Launching fall programs with 3 days of teambuilding, artmaking, and leadership development.
We spent 3 gorgeous days at Into the Woods Retreat center along the banks of Pigeon Creek, where we leaned into our mission of cultivating creativity, building community, and empowering students. We looked back at CultureWorks’ history and envisioned it’s future; we ate, laughed, played, explored, and made art together; and most of all, we built relationships among our staff and Student Advisory Council.
For the past 8 months, I (Emily) have participated in LEAD 24/7, a cohort of local nonprofit leaders dedicated to growing individually and collectively. We’ve learned that successful organizations are led by teams who are united, diverse, and curious. Their ability to navigate changes and overcome challenges is directly related to their leaders’ willingness to trust one another and engage in healthy, respectful conflict…to focus on overarching goals and hold each other accountable…to support one another and inspire greatness. These abilities don’t naturally develop among teams but need to be nurtured – we need to practice vulnerability, active listening, problem solving, conflict resolution, and collective goal-setting.
This is why we invest so heavily in building relationships!
Over 9 years, our Student Advisory Council has grown from a group of 10 to 16 students, and has gone from making a few decisions a year to functioning as a student-led board of directors, engaged in all aspects of organizational leadership. We’re so grateful for this talented, creative team and we’re incredibly excited about the year ahead…stay tuned for great things!
As for the amount of sugar we consumed during our cookie bake-off and the number of hours students spent playing sardines, I make no apologies. In his book, the Anxious Generation, Jonathan Haidt argues that American kids born after 1996 have largely been deprived of an embodied, play-based childhood, due to extensive screen usage. Social emotional learning and cognitive development happen most naturally and most effectively through embodied (rather than virtual), synchronous play, where kids experience self-efficacy by directing their activities, making the rules, solving interpersonal conflicts, and discovering the world through curious eyes. Through such times of play, students on our retreat learned that 1) you should always check under the beds, even when you think everyone else must have checked there already; 2) vegan marshmallows are far superior as an ingredient in s’mores cookies; and 3) maybe fruit does belong on cookies…
Many thanks to our funders who support ongoing leadership development through SAC, including Fellowship Reformed Church!
