Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Seeing it all come to place!

Freshmen Orientation was a success! I felt really bad that I had to miss so much of it with RA training going on at the same time. Not only was no one mad at me, but everyone was so supportive!

It is really cool seeing plans fall into place. Everything that we have planned the last few months all in print and product. The time frames went really smoothly, there were many fun morning energizers that brought us together, and all the Bonners were alert and responsive. I keep bragging about Lead Team, but it is honestly the truth in my mind. I don't think we could have a better combination of leaders working together.

As I reflect from the past few years, I've realized that I've grown so much as a person. I came in as a freshman a timid, quiet 18 year old. I'm no longer the same person I was then. I am still shy at times, but I've definitely learn to be a little more extroverted when I need to. Meeting the incoming Bonners at dinner was a great experience because of that. I wasn't afraid to talk to them and get to know them and welcoming to the family. Everyone was so friendly and the new excitement was quite thrilling. I hope I continue to grow and pick up new skills along the way as a senior intern... especially with everyone's help! I'm counting on you all :)

Also, I must say that I think the retreat was awesome... Courtney did a great job cooking the dinner the first night. Tiffany's gift was the perfect touch to begin the weekend (thank you). I think the Bonners had a really good time getting to know each other and learning about each other. There was enough food for every which is always a good thing. (I hope we had enough since it took at least three trips to Walmart! haha). The class based activity was probably one of the most important for me. We reflected as a class on how much we have grown and matured over the years. Reminiscing from our freshman year brought up some good memories that I had to hold back so that I wouldn't start tearing up. During the final reflection before we went home, I think the most memorable part was that Taylor enjoyed the retreat. It really did mean a lot that he had a positive attitude and shared that he did have fun. Thanks, Taylor :)

This year is going to unfold many opportunities and obstacles, but I don't think anything that I can't handle, as long as I have Amanda, Alex and the Lead Team with me. And of course all the Bonners to make everything possible.

Acquaintances turn to new friendships

Working with Lead Team has been amazing! I really do think that we have an awesome team. Everyone works really well together and oddly enough with all our different personalities, we compliment each other. I'm really glad that I get to work with Darian, Julie, and Scarlett this year...not that I don't about Courtney or Jarian. I've worked with them before and I know how wonderful they are. If Darian wasn't on Lead Team, I don't think I would have gotten to know and be such good friends with him. The same with Julie. She's probably one of the sweetest people I know. One night after incoming Bonner Orientation, Darian, Julie and Alex wanted to visit me in Chaudoin but I was at a staff meeting so I couldn't' answer my phone. Afterwards I met them in the LBC and we just hung out in the computer lab downstairs for awhile before going back to my room and hanging out more. Even though I have only gotten to know them on a deeper level for a short amount of time, I've learned so much about each one of them. Julie and I are more alike that i thought we would be! I have no doubt that our friendship will continue to grow as the year continues. I'm truly blessed to have all this support from my peers/LT members, Amanda and my fellow senior intern.

PS... our Lead Team this year is already on the ball. As soon as we announced who were in their families, many of them contacted them and created FB groups to start planning family meetings. I keep saying this, but I have a feeling that it's going to be a great, successful year.

and it all wraps up

This summer has been an awesome experience. I loved working closely with Amanda, Linh and Alex on all of these projects for Bonner. I am really excited to start my semester working with SMA on the lecture and with Provost Paul on the Outcasts United book feast. I especially can't wait to meet my family and get to know all of the new Bonners. This semester is going to be amazing!
I am really positive about our year ahead on Lead Team; I think we have a great group with a lot of innovative ideas that will make this year special for a whole new group of Bonners. Even though my SOS is over, the work has only begun. We have a ton of things to accomplish this year and I'm sure we will have no problem doing it all!

As the year begins

Over the summer, working at the CSL, which is now the CCE, has been kind of routine. I didn't really see the results from the work I did along with Amanda and Alex. A lot of it was planning and I didn't seem like I was doing any productive "work". We didn't have to start actually manually preparing until the last two weeks before the incoming Bonners moved in on the 17th. Looking back, the last three weeks have been chaotic! Julie, Alex and I went on a Walmart trip 1 together... It definitely was a bonding experience! We each pushed a cart and it was all full. Going down every aisle, we picked up about 15 boxes of cereal for the retreat along with large amounts of things we needed that were non-perishable. Financially we didn't do bad at all on our first trip...less that $300 :) I definitely see us growing pretty close as Lead Team this year. I use to think Julie was a sweet quiet person... sweet for sure...but not so much quiet ;)

Service in Sports lecture!

Mary Kathryn and I had thrown around the idea of a lecture series to get Bonner's name out in the Stetson and DeLand community more. We want to be known for more, expand our wings, show people what we're capable of. It would be interesting to delve deeper into how service can become a career, especially for people who are on the fence about getting involved right now.
I started working with a very close friend (... or boyfriend) in the Sports Management Association (SMA) on putting together a panel of speakers to talk about how service is incorporated in their sports profession. Currently, our list includes the Community Relations Director of the Orlando Magic, the CRD of the Daytona Cubs, a representative from NASCAR and ESPN Wide World of Sports while also including a Stetson rep. and a few nonprofits around DeLand (YMCA, the Little League, etc.). It is currently scheduled for September 20th at 6:30 in the Stetson Room. I would love it if everyone could attend this event to further market the Bonner program! SMA has been very helpful this summer in helping me get in contact with groups. It's crazy how I can call and explain what I'm calling for, I get transfered 50 times and after an hour I still haven't made any progress but I can talk to Dr. Wilson for 5 minutes and he gives me names and numbers of people he knows personally who would be perfect to come and speak. It really pays to know people.
Brainstorming and preparing potential marketing projects has been most of that planning but I am excited to have a Bonner led academic component! It's nice to be able to say that yes we're Bonners and yes we do a lot of service but we want YOU to do this too and here's how. If you're interested in attending or for more info, just contact me!

