Hello again! It has been awhile since my last blog, but I will be to update whoever is reading this about what I have been doing for the past few months.
Since September, and my last blog, a lot has been going on. I have stayed as busy as I possibly can in regards to my senior exhibit. I thought I would just give you all an update about what I am doing
- My senior exhibit is creating a sustainable framework for the future by creating an FA “leadership retreat”. It will be a plan that will be presented to the new student government, which will be elected in mid March.
- My learning activity has been for the most part self guided research. I have taken what I observed this summer with FA’s first leadership camp. The format of my new camp plan will take the best elements from this and be sure to incorporate them into this “sustainable framework for the future”. I have been actively reading and recording notes from “the 7 habits of highly effective teens, by Sean Covey”. I have made connections with PE staff and other people in order to also gain greater insight and ideas
- My application will be, in reality, presenting this plan to the new student government, and making sure they have a complete and total understanding of what is meant to occur this summer, and in many future summers to follow. My written document will consist of a written up plan for the future SG presidents to follow on how to run a successful summer leadership retreat.
The biggest news I have to report is that on January 24th, 2009, I personally held and ran FA’s middle of the year leadership retreat. It was highly successful, and in addition I learned quite a bit. The goal of this day was to inspire members of leadership committees to “re-kindle” their enthusiasm that is so strong in the beginning of the year, the same kind of enthusiasm that existed following the summer leadership retreat. The other main goal was to relax, and to just try and have some fun! The day ran as follows:
- everyone showed up around 10 o clock, and planned to leave around 2
- The first activity everyone took part in was sort of a concerns and compliments session. Everyone wrote down on a slip of paper something that they had found they had struggled with during the year as a student leader, or something that had gone particularly well being a student leader. The hat with all the comments was passed around the 25 or so people, and the slips were read aloud. The person reading the slip simply commented about what they thought of this certain slip of paper. This activity took approximately an hour and a half, which was a surprise to me. It was a great activity that effectively got everyone’s minds flowing and prepared with new ideas and ideally new motivation going into the second semester of school. I recorded all the notes, and brought up many of the concerns at the next available student government meeting.
- I knew that people would be anxious, and hungry, so we broke for a pizza lunch around 11:30. The next activity, everyone was divided into teams. These teams then took turns at the Hazel weekly recycling items in order to construct a container for the egg drop. Everyone was working together and having a great time. If I could change something though, I would limit the materials. They just had too many items at their disposal! The result was the most indestructible egg drop devices that I have ever seen. We tried dropping them from the top story in my house, but they all survived. We then made a quick field trip to the parking garage in downtown Fredericksburg and dropped the “egg tanks” off the roof. Still 1 egg survived!!! This was very fun, but my group lost some sight of what their goals of the activity were, principally teamwork and communication. In order to do this activity best, it should be more structured. For example, limit the materials to simply some straws and tape, and make a landing target to see which group can be the most accurate. This lasted approximately until 12:30.
- Next, I challenged these same groups to a mental activity. It was a survival story-game where the groups were forced to make some difficult decisions concerning items necessary to their survival in the Alaskan Wilderness (in winter). It was very interesting to see how the groups interacted. I will not post the answers, but I would say that this activity was very successful. It inspired the groups to be good listeners, leaders, as well as learn a thing or two about their own survival capabilities. This lasted until approximately 1:15pm
- After being indoors, I took the groups outside again. Teams were made, and a relay race involving carrying team members on blankets was played. It was really fun, certainly in part due to the sunshine that we had that day. Teams had to devise a strategy in order to win the race, as well as have a fun ride within a blanket. This game lasted until about 1:30 pm
- The last and final parting game was played on my neighbor’s basketball court. Again a relay race, teams had to spin their heads around a baseball bat 5 times, and then run up and make the ball go through the hoop. Pure enjoyment ensued. We wound up playing for about 45 minutes! After this game, everyone went home happy, and motivated to take on the challenges the rest of the year would bring.
