One of the most pivotal experiences I've had at UC was the UHP Welcome Retreat before my first year. I had spent the night crying in my room and was not ready to be in college, make new friends, or really do anything that didn't involve sobbing and eating Oreos in my bed. The Welcome Retreat: I met my best friend at the pre-retreat social, made friends to grab Center Court grub with, and learned about tons of the opportunities that UC had to offer. By the end of it, I was fired up and ready to start college. As a retreat leader the next year, I sought out to forge those same relationships and extend valuable resources to incoming students, and still stay in touch with participants that I met - I even live with one of my small group members now! As a Coordinator, I was excited to develop the framework in which we introduced participants to the Honors program and UC. The process was definitely a challenge: I was a year below the other coordinators, which impacted the number of my responsibilities and sometimes it felt like I wasn't as important or credible as the others. However, I had a lot of freedom when it came to my most important role, and I dove right into my breakout session, Community Engagement. This has always been my favorite thematic area because it's all about building relationships and trust to better the world around us. Community exists on so many levels and I was ready to explore those with participants. My activity was called French Fries, where teams each had a certain number of French Fries that they had to step on to cross the room. Each team received a number of fries and had either challenges or rewards along the way. Some teams had a ton of fries and rewards and had a really easy time crossing the room, while some had barely any fries and only challenges and took the longest to get across.
I was stoked to work with the other Coordinators, though I was always pretty conscience of being the younger one as our advisor would say I wouldn't have to do certain activities or be as invested since I wasn't graduating. It was honestly a bummer at first to hear that my investment and time didn't matter as much - I'm the type of person that needs a good cry or three before processing my emotions and standing up for myself, and I did just that. I took on more responsibility and tried my best to make the Retreat the best it could be.
The Retreat Leaders are also one of the best parts about the experience: we assembled a team whose individual personalities summed up to every adjective in the dictionary (except the nasty ones). My favorite part of the retreat was when we go to Camp Kern with the Leaders and we got to see them bond and get to know one another. It just makes the experience more meaningful for them to walk out with a bunch of new friends from all walks of campus life.
Though preparation took months, the actually Retreat breezed by. Each of my four sessions was a little different: the first was a bit disastrous, as they finish the activity really fast and we had to think of creative ways to get them moving. The second and third were better, and we had some wonderful conversations about privilege, community, and what it means to be in the Honors program. The final one was my favorite: the activity went smoothly and was followed by a wonderful, eye-opening conversation of students sharing their stories and how they felt about coming to UC. It was incredible to see the range of experiences in that room and to see participants so invested in learning from one another.
Though last year was a blast, I'm even more thrilled to be helping with the 2016 Retreat, where Community will be the central theme. I love connecting people and seeing friendships and creativity flourish, so I'm challenging myself to talk to even more participants this year and helping them meet people with interests that complement and contrast theirs and discovering opportunities to find their niche on campus. I have a feeling that the 2016 UHP Welcome Retreat will be the best one yet.
I was stoked to work with the other Coordinators, though I was always pretty conscience of being the younger one as our advisor would say I wouldn't have to do certain activities or be as invested since I wasn't graduating. It was honestly a bummer at first to hear that my investment and time didn't matter as much - I'm the type of person that needs a good cry or three before processing my emotions and standing up for myself, and I did just that. I took on more responsibility and tried my best to make the Retreat the best it could be.
The Retreat Leaders are also one of the best parts about the experience: we assembled a team whose individual personalities summed up to every adjective in the dictionary (except the nasty ones). My favorite part of the retreat was when we go to Camp Kern with the Leaders and we got to see them bond and get to know one another. It just makes the experience more meaningful for them to walk out with a bunch of new friends from all walks of campus life.
Though preparation took months, the actually Retreat breezed by. Each of my four sessions was a little different: the first was a bit disastrous, as they finish the activity really fast and we had to think of creative ways to get them moving. The second and third were better, and we had some wonderful conversations about privilege, community, and what it means to be in the Honors program. The final one was my favorite: the activity went smoothly and was followed by a wonderful, eye-opening conversation of students sharing their stories and how they felt about coming to UC. It was incredible to see the range of experiences in that room and to see participants so invested in learning from one another.
Though last year was a blast, I'm even more thrilled to be helping with the 2016 Retreat, where Community will be the central theme. I love connecting people and seeing friendships and creativity flourish, so I'm challenging myself to talk to even more participants this year and helping them meet people with interests that complement and contrast theirs and discovering opportunities to find their niche on campus. I have a feeling that the 2016 UHP Welcome Retreat will be the best one yet.