn’t care. Those cooks were great! Not only were there cooks there, but students in Culinary training as well.

What I should of done was take Culinary Arts classes and learn to cook like that. The steak was properly cooked, the cheese was melted, and they added extra mayo, lettuce, onions, and tomatoes. You talk about great food! Man great couldn’t even describe what I was tasting man. To add on to that you could actually get seconds, and that had a nice selection of juice and soda. I was on it.I didn’t over do it but I definitely went for another sandwich. The cafeteria was still packed and nobody really noticed that I'd gotten seconds, and if they did it was like they didn't care.

I remember sitting down, and starting to eat my second plate, and young man walked in my direction. He had a blue crown on his head and a suit and tie. I remember when he walked pass me he tapped me on the shoulder and said “Pardon me, I don’t mean to be an asshole, but you have to take you’re du-rag off.” I think I laughed at first because as quick as came he walked away that fast. I think he was just walking around seeing how everyone was doing. So he really didn’t stick around to see if I took it off. I had a doctor’s note to keep my du-rag on so I left it on.

In my mind I’m like who is this dude. I wasn’t angry of offended or anything, it just caught me off guard that someone would do that. At that moment Someone else who saw what happened to see it came over to me and told me that young man’s name was Ry, and that he was the king. I believe that was his nickname as I found out a little later on. I eventually became cool with him, and even months after I was there I repeated that situation to him and we both laughed about it.

After my two cheesesteak meal and 3 cups of juice(don’t judge me, it was free and I’m fat) I headed back to the dorm area just so I could relax again and just chill. I also wanted to see what the lounge area in my dorm was like. The couches were like a green, blue, and gray color, the T.V had cable, and it had tables so if we wanted to play cards or dominos we could. That was my type of place. I sat down for a while just so I could see everybody come in and out. I wanted to see what the vibe was like and get a feel of the environment.

Everybody’s trade classes ended at about 3 or 4pm, which is about the time I arrived so mostly everyone was hanging around outside. Some people were just “dorm bodies” as I call them because they just stayed inside all day and never came out. They were there just to complete a trade and go home. Some of them already have completed their trade, they were just staying there until their resumes were ready and they had a job already lined up.

Sitting there as a new kid on the block I’d be lying to you if I didn’t say that I wasn’t nervous. I knew that I would be ok because I had been in situations that most people couldn’t survive. What made me nervous more so was the fact that I hadn’t been around this many people in my age group since about 2005. That’s three years, and for the majority of 2007 year it had just been Lisa, her children, and I. So I was worried about that my social skills were a little rusty.

I sat there for a couple of minutes, and was about to go back to my room, but then Ms. Tiffany called saw me in the lounge and called me back to the office. She wanted to give me my own set of keys for my dorm room and she wanted to let me know how the rest of my week would go .

“So, Sakoli I’m sorry I didn’t get a chance to explain to you you’re day tomorrow, but tomorrow you will start you’re Welcome Week Class. You have to be in class at 8AM. Breakfast starts at 6:00 AM and ends at about 7:30AM.”She said.

“Wake up is at 6:00AM every morning, so we suggest you get a good nights sleep. You’re Welcome Class will last for a week. The class is located 2nd floor in the same building as the cafeteria” Ms. Tiffany explained as she handed me a sheet of paper with all the information on it, and continued to explain.

“There you will introduce yourself, learn more about our campus, discuss our rules and regulations, asks questions about you’re trade, learn about our awards and recognitions, and get acquainted with our staff, teachers, counselors, and leaders of this center.” You will also learn about our point system, and how you earn Independent Living privileges, and future honor dorm opportunities, which we will also discuss with you here on dorm as well. Do you have any questions?” Ms. Tiffany asked after her lengthy explanation.

“No I don’t Ms. Tiffany you broke it down to me quite simple, it sounds busy and fun” I replied enthusiastically.

What she said after this stuck with me like lightning and it stays with me until this very day. “Opportunities can be you’re greatest accomplishments or you’re greatest disappointments, what determines that outcome is you’re mindset and you’re attitude. You can look at this day as the first day of the rest of you’re life or just the first day in job corps." Ms. Tiffany said shook my hand.

Man when she said that it was like a 2x4 hit me in the stomach!!! I felt every word she said!!! I could tell she really wanted to see me win and it wasn’t just some random speech. She saw something in me and in my attitude that she knew that I could make it! Now I’ve may not have always lived by those words that she said that day, but I have never forgotten them. I’ve always loved Ms. Tiffany like a mother for those words of encouragement. She didn’t have to drop that knowledge on me, but she did, and for that I’m forever thankful.

I left the office happy on the inside as I spent a couple of hours in my room reflecting on my day, and spending a couple of hours to myself. I wasn’t in a rush to pursue activities or make friends because I knew those things would come in time. Plus I wanted to take full advantage of having my dorm room to myself, and take a little nap because I was tired. The dinner that I'd eaten started to kick in and I just wanted to lye down for an hour or two. There were two beds on the opposite side of the room, I took the on furthest away from the door. Once I laid down it didn’t take me long to drift off to sleep.

