Spring is in the Air

This month has been. . . interesting, stressful, packed? I don't think there is one word that can quite describe it except maybe fast. My classes have been full-steam ahead since the first week of school. I am getting faster at drawing, and I feel like I am getting a better handle on illustrator, but it has meant a lot of time devoted to art projects. There is the joke that college is made up of primarily three components: sleep, academics, and a social life. You might be able to have two of the three but definitely not all of them.

On top of projects and tests this past week, the other UAs and I were busy figuring out the details for a mini-retreat for 75 new FHP leaders. The retreat was Friday evening and Saturday Morning. We kick-started the retreat with our jazzercise routine and costumes. Oh, Jake and his gold leggings. . . Don't worry- this wasn't just a random way to make us look ridiculous. Our theme for the retreat and the remaining semester and next fall is Jazzercise. It's just a good way to tie a lot of events together, have some fun, and give us a reason to wear Richard Simmons name tags. Last year's UA theme was superheroes, but each individual group develops its own theme based on the interests of the students in the group. Some of these themes were Where's Waldo, Sugary Goodness, Pirates, H1N1. . . there was quite a variety.

We packed a lot into two days with activities for leaders to meet one another, learn about group development, address problems in the classroom, talk about the importance of a professional and positive tone as leaders, etc. There were also team Olypmics which included obstacle courses, "Work those Brain Cells!" brainteasers, and relay races. We held a yes/no activity where the leaders had to pick a side and hold mini-debates, and then there were creativity exercises, committee meetings, and a speaker about social justice.

The mini-retreat is a way to bring together the new leaders, form a community, and transition from students to leaders. We designed the activities to represent a condensed version of what the agenda of next fall should look like: the initial meeting of the new students, moving from icebreakers into group development, creating a theme to incorporate the required components such as lectures, discussions, tours, civic engagement, and a final project. It was also a chance to observe how certain students interacted with other students to assist us when it comes time to select leader pairs. Lastly, it was an opportunity to see a glimpse of what will be involved in planning the large retreat next October when there will be over 400 students and 10x the planing.

I'll try to post some pictures and the video of our Jazzercise routine later this week.

Time to get cracking! Later, gators.