Team Building in The Woods

Whew, yet another whirlwind set of days. Orientation was in full swing. Tuesday found us dissecting values, and then working on our first case to get into the Case Method groove, which will consitute about 30% of our classwork. It had been about 5 years since I had done any case-work, and I was admittedly, very rusty. It also felt bizarre being back in the "classroom".

The big highlight of the week though was our time out in the woods at the Warren Center, doing team mind puzzles, raft building, and a ropes course. It had been probably a decade, if not more since I had done something like this, and I think that I wasn't mature enough then to really grasp everything... but I felt like this day was invaluable... Sure enough, I felt that many of my personality traits were revealed, some bad, some good.

Experientially, I was put into a project management role during one of the activities, and felt in my comfort zone, like I was back in the middle of a hospital go-live from my Epic days - barking orders and directing multiple activities all at one. Then, there were others where I was like a fish out of water, like one challenger where I was blind-folded through the whole thing, and had to rely on my other teammates to direct me through the woods, and then go through what seemed like a very complex activity.

A big highlight for me also was making it to the top of the Giants Ladder. I felt like I could make it up a few rungs with no issue, but the top one had only 1 rope to grab on to for 4 people, and just seemed freaky. The three other people climbing and I bonded instantly on the ladder, and we all made it up with awesome teamwork. I hate to sound so hokey, but when you're hanging on some unstable logs 2 stories up, you really get to know people quick.

I thoroughly enjoyed the day, and was ready to do even more activities. I still made it out on Thursday night to the bars with tons of other classmates, but hit the wall and had to make a beeline out to crash for the night.