Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Advanced Training Retreat
Things around here are really in full-swing. With teams heavily involved in their service and Camp City Year rapidly approaching, it’s easy for corps members to focus so much on what needs to get done, and forget to take a few moments to reflect how much we have already accomplished.
That is why we have Advanced Training Retreat! ATR, as it is better known as, is two and a half days long (yup, we stay overnight) and is a time for reflection on the first half of the year, as well as a time for everyone to reconnect with each other and get energized to finish out the year strong. Plus, it’s all out of uniform!
ATR is also an opportunity for corps members and staff to come together and discuss how to make our City Year site as strong as it can be. For those of you who don’t know, City Year DC is growing. We are at 55 corps members this year. Next year we will be at 75 corps members. And by 2010, we hope to be at 100 corps members. To plan for our growth, at ATR this year, our Executive Director rolled-out City Year DC’s new “3-Year Strategic Growth Plan” to the entire corps. We all gave feedback on the plan and discussed opportunities and challenges of this plan. One cool thing about City Year is how much input corps members have in determining what goes on with the site.
Of course, not all of ATR is work. It is also a great opportunity to get to know some of your fellow corps members a little better. Since we spend most of our time with our teams, often there are other corps members who we rarely get a chance to spend time with. Free time at retreat can change that real quickly. This year someone brought a karaoke machine, which enables even the most untalented singers a venue to let their little light shine. Almost everyone took their chance in the limelight and others learned lessons in sharing the spotlight. I sat in on a jam session where one corps member (the cello player from the first retreat) played the banjo and I played the spoons while another corps member rhymed freestyle on top of it all. I look forward to the first hip-hop album featuring the banjo. We also had a number of staff and corps members lead workshops on personal talents of theirs such as karate, personal fitness, knitting and crocheting (my scarf is now coming along slowly but surely), and hip-hop dance. Now, back at work, I definitely have more insight into individuals around here!
All in all, ATR was great. It provided some time for us to get to know each other a little better, as well as a chance for us to refocus our energy on what’s to come!
That is why we have Advanced Training Retreat! ATR, as it is better known as, is two and a half days long (yup, we stay overnight) and is a time for reflection on the first half of the year, as well as a time for everyone to reconnect with each other and get energized to finish out the year strong. Plus, it’s all out of uniform!
ATR is also an opportunity for corps members and staff to come together and discuss how to make our City Year site as strong as it can be. For those of you who don’t know, City Year DC is growing. We are at 55 corps members this year. Next year we will be at 75 corps members. And by 2010, we hope to be at 100 corps members. To plan for our growth, at ATR this year, our Executive Director rolled-out City Year DC’s new “3-Year Strategic Growth Plan” to the entire corps. We all gave feedback on the plan and discussed opportunities and challenges of this plan. One cool thing about City Year is how much input corps members have in determining what goes on with the site.
Of course, not all of ATR is work. It is also a great opportunity to get to know some of your fellow corps members a little better. Since we spend most of our time with our teams, often there are other corps members who we rarely get a chance to spend time with. Free time at retreat can change that real quickly. This year someone brought a karaoke machine, which enables even the most untalented singers a venue to let their little light shine. Almost everyone took their chance in the limelight and others learned lessons in sharing the spotlight. I sat in on a jam session where one corps member (the cello player from the first retreat) played the banjo and I played the spoons while another corps member rhymed freestyle on top of it all. I look forward to the first hip-hop album featuring the banjo. We also had a number of staff and corps members lead workshops on personal talents of theirs such as karate, personal fitness, knitting and crocheting (my scarf is now coming along slowly but surely), and hip-hop dance. Now, back at work, I definitely have more insight into individuals around here!
All in all, ATR was great. It provided some time for us to get to know each other a little better, as well as a chance for us to refocus our energy on what’s to come!
