First off, I would like to wish my dad a very happy birthday today...I’m sorry I had to miss it but I’m really glad that I’m at Shad.
Today was hectic. It was our first time ever really going off of campus. All 60 Shads plus PA’s and staff headed downtown to check out the local market and do some shopping. All of us, well equipped for our mission, headed outside the borders of our home and were explorers making a trek through uncharted waters. All the sights and sounds were so exciting to all of us who had been on campus for the past three weeks. The market was amazing. All the vendors and everything they were selling were spectacular. The crafts and pottery, the scented candles and delicious smelling food attracted almost everyone in Fredericton is seemed. Henna tattoos were also popular among the UNB Shads. It was cool to see all the different designs that everyone had when we left. Once we met as a group outside the market, we headed downtown for more shopping. First stop: Geek Chic. I felt bad for the sole employee working today. Sixty uber-intelligent teenagers with the best senses of humour piled into the store filled with Bazinga! mugs, G33K B33R, and “√-1 23 ∑ (3.14) and it was good” shirts. I think we all could have stayed in there for days without getting bored. We then split up in groups to go around the other downtown shops to see what there was and do some bargain hunting. Some of the places that we went include a music store, a makeup store, a toy store and a craft store, a local park where we could watch the changing of the guard and a used book store called “The Owl’s Nest.” It was a beautiful day outside- sunny, but not too hot (unlike some other days), with a slight breeze. It was perfect.
On the other hand, CT design projects are due tomorrow and everyone is going crazy. Well, almost everyone. It seems that my group is unnaturally calm while everywhere around us are 52 teenagers worrying if they’re going to finish on time and fretting that their business and marketing plans won’t measure up. With everything that is going and everything we have to finish, Unwrapped Innovations is surprisingly calm. It’s great- we’re all relaxed and having fun, chatting and bouncing ideas off of each other and so much work is getting done. For the past week or so we were like the other groups are now- worried and stressed. We didn’t know what we were doing and whether or not we would be able to do it. Our project room was a dungeon keeping us prisoners. Now, however, our room is our oasis; it’s where we go to get away and we love it. We have so much fun working on our product now and we are so much more productive than we ever were when we were worrying all the time. Our Program Director, Ian, told all 60 of us one day that Shad is so unique because it lasts for four weeks as opposed to most programs that only last one. He explained that throughout these four weeks, all the Shads would go through four stages- Forming, storming, norming, and performing. During the past couple of days my group has definitely moved to the performing stage and have become a family. All the Shads are becoming a family. It’s truly amazing to see all the people and the ways that we have all changed because of each other. It has only been a month, only 21 days, but it feels like we haven’t even begun. Everything has gone by so fast, and before we know it it’s going to be over. But I guess it can’t be, because Shad is never over...Shad is forever.
Taylor Taccone, Shad Valley University of New Brunswick 2010
Hometown: Guelph, Ontario
