If you were to do KNR 171 all over again, what would you do differently to enhance your learning and growth as a leader?

If I was able to re do KNR 171 over again, I would definitely approach it in a different way. After spring break when COVID-19 really started to take a toll on all our in-person classes, I lost motivation for not just this class but for all my classes. Online classes aren’t my strong suite, but with this current situation going on these online classes will be our norm and I need to learn to reach out when I am struggling and ask questions when I don’t understand something. I need to be more flexible and open to video chat calls or meetings at the designated times. I need to fully commit to trying my best and not shutting down when things get rough.  I was really excited to see what this class was going to show me and how I was going to improve in my leadership skills in person, but unfortunately, we did not get that opportunity. I do hope to improve in my leadership skills because with my future career I want to be able lead confidently and be a role model for others one day.

What’s an area of your leadership that you wished you grew on this semester in KNR 171, but didn’t? Why do you think you didn’t grow in that area?

This past semester I wished I grew on my confidence when leading group discussion or leading a group facilitation. Because classes all turned online, we weren’t able to do them in person. I also isolated myself from my schoolwork because I thought I could still pass with doing the bare minimum or nothing at all, so I also lost the opportunity to do this online over zoom. My confidence has always been something I wanted to work because I know I struggle with it. I can only hope that with the KNR classes to come I am able to work on this and succeed to the best of my ability.

Title:	Monsters University; Scare Games
Leaders:	Agali Chacon
# of participants:	20-24 Students
Ages:	Young Adolescence (8-10 years old)
Theme:	The movie: Monsters University
Ideal Location:	The ideal location for this facilitation would be in a gymnasium. We should avoid being around big crowds of people not involved to prevent the activities from being interrupted.
Equipment	-Minimum of 20 scooters -Minimum of 24 orange cones -24 images of characters from the movie to place on the cones -Minimum of 20 foam balls -8 bins -Minimum of 8 wiffle ball rackets   -50 pieces of paper with an image or phrase (Their will be duplicates) DON’T FORGET to include equipment for your group division and back pocket activity.

Pre-Activity Diagram:

Goal & Objectives:

The goal of this facilitation is to work on the student’s team building skills which will focus on their communication and listening skills.   Objective 1. Given the scooters, the students will be able to work as a team to get across the cones and build a trust with another. Objective 2. Given the wiffle ball rackets for the activity, the students will be able to communicate with one another using only a limited number of their senses to successfully complete the activity and improve on their teamwork. Objective 3. Given the instructions and the papers with images on it, the students will be able to improve on their listening skills in order to find the way to the other side of the maze.

Risk Management Concerns:

One risk management concern that may occur would be an incident with the scooters, as in hurting someone’s fingers or falling off. The leader should take charge of this by going over safely regulations and precautions with the students, to prevent this from occurring as well as when the activity is accuring to have it in their minds.   Another risk management concern that may occur would be with the wiffle ball rackets in case a student isn’t paying attention to the space between themselves and another student and accidently gets hit with it. The leader should express how important it is to not swing the racket, but to only use it to lift the foam balls to the other basket.

