Challenge Accepted!

Stephanie, Maria, and I
The Terrific Three

What a tiring morning today. I woke up pretty early for the Challenge Course. I was half-asleep while eating, and was just out of it. Breakfast was good as always, and I enjoyed the tater tots. To be honest, breakfast is probably my favorite meal of the day. I'm always looking forward to eating the bland eggs, meat, bread, and potatoes. After breakfast, the NEMOW cohort met up at the Perkins lounge. At the Perkins lounge, W&L, Social Justice, and Political Policy met up and waited until everyone gathered. It took us awhile until we met up, and off to the Challenge Course. We broke up into groups once we got inside. We were inside today because there was a 66% chance of a storm. I was in a group with Izabel, Magaly, Janie, Yuki, Shanna, Jessie, Allie, Theo, Parisskevi, Cameron, Stephanie, Claire, and Charissa.  Our day consisted of doing a lot of activities for all of us to get to know each other better. At first we did a name game, but the catch was that we needed to have a food that began with the first letter of our name and an action. It was a good way for all of us to remind ourselves and to be very silly. On the topic of silliness, we all played the rock, paper, scissors : the evolution edition. To climb up the chain, egg to chicken, to eagle, to dragon, and to prince/princess, you had to win a round with a fellow level. I got up to eagle and basically went back down the evolution chain because I lost. That was the catch, if we lost, we had to start from the bottom. The game lasted for awhile, and it ended because it was a long wait. The activity after our eggvolution was a trust fall. There were steps to the trust fall was person A who is leaning says, "Spotter Ready," and person B responds with, "Ready." Then person A replies with, "Leaning," and person B confirms A with, "Leaning Away" or "TIMBER!" It was nice to trust people around me, especially being with Yuki. Yuki and I were partners and I was able to trust her, and she was able to trust me. Our trust fall lead to the "major trust fall," which is similar light as a feather, stiff as a board. To those who don't know about this, it's a trusting activity where one person is lifted up off of the ground by everyone. It was a nice experience and I liked to be able to support those who were lifted. Another great game was when we all closed our eyes and had to form a shape. There was only a limited amount of speakers, making it quite difficult to communicate. At one time, Stephanie was the only one leading the group. Now it probably was not as hard as you may seem, but she had to make a star. That part made me a little nervous for her, but she did pretty good. It was identifiable, so great job to her. There were other activities, but the one that I loved was the spider web obstacle. It was exciting because both halves of the W&L class combined together under the same common purpose. That purpose is to get both halves to the opposite side. We all used our leadership skills to accomplish the task and had used the leaning fall for some holes that were a bit high. We all had to incorporate what we learned and had to trust one another. I was able to get lifted by my fellow classmates. We were all so excited, and had a lot of energy. We completed that course with great skill and technique. The other highlight of my day was the end. Claire and Charissa had us do a final reflection on our day and then they both had us turn around. In our circle, we closed our eyes and whoever got tapped on, got up and touched the shoulders of questions that it applied to. It was something that boosted my self-esteem because I was able to know how people felt about me. 

This was a really fun day! I'm glad that we were able to leave the classroom and explore a new part of the campus. Today I learned about more leadership skills, ways of communication, and how granted I am. There were times in the game where we were unable to talk, or certain people were able to, so communication was a bit difficult. Another lesson I learned was about how there's more to leadership. Leadership isn't as what we perceive as the strong, confident type, leaders can also be supporters in the situation. I believe I played a role as a supporter than anything else. I liked being able to listen to the others and play as the backup. I really admire everyone's style and voice today, and I'm glad that there were fun activities. 

An Ode to W&L Course:

You all have power.

We have a common purpose

that can change the world.