Retreat Planning

This week, Linh, Alex, Amanda, and I had a great Skype session! We discussed the retreat, what plans or ideas we had to make it better than ever and ideas for the Lead Team and Freshmen Orientation. I recently found a theme titled "Agents of Change" that has a 'secret service' component. I had the idea to do a "Secret Mission" at the Retreat and maybe play assassins as a Bonner group. We also came up with a skeleton of the Retreat agenda. I'm always excited to go on the Retreat and sometimes it feels like I'm the only one. I know that's not true but I like to see other people excited about it as well. We took a lot of time considering activities to do that would make the rest of Bonner excited and maybe engage students who aren't usually represented during retreats.
We also talked about the Orientations and what kinds of things I would want to see during them. It sounds weird but Bonner is like a child to me, I want to see it grow and be successful and I am totally invested in it. I think that there are a lot of things that we as students have the power to change, the power to see happen and I want to harness that potential.
I also threw around the idea of a possible Service in Sports lecture during the year... we'll see how that pans out.

New life lesson

"Everything in the world starts small and then becomes bigger- except bad things. They start big and then become smaller." - Outcasts United, by Warren St. John

So, I started reading this book in February and I fell in love with it. I reread it starting in June because my plan is to host a book feast with it. I spent some time brainstorming with Amanda and we decided to get Provost Paul involved in it as well. After finishing the book, I was so taken by the quote mentioned above because it is so relevant to our hectic lives as Bonners. I tend to dwell on the negative things that happen, stress over them, lose sleep, all of the bad things that happen when your thoughts are consumed with a negative idea. So this is now on my board in my room; it reminds me every time I come in that I just need to breathe, deal with it when and how I can but not to stress with it everyday.
I looked online and found some discussion questions and topics to bring up for the book feast. I spent a lot of time trying to compile a "plan of action". The date will hopefully be set for mid-October, that is still being ironed out, and the set up of the feast will be in small groups. While most of this still needs to be ironed out, I used summer as a tool to plan, come up with new ideas, and test out some possible solutions.

I'll keep you posted on date and times for the Book feast, I'm sure you'd all love to come :)

The Fabulous and Amazing...

Like Linh, the first few weeks of summer were spent working with Ms. Hargroves' 4th grade girls class. Mainly, Linh and I packed up her room (which is a harder job than it sounds). I also got to hang out with my 3rd grade boys class; we talked about what they thought 4th grade would be like and if they were excited or not. I love getting to spend time with them and build relationships. They were all sad to see me leave on my last day but I'm sure I'll see most of them in the coming year at Woodward again.
I started doing hours in the CCE in June, reading the "This I Believe" book and getting ideas for T&E activities for the coming year. I compiled a list of the book articles with main themes so we can use them in later years. I enjoy these articles because it gives me a chance to realize what other people "believe" and what they hold dear to them. I can reflect and say that I really like that philosophy or I can't stand the other one. It's a great opportunity to test myself and my beliefs now.

Monday, August 8, 2011

Even though summer is over...

It’s actually been perfect timing with everything this summer. I got to finish the year off with my girls, SLI and then spend my last weeks brainstorming and planning at the CSL.

Oh I just remembered something about Woodward…During the awards ceremony, I felt like a proud parent when all of my students from tutoring received awards. (I even took pictures. Haha)

I was really excited to start at the CSL to implement the new ideas from SLI. Some of the workshops we went to, we think, will be helpful as our program grows. With so many new ideas, I didn’t really know where to start. Alex has been awesome because he’s been working hard with Orientation and Retreat preparation even though he doesn’t have to. He meets with Amanda and me and we check in with each other. The Bonner Orientation handbook looks amazing…not surprising, I suppose!

Figuring out meeting times for Lead Team with everyone’s busy schedules have been quite difficult. Through this experience, I’ve learned that it’s about give and take. In the end, communication is key and little things should not get in between relationships with others.

I stayed a second round for Summer of Service at the CSL for two main reasons. First was so that I can finish off the year with my girls at Woodward for the first half and second, to work on Bonner projects (specifically, this year). However, while I love working on stuff for Bonner, I’ve been reassured that I am not an office work type of person. I enjoyed brainstorming and working with everyone, especially Amanda, Alex, Courtney and Julie this summer. Getting to know the incoming Bonners via Facebook and having dinner with Seth and Kou awesome and I can never complain about lunch events talk about Bonner ideas throughout the summer. But being in a office for long periods of time, while it has to be done, is not very appealing for me. I guess I’m not as skilled as Scarlett when it comes to managerial skills J .

It worked out in my favor. By extending my hours through the entire summer, we got more done because we always have new things we want to try and implement. I’m really excited for the upcoming year. I think we have an awesome Lead Team and a great new group of Bonners joining who are all very excited to start the year.

I hope Bonners don’t get too annoyed with me when I bugged them to complete their hour logs on Bonner Webbers!! ;)