Length	Facilitation Portion	Description	Leader Name
>1 min	Facilitation Attention getter	Hello Everyone. Gather around. Is everyone familiar with the movie monster’s inc or university? (Response) Yes! Well today I am welcoming you to your first day in training for the scare program, after the obstacle courses for the scare games we have planned for today, you will all make it to be scare monsters. Whoo!! Whos excited?	Agali Chacon – will be leading full facilitation
>2 min	Facilitation Introduction	How are you all doing today? (Response) That’s great to hear. My name is Agali Chacon. Today in the events we have planned for the scare games we will be putting to then test the qualities and skills you all have in order to become an official scare monster. We will be looking at your team building skills first. Who’s ready to get started? Let’s go!
7 min	Icebreaker	Name of activity: One of a kind Instructions for facilitator to complete/set up prior to facilitation: None Script: To learn everyone’s name and get familiar with one another, we are going to go around and introduce ourselves, but with a twist. Before you say your name, you will say the monster you want to be and describe the way you would see yourself if you were in the movie. Get creative everyone, remember to think outside of the box and there is an endless number of monsters out there. Describe the color, height, or any unique qualities. Does anyone have any questions? (Response) No questions, great. Let’s get started.
2 min	Group Division	I’m going to need you all to get into 4 groups of 5. I will assign you all a number between 1-5 and till I make my way all the way around and everyone is in a designated group. You will be in a group with your other classmates that have the same number as you. Now team 1 can go to the far-right corner, team 2 right next to them, then team 3 follow, and lastly team 4 at the other end. Make sure to spread out and give each other enough room to start the activity. You will be keeping these groups for the rest of the day.
12 min	Activity 1	Name of activity: Take on the Monster Instructions for facilitator to complete/set up prior to facilitation: The 24 orange cones will be placed around the gym, 6 individual ones for each group. The cones will be disguised as monsters, a picture will be taped onto them.  5 scooters will be placed for each group. Script: Alright, everyone. The goal for this activity will be take on the monsters placed around the gym and make it across to the other side safely, you will all need to hold hands while on the scooters to stay connected as one big monster. Remember for those at the front or the end to not put your hand underneath the scooter and be careful when making your way down using your feet. Work as a team and communicate when making turns and the speed of one another. The team who finishes first, gets extra points for becoming the best scare monsters at the end. Variation: If one student falls from the scooter or they let go of one another and break their connection, they will need to go back and start over. Everyone get ready (wait till ready) and START!!!
1 min	Transition	Congratulations to team (blank)! You all did amazing taking on the monsters and making it to the end as a team. You all are one step closer to becoming scare monsters. Keep up the god teamwork and communication, you can all go get a drink of water and take a quick break while we start to set up for the next activity.
13 min	Activity 2	Name of activity: We got a “2319” Instructions for facilitator to complete/set up prior to facilitation: There will 2 bins for each group. One will be placed in front of them and the second across the gym. The one closest to the students will have 5 foam balls. Each group will have 2 wiffle ball rackets. Script: Now moving onto the scare games, we have “2319” Yes, you heard that right, “2319” the dangerous human toys toxic to monsters. For this activity you will; be working in pairs from your team to get the “human toys” from one bin to the other using the wiffle ball rackets. One person from the team will be going twice. The first team to finish will again win extra points to become the best scare monsters of the day. Everyone get ready and remember to not let the “human toys” touch you or fall on the floor since they are dangerous. Have fun, and let’s get started, there is one twist. I will be taking away one of your senses, once you start you will not be able to speak to one another. Variation: If a student drops one of the foam balls, they will need to place it back in the bin and start over.
1 min	Transition	Congratulations to team (blank)! Great job everyone on not letting the “human toys” touch you. You all did amazing job using your communication skills without speaking to one another. Here comes the last and final game, you can take a quick break and get some water before we start the final game.
12 min	Activity 3	Name of activity: Scare levels Instructions for facilitator to complete/set up prior to facilitation: There will be 50 pieces of paper spread out across the floor with an image of characters from both movies. Script: Alright guys, we’ve made it to the end of the scare games. Now you, and your team will have to get across the gym by guessing the characters I will be describing. I will say “step on a character that is green” you will them choose someone who is green, there may be more than one option. There will be more than one way to get to the other side, the first team to get all their members over wins as the ultimate scare monsters once the extra points are added on. Variation: The twist with this is that you might get trapped depending on the way you choose so then you would have to take a step on the characters that I say after, so follow along but instead of going forward you would just go back and start from there.
7 min	Debrief	I would just like to point out how great of a job you all did communicating with one another and really focusing on your team building skills. You are all ready to become official scare monsters. Did you all enjoy the games today?Which one was your favorite?What is one thing you learned from all 3 activities? Do you think you took something away from here today when working as a team together? Was there something that went wrong you would do differently if you had the chance to redo it? Do you feel as though your communication skills improved?
2 min	Conclusion	Alright guys, you all had some good things to say and comments to make about the activities we did today. I hope with the scooter race, the human toy activity, and the maze, it helped with your communications skills with one another and will be able to use it in the future. The ultimate scare monsters’ team who won today is (blank)!! Congratulations don’t forget everyone did an incredible job! You are all scare monsters. Before we all leave, can everyone please grab the pieces of paper and bring them to the front.
If needed*	Transition to back Pocket Activity	So far everyone has done a great job, keep up the good work. We are going to keep practicing on our team building skills and continuing with another activity.
If needed*	Back Pocket Activity	Name of activity: Avoid the monster Instructions for facilitator to complete/set up prior to facilitation: This will be a whole class activity. There will be 18 foam balls spread out across the gym, once one person gets illuminated, then it will go down to 17, 16, 15 and so on until there is one winner. Script: Alright everyone, spread out around the room, and keep your distance between one another. The foam balls are a safety net for the monsters, so they don’t get picked to go behind a door. There will be one toxic monster who got touched by a human toy, so if he touches you, you will lose. If you pick up a foam ball before he reaches you, you will be safe. Everyone be safe and just tap each other when you are getting caught. Let’s go! Variation: If it is a close call as to when someone picked up a foam ball, it will be settled with a rock, paper, scissors challenge to not have do overs or be unfair to other students.

