First Summit Class

The first Summit class of the semester got things started quite well.  I'm sure we all left the class with new insight on both how we treat others as well as how we've been treated throughout life ourselves.  The speaker did a wonderful job of making us feel comfortable and open with each other before lining us up for an activity called "Cross the Line."  This activity was not nearly as light-hearted as I was expecting going into it.  Things got very personal very quickly, and sometimes forced people to step out of their comfort zone when it came to matters very close to their heart.  Although it was not necessarily a pleasant experience, the point of the activity came across quite clearly.  We are all much more similar than may be obvious in day-to-day life.  Every one of us has felt pain, just as every one of us has felt triumph.  Walking away from the presentation, I feel as though it is much easier for me to understand that people's actions are based on too many internal factors for one to judge outright.  We are all human.  We all make mistakes, we all feel pain, and we all have brought someone down when we could have lifted them up.  It's about time we start rethinking how we look at ourselves and others.

Ryan Coleman

 

Here is a picture of the center of their campus. The building on the left is Jones Cottage where we worked. For legal reasons we can't show pictures of the inside with the kids or any other pictures of the kids we worked with to respect their privacy.

Here is a picture of their gym that they have on campus. We spent a lot of time here because if there's one thing that young teenage boys like it's SPORTS!!

Pedro's SMART Goal

My SMART goal is to "develop a more personal relationship with John Doe by going to Boys and Girls Town once every weekend until the end of the semester and use the established relationship through interactive actitvities to bring them to Drury for a basketball game and a quick tour of the campus." My goal is to make a difference in these children's lives, which unfortunately has been marked by tragedy in the early stages of their lives. The children's hopes and notions for their future might be bleak. I want to attempt to change this by having them come to Drury's campus and maybe be insipired by the big, impressive academic buildings and the fun environment of the basketball game.

Pedro

My SMART GOAL

My SMART goal for our Boys and Girls Town Project is to have all of the boys from Jones Cottage to come to Drury University to see a Men's Basketball game on December 1, 2011. I think this will be a great opportunity for the guy's to get away for awhile and for us to spend some time with them while enjoying the game. I hope that it will be a great afternoon for everybody and that the guy's will really enjoy it. As for accomplishing it, one of the members of our group works at the O'Reilly Family Event Center so he is working on getting us some discounted tickets for the game and we are working with our community contact, Judy Stainback, to arrange transportation for them. I think it will be a great experience for everyone and am excited for it to take place.


Jordan Mason

SMART Goal

This week we were each set the task of coming up with a SMART goal that we wish to achieve in our project for Summit.  My goal is as follows: "I am going to develop a personal relationship with John by the end of the semester by spending at least 30 minutes with him each time we visit Boys and Girls Town."  It was difficult for each member of our group to come up with unique goals considering that our primary means of helping this organization is through simply spending time with the children.  We agreed, however, that this is a legitimate goal due to the fact that these children are lacking in the department of close personal relationships.  Our group is currently planning to visit Boys and Girls Town at least once more before Thanksgiving break, as well as invite them over to Drury to enjoy a basketball game some time after the break in order to achieve the goals that we have set for ourselves.

Ryan Coleman