Today instead of sleeping in to the last possible moment, I woke up at 5:40 to go on the 5K morning run; as I promised one of my fellow Shads that before the program ended, I would go on a morning run with her. As we stepped out into the cool morning air, we realized that we were the only Shads who were going on the run this morning. During the run, Kinsley Hurlington, one of our Program Directors, did “runosophy” with us. Runosophy is a thinking game in which you are given a complex scenario with two different possible outcomes, from which you must choose.
After breakfast we headed back to our residence, Hedden Hall, for the second last edition of ShadNews48. Following ShadNews48 we had our last pod meeting where we celebrated and discussed our personal and group successes throughout our DE project. We also put together our poster board display, which showcases the product we came up with for our DE project. Following this we had an enlightening lecture from Eileen Dahl about “stuff”. This lecture was very informative because she showed us that we should not ignore things and let them build up and because they will not go away, they will only become bigger. We then ate lunch at Bistro.
Next, we traveled to the Juravinski Cancer Centre in Hamilton to carry out our Shad Do. While there, Shads preformed many different musical pieces. This included “You Raise me Up” which was performed by a mass choir consisting of all of the Shads, including the staff. After that, we went to back Webster Falls to see the waterfall. On the second day of Shad Valley McMaster, we went for a hike to Webster Falls but unfortunately due to heavy rain the day before the path was washed out. We only spent about an hour there, however we took many group pictures under the blistering heat of the sun and the cooling mist of the falls.
After our last supper at Bistro we had a mass choir rehearsal to practice for our performance tomorrow on Open Day. This was followed by two hours of committee time in which we had to finish our poster board presentations, which are also for Open Day tomorrow. After this it was time to pack our belongings in preparation for our departure from Shad Valley McMaster on Friday. With only one full day of Shad left, I know that this has been a life changing experience and that I have met many incredible people who I will never forget.
Brooke Currie, Shad Valley McMaster University 2010
Hometown: Stratford, Prince Edward Island
