Approximately 25 people sit in a circle on a Friday night at Camp Wo-Me-Tu, playing the "name game," while a woman is describing the "orgasmic principle." No, you're not back at summer camp. This is the Center for Social Concern's Student Advisory Board retreat.
Battling the snow, members of the Student Advisory Board, a newly formed group, held their first retreat on February 6 and 7. The board was started this year to manage 40 student volunteer groups on the Hopkins campus. Recognizing logistical problems that were common to groups such as budgeting and room scheduling, the board was formed to create workshops to remedy such problems. The board is divided into five "learning communities": arts, health, social justice, mentoring and tutoring.
The group's goals include promoting a sense of community among campus volunteer groups and encouraging awareness of these groups on the Hopkins campus. Their most recent activity, the retreat, is just one of many steps this organization is taking to meet those goals.
The retreat, held at Camp Wo-Me-Tu, about an hour north of campus, was meant as a way for the group leaders of communities to get off campus and learn about both each other and themselves. Friday was devoted to bonding through fun activities, including the "Newlyweds" game and the name game. Bonding is not a trivial issue for the Student Advisory Board.
But inefficiencies occur because of the size of the Center for Social Concern, located in Levering Hall, and the number of groups within it. The board combats this by suggesting that groups with similar goals and low attendance can pool their resources to offer more to the community at large. Recently, Patchwork, a group that makes arts and crafts for kids, combined with the Chinese Lion Dance Troupe to perform and craft at the Kennedy Krieger Institute.
"There's a lack of sense of community. It's hard to get people together even on a personal scale," said Yoojin Kim, head of the arts learning community, which includes the Chinese Lion Dance Troupe, Patchwork, Hopkins Baltimore String Program and Kids and Cameras.
Those that attended the retreat got to know much about each other and the groups they represented, though attendance was low. Out of forty groups total, only eight groups attended. "There wasn't as much representation as we had hoped for, but next year we hope it will be a bigger and better event," said Megan Carr, head of the mentoring learning community. She also noted that she was content with turnout, seeing as this was the first time the Student Advisory Board had done a retreat.
Saturday, the community leaders roused themselves from their early morning sleep to attend a workshop on leadership style. Bill Smedick from the Office of Student Involvement ran the workshop. Students were given adjectives to rank according to how well they described them personally. Once scored on personality, each personality and leadership type was reviewed. In doing so, the leaders and the future leaders of the Board gained knowledge about their leadership style and what they could bring to the group at large.
"I myself felt enlightened about my own personality," said Kim.
During the retreat the group also made valentines for the residents of meals-on-wheels and were addressed by Erricka Bridgeford from the community mediation center in Greenmount. Bridgeford discussed how to define a team, what makes conflict good and bad and how many things in life are orgasmic.
"For example, in volunteering, people initially get very excited, and as the semester progresses, the excitement dies down," Yoojin Kim said. Bridgeford also described how to maintain that level of excitement by setting realistic goals and getting one thing done through a step-by-step process.
Back from its retreat, the Board has not stopped in its quest to foster a sense of community among volunteer groups. Future events include two days of Center for Social Concern awareness in front of Levering, complete with banners and group performances, and a banquet in April to honor and recognize students.
And of course, the five group leaders of the Student Advisory Board continue to meet to create a synergy and brainstorm possible group projects. "The bottom line is to foster a sense of community on campus," said Megan Carr. "Sometimes we think this is lacking, but we have a sense that it will be promising."
