Lifetime Rec Week 5

This week was a very calm week for the Lifetime Recreation community. Students were focusing on getting things done so they would be able to spend time with their families over the weekend. As for myself, last week was a eye-opener. I started noticing things about myself and the residents in terms of how we were acting or behaving. For instance, I noticed that my residents were acting more rude to each other. I noticed a lot more eye rolls and glares from the residents more than the typical once in a while snarky comment. One of my residents stated something along the lines of " Man, you are so retarded" to another resident. Now for me that is a personal heart tug and my first reaction was to prance on him and tell him that word is something that personally offends me and other people. But instead I looked at him and asked him why did he say that? What does that word mean to you? The only response I got was "I don't know."  I hope that after I asked him why he stated those words and why was he directing them to another resident, he starts becoming more conscious of his wording.
I just feel that in this moment, a lot of the students are becoming really comfortable and they are saying whatever comes to mind. But then it could be that the residents are not fully aware of what they are saying to others.

On the other hand, it was great to meet the parents of some of the residents during a Sunday morning brunch! The parents truly enjoyed themselves as they learned more about the Living-Learning community and learning more about the students who were interacting with their students. It was also nice for me to interact with some of the parents so they could become more familiar with me and I could do the same with them. A lot of the residents told me afterwards that they appreciated the invite of the students and parents because it gives the parents relief in terms of their transition of having their student at college.

Maintaining Positive Energy - ERC Week 5

Its often times rare that I let my personal struggles produce an effect on my personality and mood. Lately I have been struggling more than usual in maintaining a heart at peace and keeping my zen. While I have started to feel myself making a few steps back from my path towards peace I feel that re-evaluating my situation will help me stay on track. With better homework habits, scheduling, and keeping sight on the big picture, I should be able to get out of my mental rut. All in all I feel that after I work this semester out, I will be better at handling stress, and staying on task, which I haven't struggled with up until this point.

Cultivating Love and Reinforcing Love: The Continuous LEAP

Over the last week I have realized that the model for taking the LEAP into a radical leadership style is an ongoing process that takes place on a slope rather than a cliff. It is misleading to imagine taking one big LEAP and either becoming or not becoming a radical leader. Instead it is a process that constantly needs revisiting to maintain and improve our unique leadership styles. Cultivating love is at the foundation of strong leadership and building community. After the incredible community bonding experience on our camping trip, I have been able to see my relationships with the students becoming even more meaningful. Sometimes there are those special moments that help reinvigorate that love and passion for why my job means so much to me. Reinforcing the love is an important part of the LEAP because it can generate a powerful boost of energy that can inspire more audacity and proof.

Peaceful Week 5

Throughout my entire week I wanted to focus on improving myself as a student and a leader alike. To do this I set my eyes on one target and had one goal to accomplish, to see people not as objects, but as people. At the beginning of the week I reread the applicable chapters of The Anatomy of Peace to bring all of the ideas I would need to the forefront of my mind. I pulled out one line specifically, “almost any behavior—even behavior as stark as war—can be done in two different ways” (30 Arbinger Institute). It really resonated with me, anything and everything I do is viewed by my peers. People whether good or bad, extrapolate judgments based on my day to day interactions. Giving me even more reasons to act justly and treat people with the respect they deserve.

            It had a rather profound effect, it allowed me to see clearly and steer clear of petty arguments. Where I would normally find myself struggling to hold things back, I found myself thinking positively. This effect didn't stop there however; it changed me and my outlook on my time here at Boise and adversely my entire week with my community. It seems crazy to look back and see how much of an effect my actions had this week but, what I’m most excited for is the upcoming week. It will be a full circle; I will have changed my actions and seen the results and now will be pushing them further. Not only will it make my week easier because people reciprocate the love I gifted them only a week ago but, it makes my week exciting. It just goes to show the world is what you make of it and I’m excited to have started the process of changing it for the better, one person at a time.

Struggle as a PA.

The weekdays are generally packed with classes, lab, homework, and many other activities. I am taking most of my time off from studying and any other activities during the weekend. Personally, I am struggling balancing my time. I am slacking to keep up with the deadlines. I know I have assignments due for my classes and things to do for the community. I plan on doing them ASAP but then I kind of forget and it slips through the cracks. I remember the first or second year of college, I wouldn't have been OK with myself if that was the case. What has changed for me? I am not sure. Well I a lot things have changed. I am not as anxious as I used to be for things to be done on time. I am trying to find what matters the most and work with that. I am taking a lot of time to find what really matters. The world (especially my world) has become a place where we do things without any critical thinking. I am as guilty as most other people. I am telling people not to conform and at the same time I am telling them to conform in the group, what a contradiction. I don't want to do that. I want everyone in the community to explore and find what they want and value, not what I think is better and how they should experience college. I don't want to be the controller. I can observe and question if someone is doing something that is discriminatory or that might marginalize some individual or individuals. And, I think I am struggling with making people do things as a community. How can I include people if they really don't want to do it. But, at the same time, I work really hard to find and inform about different events that people can participate both on-campus and off-campus. 

 I am observing a lot of things about my community and myself as well. I am learning how to observe and how to learn from that. I have few resident that I see them all the time and there are some that I barely meet. Some are really hard to approach. They are not here in the dorm most of the time, not even weekdays. I think this struggle is necessary for my personal growth as well as the growth of my community. I think, looking for perfection and stability is not the answer to my questions. Being unstable, vulnerable and unpredictable makes it more interesting and provides room to grow.  The quote from Jeff Brown facebook post pretty much sums it up. Should I worry about perfection? I don't think so. My life is messy, my community is messy, the world is messy, I am messy and that's OK. Don't get me wrong, this doesn't mean that I stop there and do nothing about the messiness. It is important to recognize that messiness and it's magnificence. I need to embrace it, work with it, learn and grow from this messiness. 

COE Week 5

What a week! I think that is how I start out most of my blogs each week, but the statement really does suit each week. Over here on the opposite side of campus the COE Community has a lot going on. Our community is running very smoothly with only a few bumps in the road. Everyone is getting along and we haven't had many storms get out of hand. The thing that does concern me though is that I feel our storms are close by. 

When I am doing my rounds I will come across residents who say things about how their room is doing that I can tell that they are getting frustrated with their roommates. I have also encountered people getting irritated with others in the community that are not just their roommates. I feel that my residents are still at the forgiving point but I don't know how much longer that will last. I have been thinking a lot about this time and am ready to take it head on!

I plan on starting my one-on-ones reflection talks this coming week. Hopefully those who have issues with other community members will be willing to let me in on the situation and be open to new ideas on what we can do about it. I want to start my one-on-ones with the residents who have expressed some kind of annoyance first and then the ones who might be causing the annoyance. By doing this I want to reveal the real issue and help prevent it before it starts.

I also included a few pictures of some residents preparing dishes for our family weekend brunch. Each suit was in charge of creating one dish to share with the community and their families. It was great food and lots of fun! We had a great parents weekend and a great week!
 




>Brittney<

Week 4: Reflection

I am engaged with what I am doing in the community. When I plan something, I have to really reflect on what are the impacts of my action or question. "Half the Speed" was such a fun activity. Most of the community really enjoyed doing that exercise. We had dinner together after the walk and I asked all the individuals present what they think of the activity. The responses were really amazing. I could see, few of the community member were not into it and they just did it for the sake of doing it. Whenever there an event, couple of people have other plans; some people work and not everyone is available over the weekend. This is their first semester and it is not a bad idea to go visit their family, siblings and other friends from high school. For our community, all the students have to attend at least 18 community activities. Most of the people already have complete 4 to 6 events in first three weeks and that is really awesome to see. At the same time, there are couple of people who are not taking the group activities very seriously. When I had one-on-one conversation, I remind them about the group activities and remind them how important it is for them to participate, get involved and learn from these events. Well, I can show and inform them what the possibilities are, I can suggest them what works for me and share that with them.

I am very impulsive at times; I feel like I have the impulse to change the world and sometime I forget that "It is everything that appears, as it appears" (Jeff Foster). I tend to forget, everything has it own place and at times I need to remind myself I can't judge a person based on one comment or an act. Like Jeff Foster states, "How could I reject a part of itself?". Just that sentence gives me chill. It makes me really wonder what I am doing. I am not only trying to build an environment where everyone in the community feels safe and comfortable with each other, I consider the space that everyone shares to be open and inviting.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYNlqNK1_sA
"The world is the perfect reflection of you" (Jeff Foster).And, I sometime see the doors of the common areas closed. That makes me question. Is that something that the student chose to do or am I failing to understand them. I like to think that I am open, inclusive and inviting but am I really doing that? Do I need to tell any of my students how to live their lives?

I couldn't resist myself and I need to share this (from Jeff Foster):
Out of primordial not-knowing, a cloudburst. Thought appears, and possession begins. Not-knowing turns to "I don't know" in a heartbeat, and now there is the illusion of a "person who doesn't know". 

Is that who you really are? A person who doesn't know? 

And here, in this misidentification, the search of a lifetime begins. The "one who doesn't know" seeks to become its own negation, the "one who knows", assuming that freedom lies in that direction.

"One day, I will know..."

But the liberation we seek was there from the very beginning, prior to the "I don't know", in the impersonal not-knowing, the profound mystery that gives rise to universes. Absolute peace.

All the knowledge in the world won't satisfy us. The weight of intellectual understanding even suffocates some. The books rot, the authority figures die, the clever words are forgotten, and we are brought to our knees in exhaustion, free-falling into the loving surrender of not knowing once again. It is as it was. Nothing except Here, Now, This. 

Total simplicity.

COBE RC Week 4

I had an amazing week. At the beginning I was starting to feel like somewhat of a 51% guy. Not necessarily commanding and instructing what to do but I had a huge lack of delegation. However, after meeting with Denise and the Aramark managers we selected some student managers for the two operations we are running. During the process, there was a common feeling throughout the room that some students were inadequate to step up to the plate and take a management position. One student in particular came up as on the fence for a position. Although it had been awhile, I had previously spoken to the student who had wanted the position. Recently however, it appeared that he has his interests in other things independent of the community. That being said, when the meeting was wrapping up I mentioned that the student would be a great fit and could put the effort in to make a positive impact. I defended my claim and we later spoke to the student and he wanted the job.

            Overall, I felt empowered to have helped a friend and community peer to find something that he enjoyed and in doing so pushing him closer to the “edge”. I couldn't be more excited to see where he takes the position and I think all in all it will better him as a student and round him out as a person.

            I had the usual storms but nothing extraordinary. I wanted to confront some activities that furthered the students from academic success. I find it difficult to confront because of its overall prevalence and it being such a personal discussion to have it makes it hard to find the time on such an individual basis.

            I have a simple yet effective way to ensure that I take every situation at face value and level headed. Before I bull rush into a situation which, granted, used to be my method of choice I stop, take a deep breath and count to 5. After my serene moment in chaos I am able to calmly approach any situation, no matter how hectic. It has yet to fail me and pushes me over the edge because on 5 there is no looking back, just calculated action.

Committing to the Community - ERC Week 4

How have you shown your commitment to the community?

Reflect on a “failure” and discuss the aspects that went right.  Then discuss anything you would change based on that experiences.  

I have personally shown commitment to the community through my constant need to keep things smooth. Whenever a person is struggling I see the need to address the issue directly and assist them in making their life more comfortable. From my past years experiences I know how difficult it can be to keep motivation to study for the general credits. With this experience I have assisted many of my residents in maintaining their motivation. This past week was the hardest week so far, mostly caused by myself. Knowing that I had multiple tests and lengthy assignments due throughout the week, I decided to use the weekend to relax rather than stay caught up on my homework. I was doing homework through the majority of each night, staying up till 6 am most days, sleeping only a few hours in order to remain prepared for my courses. I feel that even though I successfully stayed afloat within the week, I didn't get to interact with the community as much as I have in the weeks prior. This taught me a much needed lesson of avoiding procrastination, and also made my anti- procrastination statements feel more justified toward my residents.

COE Week 4

This week flew by fast! It seems now that we have gotten back into a normal school routine that time is easily taken. If I have failed at anything this week it is definitely my time. I have been too caught up in making sure that all the work gets done that I have forgotten the social aspect of my job.  I got everything done for my classes and finished all the “paperwork” for my job on time and well put together but I had a hard time feeling out my weekly reflection because I didn’t get a lot of time with every resident.

I have not failed my school work and I have not failed my job and that is something I take pride in and so should everyone else. There is nothing wrong with spending a little extra time on these things in my eyes because it all has to get done. I may have failed the members of my community this week by not spending more time with them but I also think there is more to consider then just what I am able to write on my weekly reflection.

When I stop and think about all the school work I have to do and how much time it is taking from me I also think about my residents. They are also spending a lot of their time on homework. I have been turned away many times by students who were too busy to talk. So just because I can’t get time with everyone every week doesn’t mean I have forgotten them.

Something that I would like to try next week to insure I get time with my residents is taking my books to the common area to study. This way I can see them all as they are coming and going and be able to at least get in some small talk. I am also trying to set a community challenge that we can get people out to participate in. I also am going to start doing my personal interviews with each member because I would like to get more answers as to why some of them are less present then others. These are all things that I am going to do to outreach more in the community.

