Four Days to Synergy

Sun, 16 Jan 2011 11:52:00 -0500
leadership-education, strive

The buses rolled into the Skycroft Conference Center at around 11:15 last Monday morning. 43 UMBC students, most of whom did not know each other before boarding, walked hesitantly down the steps to retrieve their bags. Once they had claimed beds in bare cabins, they made their way quietly across the parking lot to a conference room with stackable chairs arranged in an oval, and stared at each other awkwardly. So began STRiVE 2011.

At 10:00 last Thursday evening, in the same conference room, the scene had changed completely. Most of the retreat-goers and several STRiVE coaches were deeply engaged in a giddy game of “Monkey in the Middle,” joyfully flinging a plastic ball around the hall, music blasting in the background. Everywhere there was laughter and applause as the participants unselfconsciously poked fun at themselves and encouraged each other in their goofiness and glee. It was a moment of pure harmony, a shared peak experience in which everyone was exactly where they wanted to be, with people they trusted implicitly. Of all the amazing STRiVE moments from the past week, that is the one I am certain I will never forget: an eternal instant in which our collective sense of belonging and community was pure and perfect.

The STRiVE curriculum focuses on personal development, group dynamics and social transformation. The content is designed to help participants develop skills, insights and plans that position them for success as leaders and agents of change. But the content is just a fraction of the STRiVE experience. What matters more is that participants and coaches (students and staff from UMBC) share their stories, values and hopes. They step out of role, drop pretenses, encourage each other to be real and take risks together. In the end, what makes the STRiVE experience so special is what emerges spontaneously from those interactions: deep mutual appreciation, life-changing breakthroughs, crazy energy, and a sense that anything in the word is possible. Though the structure has remained essentially the same, no two STRiVE retreats have been alike, because the participants have made each one their very own. Aside from a multitude of unique conversations, this year featured sledding without sleds, the baby shark Dougie, the green glass door, no-hands four square, freezing marshmallows, a chorus of Journey tunes, Apples to Apples at mealtime, and an awkward phone call to sing “I’m a Little Teapot” to my mother.

The deep magic of STRiVE is that it produces these spontaneous transformations intentionally and reliably. Four days from strangers to friends. Four days from isolated parts to a whole greater than their sum. Four days to authenticity, belonging, and the will to change the world. I wonder whether we’re always just four intense days away from that sense and spirit in all of our communities.