Leadership Weekend

This past weekend I attended the 35th annual leadership weekend hosted by Baruch College at YMCA Camp Speers in Dingmans, Pennsylvania. This trip was a great opportunity to make friends and gain leadership qualities. The trip began with a 4 hour bus ride that eventually led to myself making about 20 friends. Those individuals quickly became very close to me and eventually we formed into a so called, “back of the bus squad”. Upon arrival at camp, I was happy that I already had 20 friends and quickly grew even closer to them through dinner and the rest of that night. I continued to make new bonds and express myself through others, eventually staying up until 7:15AM. The first night proved to be an exhilarating experience that would model the remaining 2 days of the trip. The next day, I awoke and headed to breakfast and felt safe and comfortable amongst people I knew and people I would eventually get to know. The day consisted of myself making more friends and developing my strengths through a multitude of leadership activities. I later explored my new found relationships through team building activities such as zip-lining and later a relaxed basketball game. Later that night, there was a talent show that was truly a life changing event. People shared their talents as well their stories. Those stories reflected upon their own personal experiences including family, friends, and travel. The reason the talent show affected me so much is because I was able to appreciate the acts and more importantly the people performing them. It takes strength, courage, and the attributes to become a leader, to go up on stage in front of over 100 people and be yourself. I am astonished by these acts and the confidence of the performers. After this event I felt that the Leadership Weekend began to take shape and impact me. That night I took it upon myself to make even more friends and try to show them my own leadership qualities. The next and final day, I sat through a speech by Dean King. Although I nearly fell asleep, the small bits and pieces I do remember reinforced the qualities of leadership that I learned over the weekend. My favorite part of the entire trip were the meal times of breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I love all you can eat food and to be honest I was very happy. Although, that is not the reason I enjoyed the meal times the most. The reason was as follows; when I sat around the table and saw and recognized all the familiar faces, I truly felt I was surrounded by family. It replicated the family dinners I have at home every week. Leadership Weekend did teach me the qualities of being a leader, but more importantly it introduced me to 99 other strangers that eventually became my good friends. This experience was life changing and I feel blessed I was able to participate in this event. I will remember leadership weekend for a lifetime and will stay connected with all the friends I made and represent the great leader I became!