One of my favorite things about AmeriCorps is, unsurprising to those who know me, the traveling. With every new project comes a new state, with every new state come new cities, and with every new city come dozens of cool places to explore.
Living in Mountain Pine, Arkansas, we're only about 100 miles away from Little Rock. We made out first trip to the city on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, where we got to visit Central High School, one of the first schools in the United States to become integrated. It was very overwhelming to walk on the same steps that the Little Rock Nine, the nine brave men and women who were the first black students at the school, once walked. Reading their stories was truly inspirational - faced with harassment from other students, protesting crowds and a complete lack of support from the National Guard, the nine heroes did not give up. Their fight for equality was incredibly difficult, but their victory proved worthy, serving as an example to schools nationwide.
Our second time in Little Rock was this past Monday, on President's Day. As some of you may know, President Bill Clinton was born and raised in Arkansas. He was born in a small town called Hope, but grew up in Hot Springs, our closest "big" city. Since we had the holiday off, the team and I decided to visit the William J. Clinton Presidential Center, located in downtown Little Rock. The museum, filled with everything from his daily schedules to presents from leaders of other nations, gave us an inside look into the life, campaign, and presidency of one of our nation's leaders. My favorite part of the museum, however, was the AmeriCorps display - AmeriCorps was founded in 1994 when President Bill Clinton signed the National and Community Service and Trust act into law.
For the remainder of the week, we truly got to experience why so many Arkansans say, "If you don't like the weather in Arkansas, wait an hour." Tuesday was a beautiful day, sunshine, warm breeze and not a cloud in sight. Come Wednesday, we were pulled off the work site three hours into our day. The reason? An ice storm. We were bound to the cabin the next two days but I cannot complain - it gave my knee injury much needed healing time. Once the storm passed, Casey and I went on a five mile hike and photographed the beautiful remnants of the storm. Just like rainbows after it rains, the beautiful, ice covered branches were yet another way of nature reminding us that things do get better, we just have to be strong enough to weather the storm, just like the Little Rock Nine once did.
Living in Mountain Pine, Arkansas, we're only about 100 miles away from Little Rock. We made out first trip to the city on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, where we got to visit Central High School, one of the first schools in the United States to become integrated. It was very overwhelming to walk on the same steps that the Little Rock Nine, the nine brave men and women who were the first black students at the school, once walked. Reading their stories was truly inspirational - faced with harassment from other students, protesting crowds and a complete lack of support from the National Guard, the nine heroes did not give up. Their fight for equality was incredibly difficult, but their victory proved worthy, serving as an example to schools nationwide.
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| Little Rock Central High School, one of the first integrated schools in the United States |
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| AmeriCorps display at the William J. Clinton Presidential Center |
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