There are some things that I have been doing to make sure that every member is connected and still on track. I make rounds at least three times a day just to check on who is home and how their day has been going. I also leave both my suite door and bedroom doors open when I am at home doing school work or just hanging out so anyone can come see me.  I make sure to post on Facebook every time that I am going to eat so members can join and also do rounds before I leave to eat. I feel that I have been doing a lot to show my residents that I am committed to this community and to helping them.

I believe that at this point most of my community is doing very well. I am happy with the progress we have all made as a community. I attached a picture from our movie night we had Friday night in my room. I brought a projector and shot it up on wall and also burnt the popcorn. We had a great time though!

Lifetime Rec Journey Week 4

This week was hard for especially when I got sick towards the end of the week. I had lock myself in my room to rest and recuperate for two days. I came out after I started feeling better and checked in on all my residents and then invited all of them to go to the girl's volleyball game later that evening. Fifteen of them came along to support and we all ended up having a movie night afterwards. I just feel that during that two day period I had to take myself out of the daily on goings to get better and I knew that if I got together with my residents once I was feeling better that would show them that I would be there for them but they need to understand that I needed to take care of myself. 

One of the failures that I had experienced earlier in the week was a similar issue that Prasana had last week. In the eight man suite, there is a poster of Megan Fox in a lack of attire. During one of our floor meetings with the RA, I had asked the residents how they felt about the poster and how they would think other people would feel about the poster if they came into the room.  Since that is the largest room on our floor, our community is in there a lot so I was just curious to see what their thought processes were about the poster. Majority of them said that it was fine because they were "guys" and no one would see offensiveness with that poster. The rest did not comment on the poster and I did not want to drag them into an uncomfortable position of support or not supporting the poster. I felt that at the end of that floor meeting, they all reassured themselves that it was okay for them to have the poster up. The next day when I went into the room, the poster was taken down from the one wall but then placed in a different position where it was easier to see the poster. I don't think that I necessarily failed in terms of getting the poster down but more in terms of having my residents truly think of the meaning of the poster. I am planning on bringing it up again later in the month to see what their thoughts are now about the poster. This experience even sparked an idea for a Table Talk Wednesday..

COE Camping Trip!

This last weekend the College of Education LLC went out into the wilderness for some extraordinary bonding time. It was a little unorganized at the beginning but we got it all figured out along the way and still had a great time. The Outdoor Program designed our trip special just for our community. We put in the request for canoes and BIG trees which lead us to the Ponderosa State Park in Mcall Idaho.

To get there we loaded up into two vans with not a seat open and headed off on our three hour car ride. We all had to meet in the lobby at 7:30am on Saturday morning so we had a tired crew.

Once we arrived we ate lunch prepared by the OP. It was one of many delicious meals that they prepared for us through out our trip. After lunch we did a icebreaker to get to know our trip leaders and to let them get to know us. We all stood in a circle holding hands while passing around a rope tied at both ends. You had to talk about yourself the whole time the rope was around your body. I wish we could have gotten a picture of this because it brought some great laughs!

Next we head to the lake to paddle around in the canoes and a kayak that Stan brought along. It was a first for many of us. One group even got stuck in the middle of the lake because the were having trouble navigating their canoe. The OP team had to help them return back to shore. It was a chilly day for some people so only a few ended up swimming. We spent most of the afternoon in the water.

Afterwards we split the group up and half went on a nature hike while the other half went back to camp to just relax. The group at camp enjoyed some hacky sack and Frisbee. We finished off the night with another wonderful meal by OP and s'mores by the camp fire.
 
 We sang songs and stories as we enjoyed the s'mores. It was a first for a lot of members in our community and we loved sharing the experience. Different members were teaching the fellow members the secretes to the best s'more! I personally don't need the secrete. Just melt a marshmallow and give me some graham cracker and chocolate and I am good to go!

The next morning we filled up on breakfast and packed up camp before heading towards home, but that was not all we had in store for this trip! We stopped at the Gultch Fork Hot Springs where we all enjoyed a nice refreshing plunge in the water. Some wonderful community conversations were shared in the hot springs talking about different cultures and such. The conversations were so good that one resident even posted a video on our Facebook page right when we got back to explain some things he was talking about.

The trip was a success! Everyone enjoyed their time and was able to expand the small groups we had already formed into a larger group where everyone was able to learn new things about each other. I am so happy that we were able to get almost everyone out there and excited about just being together. We missed the few members that were not able to attend and hope that we can do another activity that is just as fun and can have them along in the future.

