[dropcap]O[/dropcap]n September 30th 2016 the Seminole State Leadership retreat began for students who were looking not only to make friends but to build themselves to become leaders and in turn gain the confidence they need to take on the real world. Mauricio Garcia the organizer of this program said that this retreat was “To help students increase their confidence level by getting to identify their strengths and hopefully through conversations and also work on areas of improvement.”
After a long drive from Seminole State Sanford Lake Mary campus to Leesburg we were assigned to our respective cabins that were given to us before our departure. When we were settled in all of us met up with Mr. Garcia to discuss the plan for the two days. The first day was about getting to know your type of personality, know your pros and cons as well as getting to know to other people around you. A student named Hannah Yeargain said “I learned about myself, my personality traits as well as my strengths and weakness.” Randall Steven Arana Vargas, another student, said that he “gained a lot of friendships” during his first day. Students were assigned groups to participate on small brainstorming activities and at first people kept failing to figure out the solution however as time went on students began to feel comfortable around each other like calling them by their names instead of by the color of their shirt or shoes, in the end the groups figured out the solution of the activity and bonded ever closer.
The next day students were doing The Low Rope Course, this was the main event everyone was highly anticipating and it tested every groups teamwork and communication skills. For my group we needed to use animals sounds and one words to communicate with other teammates to figure out a solution. It was tough but in the end my group finished all the courses and as a reward we became best friends and remained in contact with each other. All the students who participated in this retreat learned a lot about themselves and wished that it was longer so that they could gain and build tier leadership skills as well as make more friends.