A group of 19 young professionals between the ages of 18 and 25 have moved to Wareham. And they're living in a former seminary.

The young adults are part of the AmeriCorps National Civilian Conservation Corps (NCCC), a 10-month program directly funded by Congress where participants perform four service projects with local community organizations.

"You get to travel, to meet people and network," said Shawn Zalewski, from Southgate, Michigan.  "It's been all that and more."

Their current project is helping the Marion Institute, a nonprofit in Marion, organize the annual Connecting for Change conference, which will be held in New Bedford from October 22 to October 24.  The conference bills itself as a "three-day, solutions-based gathering that seeks to gather interesting people and ideas on promoting community."

Speakers at this year's conference, for which 2,000 people have already registered, include Van Jones, the best-selling author of "The Green-Collar Economy," and President Obama's 2009 Green Jobs Advisor, Greg Mortenson, author of "Three Cups of Tea,"  which recounts his efforts to build schools in Pakistan, and many other community and social leaders.

"We couldn't imagine putting the conference on without AmeriCorps," said Glenn Oliveira, events and membership director of the Marion Institute.

And AmeriCorps members, many of whom are experiencing their first office job, are helping organize almost all aspects of the conference.

Marissa White is in charge of arranging the audio-visual equipment for the conference's film festival which includes screenings and discussions on feature films such as "Carbon Nation," as well as short films.

"I don't know enough about what to expect to be nervous," White said, as she composed a press release for the event.

Other tasks handed off to AmeriCorps members include coordinating the many volunteers expected over the course of the weekend, recruiting and managing exhibitors, providing programming and cool interactive exhibits for children ages 6-12 (an obstacle course allows children to mimic the international journey of many vegetables in our supermarkets, for example), running the silent auction, coordinating the recycling and composting of the locally-grown food, and the myriad tasks that arise at the last minute.

But in Wareham, things are a little more relaxing.

The group is living at the Sacred Heart Retreat Center on Great Neck Road, which are pretty choice digs, according to at least one member of the group who didn't exactly enjoy the camping out required at their last project in upstate New York, or the FEMA trailers in New Orleans.

The lodgings don't have internet or cable, so evenings are spent playing the board game Settlers of Catan, which seems to have become a team competition since it has a max of four players.

Others knit or read while team leader Beth Flynn prepares dinner for her team (there are actually two teams of 8-10 members, and the teams have separate quarters at the retreat center).  Running is a popular athletic activity, and Zalewski said that it didn't get much better than running out to Stony Point Dike.

As for their thoughts on Wareham, team members were pretty impressed.

"It's cute, I really like it," said Emily Clark who is from Sonoma County, CA.  "It doesn't seem too hard to get into major cities, but it's quiet and pretty."

The group said that they frequented Wareham Crossing to check email.  Minerva's was the favorite pizza place, and Friday-night karaoke at Hong Kong Island is an anticipated weekly event.

But they are excited for the conference - their final, and largest, project before graduation at the Atlantic Regional campus in Perryville, MD.

"The experience has been fantastic with all the [Americorps] teams we've gotten," said the Marion Institute's Oliviera.  "To have it all come together at the end of the year is great for them - it's a nice starting point in their lives and as they change [from Americorps] to moving forward to the next thing in their careers."

As for this crew, he has been particularly impressed...not only with their work, but also with their hygiene.

"It's probably the cleanest team we've had," Oliviera joked.