Audacity: The Inspiration of New Ideas

The only way in which I may have changed the world in some way this week has to do with big ideas. This week I had the opportunity to have conversations with people in many different arenas about big ideas about the world of identity, culture, and what makes things meaningful. These kind of big ideas and concepts never can be fully explainable. Most often these discussions raise more questions and problems, instead of coming to any real conclusion or solution that is easily understood. I have realized more and more in these powerful conversations this week, that sometimes changing the world doesn't require taking action or having answers. We can change the world through communicating about the big messy problems and complex questions that surround us in the world. Changing the world requires us to have doubts, ask questions, and seek understanding about what confronts us all. Sometimes just observing, pondering, and communicating can be a very important way to change the world.

I don't know that I have had any particular OSM! this week. I am not sure why that is, but it is probably because I am not looking closely enough to find those situations that need confrontation all the time. Maybe I need to be more aware with my observations and interactions with my community in order to recognize an OSM! that needs my attention.

Changing the world?

This week has given me so many opportunities to look at myself in different ways. Just when I thought I understood the message life was trying to give me it turns around and gives me more to think about. I have been struggling this week at working with people who are different from me. In my position as a PA I am required to work with a lot of people; I must work with the director of the program, my faculty in residence, my fellow PAs, the residence assistant on my floor, the resident director of my building and all the residents in my community.  With a wide range of people to work with I am destine to run into a style that is much different than my own, and I have.

Throughout the week I was struggling with some work that I had to get done, and at first I couldn’t pin point what was getting me so frustrated and all worked up. This is when I decided to confront my feelings of confusion and frustration and take it to someone I could look up to and who understood where I might be coming from. We will call them Tiffany. Tiffany was life’s first attempted to give me answers to my confusion. Tiffany explained to me how the person I was struggling to work with might see things differently. I gave her examples of things they did that were bothering me and she was able to point those things directly to how this person was most likely thinking. I took this information with me and thought about it a lot. I thought I had it all figured out and would be able to be more understanding and work through the differences in our working styles.

Then over our community camping trip the Outdoor Program leaders set up an activity for us all to participate in. First we had to take a personality type test, where we answered question about how we work with others and communicate. In the end you would fall into one if four categories; People, Ideas, Processes, or Product. We then grouped up with the people that fell into the same category as us. We talked about how we like to work and what others could do for us so we can work better together. Then we made a poster and a presentation to give back to the group. This was a very interesting activity that set deep with me. Once I was able to see how other people work similar and different from me my eyes were opened. Life had brought an activity meant for my community but struck me. This was a reassurance to what Tiffany and I had come up with as a possible reason for my struggles. Here I was just given a better understanding of my struggles with more facts to back up my beliefs. Now I understood their styles but the next step was figuring out how I could work with that.

 When I attended class this afternoon life stopped by to say that I wasn’t finished learning what I needed to know just yet. The teacher put up four different animal types around the room with certain characteristics attached to each and asked us to each stand by the one that we thought was more like us. This kind of activity had us looking at us personally, and sure enough I grouped myself with the animals that had the same characteristics that I had found in my group at camp. Once I began talking to my group I was able to see my working style again though this time there was different things involved then just how we communicate. Each group was given a chance to present their information to the other groups. This allowed me to see similar groups to those at camp but explained by a different group of people.

As I sat there in class listening to everyone compare I thought about how many times this issue was brought up throughout my week. Every time I thought I got it figured out life jumped in and said “No, here’s some more to think about.” I will now be keeping my eyes and ears open and alert to what else life thinks I need to know. Even though I am struggling today and all I want is the answer I am willing to be patient and let life give me the lessons I need when it thinks I need it the most. Before I can change the world I will wait patiently for life to change me.

 

>Brittney<

As I am trying to build a community, I feel like, that are few people that I don't see very often. Either they are not in the common area or they don't participate in group activities. So, I am going to change that about myself and have one-to-one conversation this week and next week with all of them. Thank you Ethan for sharing your experience when you did that. I am more encouraged to do that. I am still debating to have a conversation with the person who hung the poster last week on the wall. At least, I will talk about that when I have one-to-one conversation with my resident. I am not sure if the world need to change or not. But, I definitely need to change. There is a lot of things that I am personally struggling with. The struggle in itself is not very easy and comfortable; but, at the same time it is necessary for my own personal growth and exploration of self identity.

