Each week, City Year San Jose/Silicon Valley will thank a person or organization for inspiring us in our service. This week, senior corps member Megan Baker will thank Dean of City Year Charlie Rose for joining City Year San Jose/Silicon Valley during ATA.
As a senior corps member, this is my second time experiencing ATA in San José. One of the things I look forward to the most is having Dean of City Year Charlie Rose join us and facilitate some pretty incredible community building activities.
As many (if not all) people in the City Year community know, Charlie Rose is the man. He speaks from his heart and he truly believes in and supports the much-needed services we provide for communities all across the country. To show his appreciation, Charlie travels around the country (and with sites in London and South Africa, the world) to address the corps at as many sites as possible. This week alone, Charlie will have participated in three different ATA’s: Boston, San José and Little Rock. To my knowledge, our ATA was the 15th one he has attended this year. That is just incredible.
And Charlie doesn’t just show up and sit around. He facilitates some pretty powerful exercises including “I am From” poems and Cross the Line. Some of these activities are fun and light, but a lot of them are difficult and can get pretty emotional. But no matter what end of the spectrum these exercises find themselves, the outcomes are typically profound both on a personal and group level.
To thank Charlie for coming out to San José, I compiled a video of our “I am From” poems that he led us in creating.
Megan Baker, Recruitment Project Leader and Social Media Manager CYSJ
City Year San José 
Charlie is the man. HANDS DOWN (or up)!