I was awakened by a knock on the door about a hour later, It was staff telling us that it was time for dorm meeting. We had these every weeknight at about 8:00pm. It was governed by staff and SGA(Student Government Association). The Students could actually run for these positions like, Mayors, Governors, Senators, or Presidents. There were Cabinet Members, Speaker of the House, and there was a President. They actually would run the student dorms and act as a liaison between students and staff. They would bring new ideas up to staff member leaders, write proposals, discuss issues with students, talk about up and coming activities and events, and discuss dorm room etiquette. It was a cool concept.

I noticed that it helped students feel apart of the Job Corps program, it helped students to think as leaders, helped them to be professional, and to be business orientated. It took me a while to understand what this program was all about, but I started to see that they wanted this to be not just a cool experience, but also a way of life. That’s the way the real world operated and to keep up you need to be an responsible adult.

I opened the door I looked at the time it was about 7:55pm. I threw some water on my face and walked to the dorm lounge which was directly across the hall from me. Once I walked out I got to see everybody that was on the S4 dorm with me. It was packed like 42nd street In Downtown Manhattan. I grabbed a seat in the back in one of the room on one of the chairs and just watched everyone. Some people were loud and others were quiet, but that was to be expected. I wanted to be like the ones that were having fun and making job corps an experience, not a job or chore.

“Good Evening everyone” I heard Ms. Tiffany say. “How did everyone’s day go?”

Aww you know Ms. T, we does what we do!” I heard a couple of people say. “Classes were easy and trades were cool. On everything!” The group responded.

“That’s what I like to hear. Our last room inspection was good and our scores are up 10 points. If we can keep our scores up to at least a 95% for the next couple of months. We’ll treat you guys to dinner. So far S-3 has been beating us in the competition so now it’s our time and I want to show them that were the best dorm on campus.” She said.

“I heard they be cheating Ms. T, their rooms stink, and they just use Febreze. Change you’re socks dawg!!” somebody yelled.

Everyone busted out laughing and even Ms. Tiffany and Natalie had to laugh. The comment was random, but just on the spot hilarious.

“Before I go any further” Ms. Tiffany said, “We have a new student in our dorm. Young man stand up and introduce you’re self. Tell us where you’re from and tell us something about your self."

As soon as she said that everyone starred at me. My heart almost dropped to my chest. My palms were sweating, and my lip almost started to shake. You couldn't tell from my poker face that I was nervous, but...I was nervous!!

“Whats going on y'all My name is Sakoli, and I’m originally from The Bronx, NY” I said.

“Hov!” someone yelled

I immediately started laughing, and it immediately made me feel more comfortable.

“I like to travel, and I write hip hop songs.” I said.

“uh-oh” someone else said. “We have to hear these bars later on.”

We all laughed as everyone clapped and welcomed me to the center. The meeting was a little lengthy as we laughed some more and then Natalie reminded us about leaving food and everything in our rooms, and Bry one of our SGA leaders , talked about a paintball trip that they were planning to take. He wanted any body that was interested to sign up. He informed us that the list would be in the recreation center.

At last… the chore list was read. We had the same chore everyday for one week and then we rotated. That particular week I had the laundry room. Which included wiping down the washing machines, dryers, sweeping, and mopping the floors. I never saw anything wrong with chores it was just another way of teaching us responsibility and being men. Once you finished your chore either a staff member or SGA member had to check it. Once they checked it and approved of it you could watch TV in the dorm lounge or go back to you’re room, if you were Phase One or two.

If you were Phase 3 or Phase 4 you could go back outside for an hour before you had to come back to you’re dorm. The other chores included cleaning the break room, cleaning the dorm lounge, vacuuming the lounge area and the hallway area, wiping the windows, and cleaning the student break area. The chores were easy to do, and being that you’re staying in a nice facility like that for free, it was a cool deal. I finally finished my chore after about 10 minutes.

Natalie checked it and said “Good job, I think this will be a good fit for you.”

“Do You think so?” I replied.

“Yes I do, all you have to do is apply yourself and this can be a very fulfilling experience for you.” She said in a sensitive tone.

Natalie cleared my chore and I decided to go back in to my room. The meeting was great and all of the guys seemed cool. It was always meaningful to me that they made me feel like that on my first day there. All of the guys cleared out of the lounge and some were hanging out in the hallway, and others went back outside for a while. I was still tired and ready to go back to bed. I definitely wanted to get to sleep if I wanted to wake up early. I had been up since early this morning myself and I was ready to turn back in.

As I walked back to my room I told the staff members good night and they said the same. I hopped in the shower, threw on my basketball shorts and cut off the light. I never had been so ready to see my bed. Dreamland here I come tomorrow is the first official start of my new journey. Tomorrow is the start of Welcome Week.