The Leadership Weekend has kicked off the 2016 Music for All Summer Symposium. I always enjoy watching leadership students come together in their breakout sessions to solve problems as a team, regardless of the fact they didn’t know each other 24 hours prior. They end up finding common bonds, and come to realize they have shared experiences despite their differences.
Today I got to sit in on one of the sessions as they talked about obtaining success, whatever your idea of success might be. Students discussed how they personally define success. Their responses ranged from happiness, comfort, love, stability, support, and so on. You could see in their eyes how important these values meant to them. Others had the same passion in their eyes as they nodded their heads after each response. On the other end they discussed how our end goals might get disrupted. Students gave different responses such as conflict of interest, timing, distractions, fear, laziness, etc.
The task at hand: to use three planks of wood and a piece of rope to maneuver your team from one side, which was called “the present,” to the other side of the grassy area, which was called “success.” If a board or person touched the ground the entire group had to reset. This represented a setback in life and starting back at square one. Students were required to plan thins out, think outside the box, and most of all, work as a team to achieve “success.” Each group had their own plan of attack, but all made progress quickly.
This is the core foundation to any young adult propelling into a successful life. Being able to talk through their problems, come together with a solution, and attack the issue at hand. It takes me back before working at Music for All when I taught high school color guards. I enjoyed seeing them beginning as young freshmen, but as time went by they became independent and strong leaders. This is what Leadership Weekend does. It helps create our leaders of tomorrow.