Volunteering is something important that I personally believe people should be encouraged to give back to their communities or have it related to things they are passionate about.  When one devotes their own time to do something for an organization or event it gives a sense of accomplishment. I volunteered at the Corn Crib Stadium for their Easter Egg hunt the previous year and I went with my sorority sisters. I really enjoyed this experience because it was a good opportunity to not only build more bonds with my sorority sisters but also give back to the community and be able to see the smiling faces on the kids when they were participating in the different activities. This event would be categorized as a Non-profit event for the Bloomington-Normal community.

The major purpose for this event is to provide families from the community with a fun, safe, interactive and positive environment. This event is to celebrate the Easter Holiday and for some families this can be a yearly tradition they do or other are just now starting to go. I was assigned to scatter the Easter eggs around the field in my designated area for children within a certain age rage. With my group we had about 3-4 buckets with Easter eggs, they were all filled with candy, stickers, etc. and we had to lay them all around to cover the field. Near the entrance they had a variety of stands with different games, activities, and raffles to take part of, which were also held by volunteers. There are so many activities to do that it keeps all the families busy and engaged in the event. The town of Normal organizes this event and they do a good job of keeping it for all these years and continuing to host this event because they recycle the eggs and bins and other games. They target to get volunteers in the community but also to the college students and most organizations on campus to participate as a group to complete their community service hours.

When I signed up for the event, they did not have us do any pre-training. They just had us come in before the Easter Egg hunt started and those who were taking charge of it went over rules, expectations and an agenda on how everything was going to go for the volunteers. I learned to not be afraid to speak up for myself but also for the activity that I was put in charge of because some of the students would not stay behind the lines or would go to a go to the scavenger hunt beside us to get double the eggs. In this case I had to take charge of the situation and let them know how the activities were planned. I definitely gained more patience and how to handle different situations. I thought the whole experience was fun and the overall turnout was major success, so I personally would not change what they do or how they organize the event since it all worked out in their favor. It is always good to go into an event or environment with a positive mindset and an open mind especially if it is your first-time volunteering because you won’t know what to expect or how the day will go. I see this event growing in the following years because it is open and free to the public, it is an opportunity for family and friends to create memories together and stay involved in the community.

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Blog Post #1

We are all leaders in this world, it just comes down to the question of what type of leader you are? After personally taking the Clifton Strengths Student Assessment, my highest strengths were Includer, Adaptability, Restorative, Futuristic, and achiever. Gallup, Inc.  (2012). [ Agali Chacon ]: Your Signature Themes Report.)

In my viewpoint, I see all of the following as being 

• Includer: Someone who is always welcoming everyone no matter the situation or circumstance, never leaving anyone with the feeling of being excluded from something. 
• Adaptability: Being able to cherish every moment without hesitation and always having an open mindset to going on adventures or trying new things out that are out of your comfort zone. Tend to go with the flow because you never know what will come your way. 
• Restorative: Being a people pleaser, putting others before yourself in the sense of always wanting to help whether it be something small or big, it still makes all the difference. 
• Futuristic: Always having the mindset of thinking above and beyond and never setting limits for yourself but always exceeding your expectations. 
• Achiever: Having an outlook on life to always want to make a difference or change in your everyday life, having a sense of accomplishment. Staying true to your goals and not worrying about how others are defining your accomplishments or day to day choices. 

The theme I’m most encouraged to utilize throughout the course of KNR 171 would be futuristic. I personally feel as though this would benefit me because when working on group projects or on individual tasks, the greatest opportunity you can give is to always challenge yourself to do more than what you set your mind to. This allows for growth not only personally but professionally and being confident when presenting your work. In this class we focus on improving our leadership skills as well as learning about others and building off of each other’s strengths and weaknesses. 

When I think of effective leadership the first words that come into mind are organization, communication, and confidence. In the textbook titled, “Leadership in Leisure Services, Making a Difference”, it lists a variety of leadership styles which are unique to each individual based on their strengths and characteristics. We all can work together by collaborating, exchanging and developing off of each other’s ideas in the classroom but also with daily obstacles we face in our fields of work or in the real world.