I would describe this experience as a total success. What I learned about myself in this activity was that with a good plan, anything can really become a success.
Since September, and my last blog, a lot has been going on. I have stayed as busy as I possibly can in regards to my senior exhibit. I thought I would just give you all an update about what I am doing
- My senior exhibit is creating a sustainable framework for the future by creating an FA “leadership retreat”. It will be a plan that will be presented to the new student government, which will be elected in mid March.
- My learning activity has been for the most part self guided research. I have taken what I observed this summer with FA’s first leadership camp. The format of my new camp plan will take the best elements from this and be sure to incorporate them into this “sustainable framework for the future”. I have been actively reading and recording notes from “the 7 habits of highly effective teens, by Sean Covey”. I have made connections with PE staff and other people in order to also gain greater insight and ideas
- My application will be, in reality, presenting this plan to the new student government, and making sure they have a complete and total understanding of what is meant to occur this summer, and in many future summers to follow. My written document will consist of a written up plan for the future SG presidents to follow on how to run a successful summer leadership retreat.
The biggest news I have to report is that on January 24th, 2009, I personally held and ran FA’s middle of the year leadership retreat. It was highly successful, and in addition I learned quite a bit. The goal of this day was to inspire members of leadership committees to “re-kindle” their enthusiasm that is so strong in the beginning of the year, the same kind of enthusiasm that existed following the summer leadership retreat. The other main goal was to relax, and to just try and have some fun! The day ran as follows:
- everyone showed up around 10 o clock, and planned to leave around 2
- The first activity everyone took part in was sort of a concerns and compliments session. Everyone wrote down on a slip of paper something that they had found they had struggled with during the year as a student leader, or something that had gone particularly well being a student leader. The hat with all the comments was passed around the 25 or so people, and the slips were read aloud. The person reading the slip simply commented about what they thought of this certain slip of paper. This activity took approximately an hour and a half, which was a surprise to me. It was a great activity that effectively got everyone’s minds flowing and prepared with new ideas and ideally new motivation going into the second semester of school. I recorded all the notes, and brought up many of the concerns at the next available student government meeting.
- I knew that people would be anxious, and hungry, so we broke for a pizza lunch around 11:30. The next activity, everyone was divided into teams. These teams then took turns at the Hazel weekly recycling items in order to construct a container for the egg drop. Everyone was working together and having a great time. If I could change something though, I would limit the materials. They just had too many items at their disposal! The result was the most indestructible egg drop devices that I have ever seen. We tried dropping them from the top story in my house, but they all survived. We then made a quick field trip to the parking garage in downtown Fredericksburg and dropped the “egg tanks” off the roof. Still 1 egg survived!!! This was very fun, but my group lost some sight of what their goals of the activity were, principally teamwork and communication. In order to do this activity best, it should be more structured. For example, limit the materials to simply some straws and tape, and make a landing target to see which group can be the most accurate. This lasted approximately until 12:30.
- Next, I challenged these same groups to a mental activity. It was a survival story-game where the groups were forced to make some difficult decisions concerning items necessary to their survival in the Alaskan Wilderness (in winter). It was very interesting to see how the groups interacted. I will not post the answers, but I would say that this activity was very successful. It inspired the groups to be good listeners, leaders, as well as learn a thing or two about their own survival capabilities. This lasted until approximately 1:15pm
- After being indoors, I took the groups outside again. Teams were made, and a relay race involving carrying team members on blankets was played. It was really fun, certainly in part due to the sunshine that we had that day. Teams had to devise a strategy in order to win the race, as well as have a fun ride within a blanket. This game lasted until about 1:30 pm
- The last and final parting game was played on my neighbor’s basketball court. Again a relay race, teams had to spin their heads around a baseball bat 5 times, and then run up and make the ball go through the hoop. Pure enjoyment ensued. We wound up playing for about 45 minutes! After this game, everyone went home happy, and motivated to take on the challenges the rest of the year would bring.
I would describe this experience as a total success. What I learned about myself in this activity was that with a good plan, anything can really become a success.
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