It was only 4 days ago when my twin brother and I hit the road with Mom and Dad for a two-day drive to our assigned universities… Now here I am pursuing success and excellence, making the most rewarding investment decisions, and experiencing programs like what we have had on our third day at Shad Valley.
The very early morning activity has shown some of the Shad’s strong stamina and agility during the 5k run around the McMaster campus site. Giving up wasn’t an option as all SHADs boosted each other’s confidence as we run together as a SHAD community.
The morning’s later activity has stretched our involvement scientifically as we have made instructions and documentations and built our own and each other’s time machines varying from pendulums to blowing up ballons to a sequence of complex ramps. In the afternoon, we got ourselves immersed on the “Marshmallow Challenge” where we used 20 spaghetti sticks, one metre of string, one metre of tape, and of course, one marshmallow, to build the tallest free-standing structure with a marshmallow on top. Who wouldn’t enjoy learning surprising lessons that emerged as we compared who tends to do the worst or the best?
Although the challenge is a fun activity that follows the orient to build prototype to change to make it better command, it encourages self confidence, determination, innovation, creativity, and teamwork among SHADs. It has made us to drive into new ways and to take extra steps not only to come together but also to work together and to feel better about ourselves. More importantly, these activities have shaped our attitude to achieve the ability to turn the “can’t” into can and the “power to do it”.
The afternoon has brought the SHADs fun and recreation as we participated in games such as Sword and Stone, Throw the Chicken, and Dead Grasshopper. Later in the evening, a previous SHAD at Memorial University, Newfoundland explained that life is a rollercoaster and that “a dream without action is only hallucination.” We have to take on roles, face the challenges and our fears, and look for opportunities to achieve a stronger self. Finally, we SHADS have been put into our Project groups, where each group will design, build a prototype, and refine their own project in time for Open Day at the end of Shad Valley. This project WILL test the SHADs’ abilities to analyze each other’s strengths, to use these strengths for the good of the group, and to work together as a team to accomplish a product. Challenging? Yes, but we SHADs are up to the test.
…and while I miss my twin brother (the 27 days in Shad Valley are the first 27 days of the 16 years of our lives that we would be apart), today I have explored the possibilities of a diverse group of people communicating, sharing, and working together. This third day is one step we take to bring what we started from scratch last Sunday closer to even a less perfect Shad Valley community.
I can’t wait to let you know about tomorrow…but then, that is a story for another SHAD to tell.
Shadrielle Melijah Espiritu, Shad Valley McMaster University 2010
Hometown: Dryden, Ontario