I had a personal OS!M last weekend. I don't want to go into details. I am still trying to process what happened and how that impacted the relationship with people around me. I was confronted by one of the amazing friend I have in Boise. I was in tears when I realized how my choices impacted the people around me. What I learned from that experience: as an individual I do certain things, I choose certain words when I speak and generally I am very careful about that. Knowingly or unknowingly sometime, I regret the choice of words that I made. I regret my poor judgement of the situation and do stupid things. I regret what I did. I think it was one of those moments which I really hate at the time when it's happening because it's not easy to be who I was at that time. When I reflect back, it is more than a perfect moment where I get to learn and teach myself. I generally hate generalization, but I am going to make a generalization here. I think we learn more when we are vulnerable, where there is no end to the issue or when I am on the dark side of the moon. Or, at least that's what I tell myself.

This week, I discovered a lot about my resident's personalities, how they behave with their friends and how they behave in recreational activities. It all began on Monday when an OS!M occurred. A few of my residents were trying to push another resident out of their room suite. It was all because they didn't agree on one thing, having guys in the dorm.  The girls were convinced that if they kept asking the RA or me about having her move out that eventually they would have their way. Through individual and group talks with the four girls, we discussed that it was not about having guys in the dorm but really how everyone felt with each other. After we had discussed it, all four of them agreed listen and respect each other. I think that they realized that it is a year long quest not just a month or semester. 

There was also a situation that arose where two students were mocking another floor RA. This was during a roommate contract meeting when they started busting out laughing about the RA that just walked by. I stopped them and asked "Whoa, what just happened there?" I explained to them that I was caught off guard and wanted them to share with me why they just laughed at her. One of the girls simply said, "She patronized me so I just hate her." I asked if they knew that she was an RA and they said yes. It hit me that we were talking about respectfulness during the roommate contract meeting and after they agreed to treat each other with respect,they just disrespected an RA, let alone someone who is a person just like them. 

At the end of the week, some of the residents and I went on a white water rafting trip with Chris and the outdoor program. It was awesome to see the students go do something adventurous and enjoy something that they don't often get to enjoy. One of my residents actually started crying on the way up to the Main Payette because she has never seen that part of the world. She is originally from Houston, Texas and to see something that she wouldn't ordinarily see was an incredible shock to her. That is how I am changing the world. Along with Chris, we are showing people new things that they can try and hopefully create some passion and hobbies as they are growing as individuals.
 

Changing the World - ERC Week 3

- How did you change the world this week?

While I admire the concept of the different "worlds" that we live in, such as our community world, our national world, and our world on the grand scale, I don't believe that I change the world. When I look back on the events and occasions of the past week I do feel like I have changed several peoples look on the world. Within the past week I took it on myself to have a conversation with every single resident, with only a few questions on my mind. I felt that this was necessary due to the feeling that I lacked solid interactions with many of my residents. With the environment of myself being a mentor and leader, I feel that my questions resonated deeply with many of the residents. In specific there were a few residents who I felt were being "bullies"(in the non-physical sense). When I confronted one of them during our conversation he said that he "sees people as objects because it makes it easier to deal with problems". I found this to be terribly insensitive, and I challenged him to see others emotions and reactions. He then said that "if anyone ever found me to be a bully I would want them to tell me", to which I responded "consider this that conversation". Ever since that conversation I have noticed a change in his communication with others. He seems to have genuinely taken my words seriously. I had conversations with two others of a similar nature, which have both ended positively. It wasn't easy for me to have these conversations, but i feel that they will greatly improve my residents current lives, and even possibly their future.

Cultivating Love

The past couple of days had been really crazy. Busy with school work and a lot of other things. There were tons of moments that I cherished in my community. A lot of students took initiative to work together for couple of different activities (gymnastics, soccer, movie night and more). 

I had a really good conversation with one of the student in my community. We went for a walk and talk about my life, his life and our community as well. One of the thing that he mentioned was how challenging it is to avoid conformity. In a group, a lot of things that is done is done just to be "cool" or "stand out". I am at a position where I am not even sure what my true identity is. I am exploring myself. Sometime, I am not OK with myself. I see a difference in what I would like to achieve or perceive and what I am actually participate in. But, still there are certain things that I don't participate in. The poster that was up in my suite was objectifying women. I was not OK with that. In fact, I am not OK with objectifying any culture, race, heritage or any group of people who are marginalized. We specifically, discussed about the poster in our community class. It was very different experience than what I expected. The girls in my community were OK with having that poster on the wall. I was completely surprised to hear that. And, then I thought, maybe we all as a community need to work on our gender biases, culture biases, race biases or any other form of biases that we have. I am not exactly sure, if I was cultivating love by having that conversation in group but I am pretty sure I was challenging what they had learned before and was acceptable to them. I am trying to invite them to re-learn/un-learn some of the stereotype that they have as a young individual. I hope to cultivate the love for self-exploration and world-exploration in coming days, weeks, months, years and may be their life time. At the least, I can invite them to take part in and ask question to themselves.

