Summer of Service, Learning & Fun for Lead Team

By Alicia Loewenthal, Program & Lead Coordinator

July 2008

This year’s California Lead team kept busy this summer with a full agenda of professional development workshops, global education outings, volunteer days with local service providers, and a full month of internship experience!

Our team of 22 members started the summer off strong with three days of team building activities, including on the third day, volunteering with the Friends of Five Creeks.

Two weeks later we went to the Berkeley Marina waterfront to check on the status of a previous service project: removing invasive and poisonous plant species from the waterfront. The hemlock, ice plant and pepper weed had not grown back so we worked this time to remove the flammable broom trees, which had overtaken the Berkeley Meadows.

The students combined their mental and physical muscle power to get the greatest leverage while using bush removers to pull out the unwelcome plants. By the end of the day we had filled an entire commercial dumpster with the dangerous brush!

The CA Lead team will end the summer with a service-learning trip to Boulder Creek, and start to prepare for on-going community service relationships as soon as they return to school!