Once Upon a Time I was in high school. During this phase
of my life I had some wonderful adjourning experiences.
Every summer I would go to Tri Cities Workcamp in
Petersburg, Virginia with my church. TCW is a camp where high schoolers from
all over the East Coast come and we gather to fix up homes for those living in
poverty. So the first day of camp we play all kinds of games and do lots of
silly things to loosen us all up and get to know one another. Then we are
divided up into crews. You spend almost all of the week with your crew.
Obviously the crews bond like crazy over the week. So the last day of camp once
the work is done and we return to base the rest of the night is reserved for
adjourning. We gather in our crews and do affirmations. This is when everyone
in the crew goes around the group and says positive things about one another. A
gift they bring, what they like about a person, a specific memory…anything that
will make the other person feel loved. There is usually crying and hugging involved.
Another thing about TCW is throughout the week we write “care
cards”. On the first day of camp every camper gets an envelope to decorate with
their name and crew number. Those envelopes are then taped to a wall in the dining
hall – like a giant mail wall. Anyways all week long people write these little
notes to one another and on the last day of camp we are allowed to take our
envelopes home. This is one of the best
things. We get to read all the notes people have given to us. It’s
wonderful.
I remember learning about the “termination process” in
college when I was studying social work. To this day I think that is an awful
phrase. But the point is – the end of a
process is important and needs to be given special attention. You recap all you've done and make a future plan. Maybe a
better name would be something more positive sounding like – future process, or
the Yellow Brick Road process – something that doesn’t sound like a killing
machine.
I think it is wonderful you were involved in a group that makes such a positive impact on peoples lives. I can see where it would be an emotional goodbye. Enjoyed your post!
ReplyDeleteI love what you did at camp with the letters to each other. We used to do something similiar to this as a team building activity with our softball team and you put your name on a piece of paper. Each person had the same color of pen and we would sit in a circle and pass around these papers and write something positive about the person who's name was on the paper. You couldn't sign your name and there was no talking during this. Then we would practice and afterwards take our letters home to see what our teammates said about us. Talk about a confidence booster when you get almost 20 positive comments about yourself. We all loved it!!
ReplyDeleteKoni,
ReplyDeleteI think when a team attains the expected goal, it is an experience no one would ever forget. Especially when we know we have worked so hard and got involved with all our passion for what we may or may not enjoyed doing the most. The passion we have for the project we are working on can make a difference in the way we perceive and face the challenges the project implies, and thus influences the final results.
Have you ever been somewhere and at the end of the event or the end of the occasion, you say "Shoot, I didn't get to say goodbye to..." or have to leave a workshop early (such as the one you attended and described above) because travel plans precipitate that you leave earlier than everyone else? Therefore your goodbye (adjournment) comes at an awkward moment the previous night or you don't get it at all. I look back on some of those times in my life, and even on the times when I have been able to say gooodbye, and think how much better that experience could've been if I had the opportunity for proper adjournment. It really is so important to a healthy advancement of relationships, even one that may not seemingly have a future. Closure and adjournment is an important aspect to any relationship.
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful way to leave camp. Sharing memories and gifts and so forth. It seemed that you all truly bonded and were able to actually know who each other were. Everyone seemed valued. I especially like as you adjourned (left camp) you all had the envelopes of notes to read and cherish at home as well. Great post!
ReplyDelete