Generating Energy - ERC Week 2

How did you generate energy in others in the community this week?

With our camping trip being this weekend I had the responsibility of setting the tone of the trip. With my positive energetic attitude I managed to get everyone excited about camping. Multiple people came to me with issues regarding homework and stress, to which I consistently responded saying that the trip will be relaxing and fun. Providing a good break from the daily grind of coursework, and that they can plan around the trip in order to stay on task.
In order to maintain this energy I have started better preparing for courses by doing homework ahead of time to keep stress away. I also have started making to-do lists in order to more effectively manage my time. I feel that managing my time better is not only making my life less stressful, it is also setting a good example for my residents showing them the benefits of time management.

Assessing My Energy: Need More Consistency

Positive Energy:
I have been able to generate positive energy around academics for my community through demonstrating my dedication to regular, daily study time. I think that this is important to show students who are coming into college how important it is to get a strong start in all of their classes from the very beginning. Also I think it is important to show that study habits should be... "habitual" and part of a routine like a job. I have also been able to integrate this into conversation about finding the right time and environment for serious homework sessions. I am hoping that this can create an academic-focused energy in our community in addition to our supportive, community-focused energy.

Neutral Energy:
Unfortunately, I did have a busier week than usual which left me with less time to keep my attention on building more community-focused energy. I tried to stay in the loop and be present as much as possible, but I am not sure if I did it enough. I plan to really make sure that I can spend more time in the evenings this week making rounds to the suites and increasing my personal interactions with everyone in the community. I call this energy neutral because it is not exactly negative, but it definitely isn't a source of positive energy either. I need to generate more positive community-focused energy this week because the energy that is conveyed during the forming of a community is essential to how it develops.

Negative Energy:
Even more unfortunate is the negative sources of energy that I feel like I generated in the past week. I slipped up on several responsibilities that I had for my Program Assistant team which reflects negatively on my energy as a co-worker. As a leader, I am constantly in the fishbowl which I have decided is really more like an aquarium once you are the experienced veteran. It is critical to demonstrate responsible leadership when you are also working with other leaders, and last week I performed poorly in that area especially. A big goal of mine is to generate more positive energy for my team and provide proof for the love that I have cultivated for our successes and development. So to start generating this positive energy as the member of a team and a mentor to fellow leaders, I feel the need to be accountable for any negative energy that I may have generated first.

COE Week 3 Enery Flow

COE!!!

This week has flown by fast! It was Thursday evening when it finally hit me that this week was coming to an end and blogs and reflections were coming up. Being week two I have noticed a few things about different residents in my community. There are a few residents who can come to me with their questions and trust in me for answer. There are others who also trust in me for more personal questions and have asked for my advice. I love to be able to share my thoughts with them and know that what I say really is making a difference and affecting their next action. 

Energy in the community has been working its way around. I have encouraged students to participate in many group activities and join in on clubs. I have two residents running for Hall Council and I have encouraged our floor to go and vote. We have a group of students teaching another student how to swim and also another being taught how to rollerblade. The energy that is being thrown around our community is not only coming from me but also my residents themselves. The energy over here at Clearwater is amazing! We are learning new things every day!

 Which brings me to the Love of Learning; I was able to round up two residents for Table Topics. Two is not that many but it’s a start and I hope to increase my community’s’ attendance in the next week. Having just two members go to table topics was a wonderful thing to me as my community last year was never present. I have confidence in my community this year that with just two members attending we will be able to spark some more energy and continue to gain Love of Learning.

Honestly speaking I feel that my attitude toward the community this week didn't fail but my actions may have been a little out of place. The week went by so fast that  I didn't even realize how many members that I failed to spend more then a "hey how's it going?" moment each day with. I was still pumped and excited about getting our community together but failed to be as present as I should have been. I guess now that I have seen what a normal school week would look like I will be better prepared to insure I find time with every resident.

To conclude my community is getting pumped and ready to go off and Camp this weekend! I as well as many members am looking forward to some intense bonding time and some interaction outside our four walls we currently call home. Let’s get our camp on!!

