Hey EveryoneWelcome once again after our 3 week christmas/new years/ winter break depending on what you celebrate. I survived finals week and I lived to tell the tale. Spring semester is bringing MCATS (medical school entrance exams) three higher level science courses and my last German course for my minor (a lovely german film class with one of my favorite professors, Prof. Tobin) For the winter break I went off to Namibia and saw all my family and friends. I also started planning a project with my friends at Clark. For the summer we are planning a community service project called H.E.Y to Youth ( which stands for Health education Youth to Youth) where we plan to go into rural communities in Namibia to teach secondary school students First Aid, Alcohol education and about infectious diseases. More details on the plan later but for now we are trying to find funding for the program from Clark and outside sources.Today was the start of the intercultural retreat two day program. The retreat is for intercultural student organizations at Clark, leadership groups as well as student in leadership roles at Clark such as Residential advisors. The conference began with a greeting game to meet and greet the members of different organizations and introduce yourself and your organization to the group. I was representing the International Students Association, as always, but also wanted to learn important lessons on how to be an effective leader and network with other members of the clark community. Afterwards we had a keynote speaker talk to us about how the things we do effect people in ways that we may never get to know. Also how we should incorporate the Clark signatures in planning our events. In case you didn’t know what they are:
- Experiencing diversity
- Learning through inquiry
- Making a difference
After brainstorming on how we can make a simple event such as a snakes and ladders game night (he was trying to pick a mundane event that typical college students would not necessarily do on a friday night) and make it into a successful event that incorporates both the ideals of Clark and the mission of the Student Group, we realized how easy it was to make an event like this plausible with the right kind of goals and direction in place. After the Keynote speaker, we had presentation by Mike Mckenna, Director of Student leadership and Programming, about how to be an effective leader and managing your peers. He stressed how communication, delegation and motivation played key roles in making a great leader. Stressing the fact that even though problems may occur within a group, it is important as a leader to be able to address them and find solutions for them in a respectable and effective way. We were given some time at dinner to ‘network’ and I personally met members of the Newman Christian community of Clark, as well as the Clark Choir group. I spoke to them about Collaborating with I.S.A for the International Gala (which is our biggest Event held in April more details soon) asking if they would be interested in performing and volunteering during the Gala. The Gala is such a huge event at Clark and we need all the help we can get, from as many different organizations as possible.The final items on the agenda for sunday night was a presentation on how to make great events and the steps to planning a great event at Clark. We also had a difficult dialogues session on challenges we face as an organisation and fundamentals changes we can make to address those specific challenges, from small to big scale changes in the entire Clark community as a whole.Tomorrow is the 2nd day of the conference and there is more to learn. This is only part one of the conference and will be sure to post a 2nd half so stayed tuned. As for now, I encourage you to take a look on the clark website at the different Student organizations at Clark and what they are up to. I realized today what a huge part student clubs play on campus and your personally life. They are important and when emphasis is put on the importance of student organizations, they validate the time and energy you put into them, and gives you a personally perspective on what your community is. watch this space…… see you soon�
posts by Tuku
- So long, Farewell, Aufwiedersehen, Adieu - April 26th, 2009
- Open House, Carmen Sandiego, Soul Food and Vesak - April 20th, 2009
- Spree Day, Asian Glow Party and Easter Sunday - April 12th, 2009
- If All you want is everything, All you need is Gala! - April 6th, 2009
- Research and Gala Hell Week! - March 30th, 2009
- Hip hop, Casa Party, Ladies Night..... AND GALA '09 COMMERCIAL - March 23rd, 2009
- Spring Break, Euphoria IV and the Multicultural Dinner - March 16th, 2009
- German Films, V-Day and Sushi Party - February 22nd, 2009
- Date Auction, Hip Hoppers and Host Selections - February 15th, 2009
- Academic Commons and Murder Mystery - February 2nd, 2009
- Retreat part 2, Project Gala kick off and OBAMA!!! - January 26th, 2009
- Hip Hop Collabo 'Rock this Party' 2008 Show!! - December 8th, 2008
- Journey, Arabic and Thanksgiving - November 23rd, 2008
- American Dinner and Take me out Play - November 17th, 2008
- Elections!!! - November 10th, 2008
- Halloween, Caroline's 20th birthday and Election-eve - November 3rd, 2008
- Flavorful week - October 27th, 2008
- Eid dinner!! - October 19th, 2008
- Very Active Week!! - October 11th, 2008
- Some Bio on me... - October 5th, 2008
