On the
last day of fall 2014 Orientation week, all of the students and faculty in the
Genetic Counseling Program attended an all-day workshop known as Experiential
Learning. The goal of Experiential Learning is to help members of a team learn
about themselves and others, bond, and explore effective teamwork while going
through a series of difficult problem-solving tasks. After each activity was
completed, the team discussed what concepts we learned that could help us as a
team throughout the coming year.
One of
our activities was what I will refer to as the “jump rope challenge.” The task
was to have every person present jump the rope once while two members were
handling the rope – the trick was that the jumping had to be done in pairs and
it had to be continuous, so as one pair jumped, another pair would
simultaneously run under the jump rope. If any pair tripped over the rope, the
whole team had to start over again. Given that we had 29 people, it was
incredibly difficult for all of us to get through under the requirements. We
called a team meeting and decided to modify the challenge so that we were
allowed one “empty turn” of the rope in between pairs of people so as to help
with timing. As we tried over and over to complete the task, we became aware of
the value of encouragement and support among teammates. Instead of becoming
annoyed when someone repeatedly tripped over the rope, we offered tips and
reassurance that they would get it the next try. This task also affirmed the
importance of a positive attitude – remaining optimistic and engaged in the
process really helped our team towards our goal.
Fortunately,
we managed to complete the challenge before the end of the allotted time and we
were all ecstatic about our achievement. As a first-year student facing a challenging
year of graduate school, I feel very grateful to be surrounded by such a supportive
team. I can see similarities between the coming year and the jump rope
challenge – at the beginning, it seemed overwhelmingly demanding and many of us
did not expect that we would be able to complete it. As a team, we made a plan
for the best strategy and modified that strategy when it was not working for
us. We succeeded in the end by encouraging each other but also by pushing
ourselves towards our goal and staying positive even when we were struggling. I
feel that this is a metaphor for the year ahead of us and although I am
nervous, I am also confident that we will all succeed because we have such an
amazing support system in the UC Genetic Counseling Program.
Although
I was exhausted by the end of Experiential Learning, I was very glad for the
opportunity to get to know my classmates and supervisors. I believe that we
bonded over the difficult tasks and learned a lot about our personal leadership
styles and how we can be a more cohesive team in the upcoming academic year. I
am confident after Experiential Learning that honoring the teamwork principles
we learned will allow the UC GCP to conquer any challenge that comes our way.
-
--Hannah
Balka