 

>Brittney<

 

 

 

 

Lifetime Rec Week 2

Being the second week in the semester, I started noticing a tendency, a lot of the residents were feeling more comfortable in their "new" lives. I knew that I needed to give them space this week for their own personal growth but still touched base with them when I saw them. When I did see them, I asked them questions about them joining clubs, service projects, Intramural sports, etc. I knew that if I could suggest some things that I saw that interest them, they could be more involved in something that they are passionate about. For example, one of my residents is a HUGE Harry Potter fan and the first thing that popped in my mind was the Quidditch club .She joined and begins her first game soon! As I worked more one-on-one with my residents and observed what they were saying, I have a better idea to what each individual loves, dislikes, and how I can adapt to help meet their needs.

 I will be honest, this week has been a little stressful. Being the second week and balancing classes, I knew that I needed to take sometime to reorganize my priorities so I could help my residents better. I definitely learned that I need some "Stormi" time even if some fun thing is happening outside my window. It hit me that I don't have to do every little thing with my residents. I can continue to balance my life and help the residents by doing the things that I love and that they love. When I am stressed, I tend to rock climb or go on a bike ride. Now I still can do these activities by myself but it is nice to have people join me even if no words are shared. I guess that is why I love this community so much. We all have so much in common in terms of being active that it is nice to know that within our community there is always one person(or multiple) who will be willing to join.

Cultivating a Community - ERC Week 1

This first week was better than I could have ever expected it to be. Meeting new people always gives me an immense energy boost and this first week has been no exception. not a single minute of move-in weekend was I not with at least one of my residents. Non-stop talking, creating connections between residents, and developing my community. I even lost my voice on that sunday night. I have loved every minute of this week.

"Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life." - Confucius

What do you love about your job? Connect to your passion.
The reason I love my job, is because it doesn't feel like a job. The work that I do stems from my passion for people and engineering. Within the first week I have had a wonderfully stressful time. When I was in the ERC last year I felt a common factor between myself and every other resident. The factor that I felt most prominently was love of learning. Whether or not anyone admitted to it other than me is a different story. Last year I felt this love, but could only engage from the perspective of a fellow resident. Showing others electronic creations that I had made, or four page math problems that took me two hours to solve. Everyone thought it was great, but was not personally motivated by my word. Now that I have the role of a student leader, I feel as if my power to motivate others has skyrocketed. Now five residents a night knock on my door asking for math help, or help on their current project. 
In one instance a resident said "I actually enjoy calculus." which caused the standard response from several residents, but when I stated " I also find it to be fun." they all quieted down and seemed to realize that the environment they were in encouraged this love. I feel that this community I have helped to develop no longer has its passions silenced as they were last year. Students have been doing assignments weeks ahead of their deadlines, asking other residents and myself for help whenever they are confused. It feels terrific to be a part of such a studious and inclusive community, I can only hope that I am able to continue to instill my passion into others.

Loving My Role in the ASRC: Week One

What I love most about my job as a Program Assistant is the responsibility of being a role model on an every-day basis. At times it can be stressful or scary, but being a positive role model has held me to higher standards that help keep me accountable to myself, my peers, and my community of first-year students. I am so fortunate to have such an incredible college experience that has challenged me to live, learn, and lead. Being an extreme leader means that you are a role model 24/7 because you have to lead by example.

I had a new resident moving in this Labor Day weekend and I am so grateful to all of the people who were willing to help out! There were people from my community and also a group of five people living in temporary housing that were eager to help. The trip went by so much faster because everyone teamed together and I thanked everyone so many times because it really meant a lot to me and my new roommate.

Lifetime Recreation Week 1

During the last week, it has been an incredible journey having new students coming in and hearing their stories. The students within the Lifetime Recreation community entered this year with passion to continue their love for recreation in college.Even though that they all have different majors and backgrounds, they all have some type of recreation in common.  I knew that the community was an active bunch when they brought footballs, snowboards, golf clubs, soccer balls, rafting tubes, slack lines, and more, as they were moving into their dorms.  The second day that they were here, we went on a bike ride through town and tubed down the river. Just to see the passion in their eyes to enjoy what Boise has to offer was something that made me extremely excited for.

It has been a great week so far and I cannot wait to see where the students will go in the rest of the semester. A lot of them are already signed up to be involved in the Outdoor Recreation program, the wake boarding club, soccer clubs, etc. We even created a 17 person softball team for the intramural tournament! It has been wonderful to see that each person found what they love at Boise State and aren’t afraid of new experiences. So here’s to the fun we will have the rest of the year!