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Alia McAdams HDF 413 S.O.L.C. 9 December 2013 I found the facilitation skills workshop to be the biggest challenge of HDF 413. I learned different approaches to working with other people. I also gained a stronger understanding of how I use my strengths in challenging situations. It was strange working with fourteen other student leaders compared to my comfort zone of being a peer mentor. In the words of Robert Vincent, when working as a mentor it is important to, let them come up to us. In other words, a mentor needs to put in everything they have in terms of effort, enthusiasm, communication, and determination and encourage their students to do the same. This workshop taught me that this same rule of thumb does not apply to working with peers. Working with peers requires much more compromise and trust in the group members. As much as I became frustrated with the lack of communication I realized that if I put more trust in my peers then future group projects will run much smoother and be less stressful. The goal of the project was for the class to design and facilitate a workshop that taught the guests how to facilitate in their personal leadership tracks. The leaders spanned from URI 101 mentors to members of senate or Greek Life. Each topic was encouraged to be taught in an interactive member to keep the interest of the guests. All guests were student leaders around the University of Rhode Island campus invited by the CSLD staff and the students in HDF 413. Starting the project was a tricky process. Sarah Melley made a Facebook group and added the class, however no one was receiving notifications or responding to the posts. I then started a Facebook message and added everyone in the class. I posted a suggested agenda and everyone added their ideas and suggestions. The class decided to split into the five groups that we had used for our group presentations in class. I worked with Chris Xenophontos and Eric Youncofski on the topic of conflict resolution. We mainly worked amongst our small groups to develop lesson plans on our assigned topics. As a class we also decided to wear our SOLC shirts to help get the logo out there for both advertising and recruitment purposes. The one fault with the process was that every decision seemed to be a huge controversy to work through. It would have been beneficial if the more reserved people in the class had shared their opinions.

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The workshop went extremely well. The facilitators kept their enthusiasm high and appeared to be knowledgeable on the topic of their presentation. The guests all had a great time and learned a lot from the workshop. It felt great to be able to reach the student leaders and teach them. It made the challenge worth it. All of the lessons that I took away from this project will help me in my future endeavors as a facilitator and as a mentor.

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Student Organization Leadership Consultants Workshop December 6, 2013 Agenda: Time/ location 4:004:10p.m. Welcome Refreshments Agenda overview Name game Bust a Move or picnic depending on the number of people Alia and Dominic Topic/Activity Facilitator

4:10-4:30

Challenge and Support Presentation Presentation 2 Discussion Questions No activity

Sarah, Dom, Sherm

4:30-4:50

Inclusion Presentation *Activity Reflection Decision Making No activity Community Building *Activity Debrief

Caitlin, Larry, Caitie Stella, CJ, Steven Kerry, Luckson, Cassie Alia, Chris, Eric Caitlin C.

4:50-5:10 5:10- 5:30

5:30-5:50

Conflict Resolution * Activity Discussion Closing/ Reflection Discussion

5:50-6:00 p.m.

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