For all its strengths, City Year Cleveland is not a flawless company. The communication within teams can be foggy at times. When the service leader and other corps members are out at their school, the program manager for that team is in the office and sometimes communication between PM (program manager), SL (service leader), and CMs (corps members) gets convoluted.
One of the most frustrating things about CYC is that we don't have enough corps members on certain teams, and when any CMs on smaller teams quit it puts a lot of burden on the remaining team members.
Also, sometimes there can be disharmony between teams which causes a bit of an awkward situation for the members of those teams. City Year can be a pretty stressful job, and sometimes tensions grow thick, and patience grows thin.
Since CYC focuses heavily on corps member development, some of your fellow corps members are going to seem incompetent, and very well may be. Sometimes it is very hard to maintain your patience with a team mate who is in charge of something that is too difficult for them. You just have to remember that their development is important, too, and that you can help your fellow corps members to succeed.
The discipline system within City Year Cleveland is not as tight as the rules and expectations decree. Many times corps members will get away with breaking a rule multiple times in the same day without getting a write up. This can be very frustrating to those of us who always follow the rules.
Working with high school students, especially, can be really disheartening. The saddest part of my job is trying to teach high school students who don't even know how to read. Sometimes, this job will seem hopeless, you might lose sight of the reason you joined, you might even contemplate quitting. But, really all the good you will do here will over shadow the bad if you stick with it long enough. It can be hard to find your niche among the students, it can be difficult to establish good relationships with them, but CYC will give you the support you need if you ask for it.
As with any job, CYC is full of different types of people. Not all of whom you will get along well with, it can be a very flustering job at times. But, in the end you know it's probably worth it, and all the students you help to succeed will make you know it was worth it.
