Yes, I'm back! I've just finished my first week of second year, but I'll get to that blog in a couple of days. Right now I want to talk about my one veterinary-related experience over the summer: the Veterinary Leadership Experience in Post Falls, Idaho. I meant to do this blog soon after it happened, but...well, blogging doesn't happen on breaks! Now that I'm back in BR, though (and having a crazy weekend, but more on that later) I think I'll take some time to reflect on VLE.
Lindsey (the other LSU student who went) and I got into the Spokane airport around one in the afternoon on Monday, June 2. Once we got our bags, we found the people with the VLE sign and joined a large group heading across the street to a hotel, where we waited and ate snacks for a bit and talked with some other participants before we boarded the bus to head to Ross Point, the camp that would be the site of our activities. It was beautiful! There was a lake (which was way too cold for my Southern self to swim in, but other people did) with really nice houses across from us, and pine trees everywhere, and a park with trails next door. Just wandering around at first, I made friends with a few VLEers who were there for VBMA. One of them even ended up in my small group!
That night we mingled as a large group, then did a couple of activities in our small groups. Lindsey and I were in different groups, but my group (Teeeeeam SEVEN!) did have an LSU SVM clinician, Dr. Burba, as a facilitator. I absolutely loved my small group. After the first day, most of our time was spent in small groups, with some time for large group activities.We made team posters that showed some of our core values as well as things we would try to avoid, and Team 7 was great at living out the values we chose: Inclusion, Encouragement, Patience, Trust, Communication/Listening, and Fun. I love that we made one of our core values Fun, and man, was it ever!
One of the major themes at VLE was Challenge by Choice: the idea that each activity is a different level of challenge for everyone in the group, and so it was each person's own choice whether to participate. One of our group members had some physical issues that made her unable to physically participate in certain activities, but she was still always a phenomenal and important part of the team. In fact, she was one of the people I grew closest to in my time there.
Every day, we started with a TED talk and went over a Meyers Briggs letter pair and a communication skill. This was, of course, the second time I talked Meyers Briggs since I started vet school and got my new type, but going over them this time made me feel really comfortable with my new letters. I do feel like I have to add the strength of each preference, though: Strong I, moderately strong N, moderate T, very weak J. We also did some communication skills training as like half of the large group: consensus model and conflict resolution, for instance.
That's not all this leadership training was about, though! Most of the small group activities were sort of obstacles or puzzles that we had to physically and mentally work together on. One was "whale watching," a moving platform we had to get everyone onto--and then move people around!--without letting either end touch the ground. Another used 4 logs to get everyone onto one side of a "river." Others didn't have such an environmental element, like the balloon train where we had to all move together (which we rocked--"chugga chugga"-ing all the way!). After each activity, we reflected on it together. Some of the activities were really frustrating. But others were really fun, especially Fay's Amazing Race on the last day! And I definitely learned something from each of them.
We did some individual activities, too. One such activity started with an introduction that characteristics of vet students are associated with "left-brained" people (of course that whole "only using half your brain" thing is total bunk, but as groups of personality traits it's alright) and VLE wants to foster "right-brained" type characteristics. Then we each got to paint a little 4"x4" canvas! I love doing artistic stuff, so that was really fun for me. Other people had more trouble with it, but at the end everyone had a little piece of art! There were sheets on each table that talked about meanings of different colors, so I took my inspiration from that. I made a (anatomical) heart full of passion and courage and happiness (reds and oranges and yellows) surrounded by green for protection from the demands/expectations of others. It's really a symbol of what VLE is to me. When we put them all together, I really liked some of the others--but I think mine still would have been one of my favorites if someone else had done it (and that's the first time that happened).
Another major thing we did was craft "Gladiator statements." This is a statement that "reveals yourself," like the main character in the movie Gladiator; a statement of where you come from, what you are, and what you are going to do. I don't think I want to post mine in its entirety, but here's mine minus the first few lines:
I am shy, but I am not weak. I am excited about experiences, strong in my friendships, and I basically don't know how to give up or try less than my best.
Of course, it was also basically camp, and we did a bunch of less serious, incredibly fun, things. One of the first things we did every morning was dance, led by all the group facilitators, camp directors, those sorts of people. Every day started with happiness and fun (even if it did get emotional sometimes in other activities)! We also had a thing called fun on the field, with little sports relay type of things that were incredibly silly. One was sort of a rock-paper-scissors-based team tag, some of them needed partners...one made us try to knock each other over while keeping our hands on our ankles. I got my glasses knocked off on that one. There was also a karaoke night, which was FANTASTIC. Lots of groups sang, from Bohemian Rhapsody to my group's gender-swapped Summer Nights. Betsy, the lady in charge of VLE, did Ice Ice Baby. I sang a song on my own, too, and it was AWESOME! I did Unwritten, about halfway through the night (...I thought it was at the end when I signed up...but it was okay). I don't know if it was for me or the song, but when I got up on stage everyone was cheering like crazy! That definitely helped me be confident--and I owned the stage! It was so much fun. One of the last evening activities was a dessert cruise on lake Coeur d'Alene, which was beautiful. We were blessed with great weather for it, if a little chilly. But at least we all had our VLE jackets!
Oh, and the videographers who were there all week for the highlights video (see the end of the post if you want to watch it) also shot a music video to the song Happy. I don't really like that song...but I like it a little better now that that happened. The video is pretty great. I may have videobombed one part (there was a group dance-walking in front of my cabin...so I might have leaped out behind them.).
There was also the less official fun...there was a bar within walking distance, and on the last night I went with some of my friends there. Where I got a huckleberry Italian cream soda instead of anything alcoholic, 'cause that's the kind of nerd I am apparently. It was tasty, though. Up in the Washington/Idaho area, huckleberries are a big deal apparently. There was also a huckleberry salad dressing that I enjoyed--and I don't even like salad dressing.
Of course, we did trust falls on the last day. Well, I didn't do a trust fall...after I got fussed at for talking when someone else was on the table, I stopped being in the catching line, so I didn't feel like I deserved to do the fall after that. I did do the two steps prior to that, even when the second step was something that made me uncomfortable, so at least I can be proud of that.
In the morning before we left, there was a final assembly. They called it the Gauntlet of Happiness--we walked up and got some little bits of swag (like the VLE pin) and our paintings from the stage, then passed through high-fiving and hugging the facilitators as we left. One of those bits of swag is a rubber bracelet that says Live with INTENTION--if you see one of those, it's a VLE thing. A Mizzou professor started it a few years ago. It's another symbol of what VLE means.
In conclusion, if you get a chance to go to VLE, go for it! It was such a great experience, and I'm so very glad I got to do it. One of my favorite parts about it was the chance to really make friends with clinicians and practicing vets and teachers--people I would normally think of as sort of superior to me. But at VLE, I was able to interact with everyone as a peer, and that let me learn so much from others. I sort of assumed everyone was a vet student until I was told otherwise (why not? our class has a resident old guy, so age became irrelevant). I guess I'm still not used to thinking of myself as an adult, so people with actual jobs and stuff seemed sort of "other," but at VLE they were my peers. That's probably one of the biggest things I want to take with me from VLE...that and the feeling of being a rockstar at karaoke!
And if you want the highlights reel of the whole week:
