Catching Up

Two weeks ago we had our midterm on Wednesday in class.  I think the midterm was a good exam to test our knowledge and understanding of small group communication.  My group was able to get together and study for a while which I think helped me to be more prepared for the midterm exam.

Last week was spring break and while I was home I was able to go laser tagging with a few other people.  Laser tag is a fun game that is played by shooting lasers at others in order to score points.  There is certain attire needed to play laser tag:  preferrably dark clothes, a vest which has receptors on it, and a laser gun.  It is preferred that dark clothes are worn because the game is played indoors in a smoke-filled room with black lights.  Lighter clothing in black lights are really bright and would make you more visible when playing.  The more I thought about it the more I realized that playing laser tag involves small group communication.  When I played there were three different teams:  green, blue, and red.  I was on the green team.  The mission of the game was to shoot the opposing team's members with laser guns and to destroy their home bases.  It took communication between team members to coordinate a successful attack on the opposing teams.

I’m seeing now how small group communication truly is a factor in just about everything we do.  I'll leave you with another funny comic. Have a good week!

-Rachel Page

spring break reflection

This week we had our midterm exam in class.  What better way it study for this group communication exam than with our group.  On Tuesday most of us met up and studied for about two hours.  I don't know how useful this time was for my other group members but it sure helped me study for the midterm.  Since we didn't learn anything new this week in class I am going to reflect on another small group I am in this semester.  
In my senior capstone class I am in a group with a member of the Faithful hodgepodge.  We have been tasked with a large project that had been going on for six weeks.  On the Friday of that sixth week our professor told us to restart the project.  This completely demoralised our group as we did not think it possible to finish the project on time with this amount of lost time.  What did happen though was the group kicked it in high gear and started cranking out work like we had never produced earlier in the semester.  I just want to reflect on how amazing small group are when but in from of a task.  We don't know if we will finish this project on time but I have at least learned first hand what small group can accomplish when they work and communicate effectively.

Jarrett Hullinger

Week 3

This week we presented our service learning project presentation. It went well overall. The presentation itself went very smoothly as well as the question and answer section. There were several good points brought up. Such as first aid, possible rain date locations, creating a sign up to obtain head count, solidifying activities, what we will do about food, and funding.

I have set up a time to go to Cary Home on Wednesday to place a flyer up so that the kids that the boys and girls that are interested can sign up. I am going to speak with the person that has dealt with Cary Quad events in the past and figure out how first aid issues are to be dealt with since we will be playing sports. I will also be picking up our confidentiality forms that are to be signed by all the volunteers. As far as food goes, with funding pending, we have decided that it would be cheaper to buy pizza than to take the kids to Ford dining court. In regards to funding, I am currently in process of securing funding through Cary Club. If we aren’t able to, we will use our group’s connection to other organizations on campus to get the funding we need.

If it rains, we could do activities indoors in the South building basement and play some video games, board games, and pool down there.

-Mark Saull

It's For the Kids

This week we presented the proposal for our service learning project. We decided to work with the Cary Home for Children. For our project, we will bring the kids over to campus where we will play games with them. After we tire them out we want to treat them to dinner at Ford Dining Court. I am confident in our project because the Cary Club used to do events like this in the past on a regular basis. One of the early challenges we had to deal with was the age group of the kids involved. Initially we thought that the kids would be in the first to fifth grade levels, and were shocked to find out that they were much older. As a result we had to completely rethink our activities. Compared to the other groups, one thing we have a pretty good grasp of is the number of participants involved. Aside from extra Cary Club volunteers, we know exactly the number of kids living at the Cary Home and will be able to plan accordingly. The following shows the number of kids in each of the Home's units.

• Residential Treatment Center: 9 males, ages 14-21
• Intensive Supervision Unit: 5 males, ages 12-18
• Cary Home Girls Unit: 6 females, ages 12-18

During our presentation we received feedback chastising us for not including the girls. The primary reason (that we failed to mention in class) for initially not including them is the CGU currently includes girls who are pregnant. Depending on what stage they are in, they should probably not be participating in these kinds of sporting events.

- Steven Gitter

But what about the girls?

In class this week we proposed our service learning project.  Our proposed event will be taking some of the kids from the Cary Home and play some games with them.  After we get tired we will hopefully get to take them out to eat at the dinning courts.  The kids that live at the Cary home either have a troubled past or an unsafe living environment with their parents.  By spending some time with the kids we hope to be good role models for them and to try to show them why they should attend college. 

During our presentation we suggested that we might only take the boy out to play.  This seemed easier to plan for as most boys like to play sports.  By taking the girls along too, we thought that the boys might be too competitive and intimidate the girls or some of the girls might not want to play sports.  The idea of only taking the guys did not go very well with the class. At one point someone actually said “But what about the girls”.  So we came up with a plan to have the kids sign up to come out to our event.  I really like this idea because we can have a good idea of how many people will be attending and we can plan more effectively.  Overall I thought our presentation of our project went fairly well.  I am really proud of my group for coming up with a good paper proposal and a good presentation.

-Jarrett Hullinger

The Class Service Learning Projects

This week we turned in our proposal on Monday, and then gave our presentation on Friday.  The presentation went pretty well, with one major thing we have decided to change.  We originally were going to have only boys come to our event, but after discussion with the class, we are going to give girls the option to come as well.  We are making lots of progress with our project now that we have talked to the director and asked some of the questions we had for her.  I think things will continue to run smoothly up and through our event.

                The Faithful Hodgepodge gave their presentation on Wednesday.  I think they have a tough event to be able to put together.  If it all works out, I think it is a really good one though.  I know I would be interested to learn some things about cricket or other sports from different countries.  Because of that, I would assume that there are some students that would like to learn about football and basketball.

                I really like Prestige Worldwide’s event.  I think a cornhole tournament to raise money for the Boys and Girls Club is a great idea.  Cornhole is an easy game that anyone can play, and easy to learn if someone does not know how to play.  I know I will be finding a partner and entering the tournament.

- Andrew De Jong

Service Learning Project

    Today Sticky Thinking gave our presentation of our proposal for the service learning project.  Our project involves the Cary Club at Cary Residence Hall and the Cary Home, a home for kids who are recovering from addictions or who have troubled pasts.  We plan to bring them to campus and to play some sports with them.  Our original plan was to only bring the boys of the Cary Home to campus to be involved in our activities but because of the comments during the question and answer session of our presentation today we have decided to include the girls also.  The reason behind only including the boys was to have everyone play sports but we do realize that this is somewhat unfair for the girls at the home.  It is also not accurate to assume that all boys want to play sports.  We will modify our project plan in order to incorporate alternative activities to sports.

    I think our group plan is put together well and will amount to a successful project.  I am looking forward to meeting the boys and girls of the Cary Home and having fun doing activities with them.

    Below is a funny comic about diversity in the workplace and including both men and women.  This can apply to our discussion in class today about including the girls in our event.

 

-Rachel Page