So, I can't fall asleep and I figured I might as well try and do something productive, so here I am blogging. I always think I'm going to have so much time to blog the next day, when in reality, it usually turns out to be just as busy as the day before. Therefore, it's probably good that I'm blogging tonight because I won't have any more time tomorrow. Wow, that was a lot of rambling for nothing. That should be a hint that I'm really tired and have a lot on my mind, resulting in a really weird rambling mood. Anyways, here's my recap.
The day started out with PT in the rain. I actually love PT. I think it's a great way to get our name out to the Boston community and it unites the whole corps (or all of NELA). Today was no exception. We did about a half an hour of PT in the rain with people stopping to watch and take pictures (sidenote- do you ever wonder how many pictures you are in that random people look at as they talk about their trip. i feel like i'm in the background of a lot of pictures as people are posing in Copley...awkward). It's been cool because we've learned new PT moves and put a spin on some other ones we already knew.
After PT, we went to workshops back at HQ. Sam and I signed up for a workshop on giving and receiving feedback. Being the passive, non confrontational people that we are, we knew this training was for us. When talking about giving feedback, we had to pick one of four animals that we identified with. For example, Sam and I were both rabbits because we avoid giving feedback because we don't like to be in that position. Other people were a lion because they just roar all the time and give feedback when they are feeling something. It was interesting to hear the positives and the negatives for each animal. We did the same with receiving feedback with different animals. I was a combination of the hedgehog (the one who just curls up in a ball when feedback is given) and a cat (takes feedback well from the right people, but will not be very receptive when coming from the wrong person...aka Danielle). Overall, we thought it was a really helpful training.
"Team time" followed this workshop. We shared a lot of best practices and heard about everyone's school. It's interesting because Isabel on my team is serving at the Burke High School in Boston and her stories are INSANE. Most of her girl students are pregnant or have been pregnant, she has broken up fights and her kids are actually dropping out of school. I can't imagine what that must feel like. I'm thankful I'm not there.
After team time was lunch and lunch was followed by IJ. We used my trigger statement, which is just like a problem or issue we are dealing with in our personal life or at City Year. So, for example, my trigger statement was "I feel like five of the people on my team are pulling the majority of the weight and the other five are doing just enough to get by without getting in trouble." Then, people go around asking questions to get more information and giving suggestions. It's really helpful sometimes, but at least for my situation, I think it's going to take people realizing it themselves to change. Oh well. It was comforting to know that people on other teams are going through the same thing.
Last was the closing ceremonies. We arrived at the Civic Forum to find all of the chairs in a huge circle. In the middle of the circle was a table with a basket full of rocks on the table. On the next table were blank rocks. Ravi started off by explaining that we would each take two rocks. On each rock, we would write something we learned at NELA. One rock would go back in the basket for everyone to see. The other rock we would hold on to as a reminder. We went around the circle and shared what we wrote on our rock for the basket. For my basket rock, I wrote "Never forget the human aspect of what you are doing. -PITW #50" because I think through all of the trainings, I realized the one thing that is important is that there is a human aspect of it all. You have to remember not everyone is the same and you must take into account the personal aspect of all of this. For the one I am holding on to, I put "This is hard. Be strong. -PITW #159" I saw how lots of good things come from doing things that are difficult and you just need to be strong and face your fears because good things will come out of difficult things.
I am so glad I got a chance to participate in NELA. It was an experience that taught me a lot about leadership and left me rejuvenated to go back to school tomorrow. I have a lot of new ideas that I am excited to bring back to my team and my school and hope that people learned something from my presence at NELA as well.
Off to bed. I think I'm finally getting to a point where I can fall asleep. Thanks for reading and remember.....
"Never forget the human aspect of what are you are doing" -PITW #50
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