grow irish reflection

My time at Saint Camillus’ community was rife with meaningful conversation, new relationships, and opportunities not only to grow myself, but to help other people around me grow. We started the week with a tour of the community grounds which included several buildings and impressive amenities, all of which acted as a foundation of our marking strategies. Throughout the week we were able to immerse ourselves within the community: getting to know the residence, learning about volunteer outreach, and developing plans to build an alumni association for the community. From the get-go, my group exhibited exuberant communication, and spent the first few days snowballing off of each other‘s ideas. The remainder of our week was spent narrowing and solidifying our strategies and creating a concise presentation for our host company. I think the positivity and charisma that my group put forth ended up being an essential tool for us as we tried to sell the experience of volunteering to people. I was satisfied with our final product and was delighted at the challenge of selling something intangible rather than tangible

Printing examples from St. Camillus

As was mentioned during our preparation for the week, much of our work and research did not make it into the final presentation. We had several well-thought-out ideas that either did not conform to the budget or did not seem viable given the resources the community had access to. Beyond this, my group may have benefited from heightened collaboration when it came to our individual responsibilities. The assignment of each person to a role often isolated them from other responsibilities that they may have had better knowledge about. I also would have preferred if we had been able to rehearse the presentation before Friday in full, because some of our group mates did not feel ready until a few minutes before.

I would spend less time on the brainstorming phase and more time developing the logistical aspects of our presentation. I would also implore groups to have a rough draft of their presentation done by Wednesday afternoon because it allows for the entire day on Thursday to be spent fine-tuning and squeezing as much useful information Into the presentation as possible. This would also allow for groups to have more than enough rehearsal time before the day of their final presentation, which would alleviate anxieties. regardless, I thoroughly enjoyed my time at Saint Camillus’ community and appreciate all that I have learned from the experience.

The view from a St. Camillus apartment.