I would like to consider myself as a good and efficient leader because of the experiences I have had in my life and the opportunities that have come up. I am part of a sorority here on campus at Illinois State University (ISU) called Gamma Phi Omega International Sorority Inc., through my time in being a member of this organization I have had the opportunity to hold the secretary position, which came with responsibilities such as reserving rooms, keeping track of fines, creating agendas, updating our chapter calendar, as well as reminding sisters of upcoming events. This was something I had to manage on my own, and not only keep myself accountable but also my sisters. I have held other positions such as community service and marketing chair, but I was also our delegate for our United Greek Council here at ISU. I was in charge of making decisions on the spot for my chapter and voting on date approvals, required attendance at events, etc. I have had multiple jobs in the past years, but I have always gotten feedback from my managers letting me know, I am a hardworking employee. I currently work at a McDonald’s and it has happened a handful of times where the managers have had to step out and do other work and have left me in charge to run the front of the store. It is intimidating, but I need to make decisions to make sure we are completing everyone’s order in a timely manner. I also work for the Sorority and Fraternity life office as a Greek Ambassador, I do presentations on what greek life is, and what to expect if and when a student decides to join one. I was always scared to get up and talk to a group of students, but now I’m more comfortable and I know I can only keep on improving from there.

As a leader, I always tend to accommodate others and make sure their input is implemented in what we are working on. Everyone’s voice should be heard and being able to implement it all takes creativity and organization to receive the same or an even better outcome. I have been in the wrong sometimes, and when that occurs we just need to move on and learn from it, so when something similar occurs again we don’t take the wrong path. I also think encouraging one another when working or saying something is useful because it provides some type of feedback. 

Everyone has qualities they are most proud of and for me that would be how good of a listener I can be; I take others considerations into play. I believe I have the determination to keep others accountable for their work. I know if something is supposed to be worked on for a greater time period than usual I tend to try to emphasize the importance of working on it earlier. I am also very well at thinking on my feet, so if something does not work out how it should be, we can adapt to what went wrong and continue or always have a back up plan or idea for precaution. 

I will be writing a short letter to myself after the course KNR 171 is completed.

Dear future Agali, 

Through the experiences and hands on exposure to practicing your leadership skills throughout this course, I would hope you feel more comfortable when having to lead group discussions or feeling confident enough if and when you need to come up with a recreational activity to ensure you get the best outcome. I hope when you are put in a position to express your leadership skills, you are able to take the proper steps and execute your performance with no hesitation. All it takes is that leap of faith and not giving up on yourself to staying motivated and having the mindset to keep on improving. 

Sincerely, 

Agali (At the end of the KNR 171 course)

Volunteering is important wherever you are in life because it gives a sense of giving back to the community as well as worldwide. It gives you a feeling of accomplishing and making a change whether it be something small or big.  I volunteered at Sugar Creek Alzheimer’s Special Care Center in Normal, IL. I had never really worked with patients that have been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s or different cases of Dementia before. I was walking into this care center open minded and ready to take on any challenges and just enjoy my time there to be able to get the most out of this experience.

The sector was focused on senior perspective. I enjoyed this experience greatly because it was very eye opening. Throughout the day, I was in the activity room with all the patients and they had an itinerary for their entire day to keep them busy and active. I helped organize the arts and crafts with the worker and distributed them out. She had me take the age range on the arts and crafts off because she said some may take offense if they noticed it was for 2-6 years old’s. One thing that all the patient’s did enjoy was playing trivia. I had a book that had a variety of categories to choose from for example there was one about riddles. For example I would read “What came first, the chicken or the (blank).” They all screamed out egg, which made me laugh because they were all so exited to answer. There was also topics that I would ask “What are some things you would keep in your purse/wallet?” Many of them said debit/credit cards, cash, ID, etc. which were all right, but I got the answer of debit/credit cards about 10 times within the span of 3-4 minutes. All you can really do is say good job and let them know their answer was good. At first I thought this was all just to keep them busy and not be bored because they are their 24/7, but then I realized it was more than that. The purpose for doing these activities was to keep their minds active and thinking constantly.

From when I first walked in, I noticed the building was very secure and kept very organized. I was able to get a tour once I was buzzed into the space. The lady told me that the layout of the senior living home was based on how far along in the stages the patients were. They kept those who needed more assistance in the back and those who could move around independently in the front. They had a sun room, dining area, quiet room, activity room, and movie room, they had a variety of things for them to do. Depending on where the patients were they would need to be wheeled into the room or lunch/dinner etc. There were a handful of workers walking around and assisting those to the bathroom, etc. I did notice some of the patients as the workers if they were staying over night or if someone else would be coming in, so they have workers all around the clock.

Through this experience, I really learned to not take anything for granted. I always try to visit my family in Mexico, and I like to live in the moment and enjoy the time I have with them because as sad as it sounds, you never know if it could be your last time being with a loved one. There was this lady who was so shocked when her son who was probably in his 40’s come visit her, she even asked him if there was a special occasion or something, and her son answered no. When this happened, I got to thinking how many family members actually come visit the patients here at the care center. Another lady got upset and started yelling out “get me out of here, I can’t stay here anymore” because the lady visiting her was leaving. I definitely feel a lot of people here stories. but never actually see it first hand and it is hard to see, and deal with.

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