What I've Learned

After spending the time with boys from Boys and Girls Town, I have really started to come to grips with what life is like for these young individuals.  They aren't all parent-less, unloved, troubled children that can't handle themselves in public like some people may jump to believe.  In fact, nearly all of them are quite "normal."  That is not to say that they don't have some problems that most of us are fortunate enough to avoid throughout our lives, but that is what Boys and Girls Town is for.  The people there help these underprivileged children through their more fragile years into a time in which they can begin to live independently.  Without places like Boys and Girls Town, these young men could be falling into a less honest means of making their living and developing habits from a young age that could quite literally rob the community of its economic and cultural potential, both directly and indirectly.

Ryan Coleman

Learning to Effectively Communicate

I learned that many factors go in to good communication between groups members.  Everyone must play their fair share in communicating so that we all can understand what is going on. I feel that strong communication skills are a necessity for our group to work well together, and to work well with others.  As long as we are open about our feelings and open to understanding others, we should have few problems within our group. I feel that I am good at listening to others and taking there opinions into consideration.  My greatest weakness is that I do not always confront people about situations that I am uncomfortable with.  Throughout the year our summit group has hardly had any issues, but one thing that we could improve is how we coordinate with each other regarding our duties for our project.  Sometimes we don't all know the plan regarding what we are doing with the kids until a night or two before we go.  Perhaps if we communicated better beforehand, we would all be up to speed and ready to go. 


Will Stone

Learning to Communicate

In our Summit class in February we learned about communicating with others and how to effectively address issues that we might face while working together as a group. I thought it was very interesting to learn and see how other people approached conflict and dealt with problems. After taking a survey I found that I was in the "Turtle" group which was the type of person that tends to internalize their conflicts with others rather than talk about them. I felt that this really described me and the discussion we had helped me realize that this is an important part of my personality that could use a little work/development. Fortunately, our Summit group tends to get along really well so we haven't had to really deal with any significant conflicts. Still, I know that it is important that I continue to learn how to convey my opinions and disagreements with others so that we can all achieve our common goal in the best way possible.

Jordan Mason

February 17th Class on Communication

Our Summit meeting on February 17 largely discussed communication and conflict resolution.  After taking a few diagnostic surveys, I came to discover that I fell into the turtle category.  Turtles are avoiders of conflict, which is very accurate to the way I handle conflicts that I find myself a part of.  I tend to duck into my shell and wait for the worst of it to blow over, hoping that I won't have to deal with it if I don't have to.  It is not exactly the most effective means of facing conflict, and I must admit that I do find myself avoiding situations that I may know to be important to face.  There have not been many times that this has happened in our Summit group, as we get along pretty well.  If I hope to improve myself as both a leader and a member of a team, however, I know that I must make an effort to express myself in a situations even if it may make me a bit uncomfortable.  A mere lack of conflict is not always the best option, for conflict is a great catalyst for growth.

Ryan Coleman

Conflict Resolution Reflection

My greatest communication strength is that I do not shy away from conflict, so I always try to speak my mind in the best manner possible. I consider this my greatest strength because even though there are times where I have good intentions but am not able to communicate the message I wish to transmit, I always try as opposed to letting things pass. By shying away from conflict, you are giving up on potential solutions by succumbing to someone else's ideas when you might have something to bring to the table that might yield a better solution or perhaps a compromise. By not shying away from conflict, though there are times where I do not have the best disposition and have to work on that, I allow for the opportunity of a multifaceted solution. My greatest weakness is that I tend to think that I am right unless proven otherwise and this attitude borders on arrogance (and sometimes it crosses the line) and I will not listen to my teammates or do so in a non-receptive manner. I do not always give people the benefit of the doubt and listen to their ideas or suggestions in a rather defensive manner, which hinders the resolution process. I have worked with teams my whole life and have had bad experiences with teammates that do not pull their own weight, but it is unfair for me to judge my present and future teammates with grievances not committed by them. What I can do better to communicate with my Summit team is be willing to hear all of their ideas and be in a much more receptive manner. In the next conflict that arises within our group I will try to voice my opinion clearly and simply, and be completely open for any criticism or reform that I may encounter it. I will seek the opinions of my teammates to improve or substitute my ideas, rather than seeking mainly their approval of mine. A good leader knows when and how to listen, and I have been lacking in both.

Pedro

Last Summit Class

The last Summit class focussed on diversity.  The guest speaker had an interesting style of showing us how diverse we are as people; we played a game where the speaker read aloud certain situations or facts and if they pertained to you, you were to walk across the room to the other side.  Some of the information became pretty personal, but people were still willing to let the others know these things about their lives.  It is important to feel comfortable about these things that set you apart from others because it is what makes you unique as an individual.  I feel like I can use this information that I learned from this exercise to help me to relate to the children at the Boy's and Girl's Town by understanding our differences and learning to accept them as a positive influence on our lives.

Here is a link to their site: www.bgtm.org/

Reflecting

What I enjoyed most of from our last Summit class was the "Cross the line" activity and the one-on-one conversations we had with a member of our own group, and with a member of another group. The interactive activity helped me remember that we are presently a product of our past. Losing a parent, coming from certain socioeconomic class, being raised in Republican/Democrat household...these socializing agents shape the framework with which you and your mind confront challenges and obstacles that will arise. In an increasingly "fast" and "digitalized" world, we like to have sound bytes and short term solutions for a problem that merits more time. If anyone is having a problem on a given day, we quickly search for a reason or distraction to entertain them with, rather than hear them out and try to be there, completely, for them. I think this reminder of the importance of having real, genuine conversations will help me in our community service project with some of the kids at Jones Cottage, because I suspect many of them have never truly been heard by someone, and they deserve to. After the activity, it was refreshing to get a conversation going with one of the members of my own group, with whom a genuine friendship has flourished, where we could talk about what we had just witnessed. 

Pedro