Shad Valley – Catching the Spirit

The activity portion of our CSL project was a resounding success!

Our group arrived early to help arrange equipment, and were given a sharp rap by the reality stick as to the job ahead: clearing holly has almost no direct comparison to routine garden maintenance where dandelions or other weeds can be cleared with with just your hands. Holly is not only very prickly–necessitating heavy gloves–but often also requires large pruning shears, bow saws, shovels, and pick-axes to actually bring the tree down!

The day was split into two parts, with half of the Shad Valley students working on bring down the holly trees and bundling the trimmings, and half participating in a guided learning tours of the parks. The tour involved learning components on invasive species, introduction to the local flora and fauna, and neat wildlife tricks such as which coniferous trees made the best insect repellent.

Everyone worked very hard–especially the group that fought for three hours to bring down a particularly large tree–and the PSP volunteers were kind enough to extend a permanent invitation to future years’ Shad Valley students to help with the hauling as well. Big thank-you to all the volunteers and organizers of the day!

Through a variety of means, MECH410E helped me gain a deepened understanding of the inter-connected nature of global challenges and leadership through service.  The chance to teach the high school students of the 2011 Shad Valley UBC Program by facilitating a workshop was an opportunity for me to share these understandings in a meaningful and applicable way. 

The decision to speak about design thinking and integrated project management sprung from the idea that “the Shads” are assigned a design problem to work on during their one month stay at the university.  Through lectures and activities they are able to come up with a design solution and business model. 

Through a variety of small group activities the group discussed a few approaches to the design cycle as well as how the issue of multi-disciplinary teams plays into projects and design.  One question I asked them to answer was: What are the benefits of working in multi-disciplinary teams?  The drawbacks?  Their answers covered anything from response like how “having different views can help provide insight to all areas of the project, resulting in well defined and fully achieved goals” and “having easily definable roles for members due to their different disciplinary backgrounds” for benefits.  Drawbacks included things like “communication” and “certain members having to do more work than others due to their disciplinary backgrounds”. 

Using the activity of the 5 Whys? and the Silly Cow, the group learned a few approaches for how to deal with issues that might arise within a project group, possibly due to inadequate multi-disciplinary teamwork.  Overall I think “the Shads” learned a few things about design thinking and project management that can be applied to their projects this summer and into the future (while having fun of course!)

We had our Pre-reflection with the Shad Valley students on July 16. The Pre-reflection went fantastic!  We presented a few PowerPoint slides and did a little bit of an introduction on what Community Service Learning (CSL) is about. The Shad’s were then split into three groups and asked the ‘What’, ‘Who’, and ‘Why’ of what the they thought of the concept of CSL: What does CSL mean to you/What comes to mind when you think of CSL, Who does (or should do) CSL/Who benefits from CSL, and Why is CSL valuable/important/not necessary. After around 10 minutes of discussion within their groups, the groups then shared their answers. All the answers were awesome, and we ended up discussing about whether CSL should be mandatory for high school students. But of course, there is no solution to the problem. Some thought that CSL should be mandatory because it is good for the community, but some believed that it will take away the genuineness of serving others. Before the end of the Pre-reflection, we re-did the What, Who, Why exercise specifically with regards to Pacific Spirit Park.

Eric

Shad Valley is a four week summer enrichment program. Students spend a month living in residence at one of the host university campuses across Canada. The program is offered to students currently completing grade 10, 11 or 12, Quebec secondaire IV, V or CEGEP I, or the international equivalent.

With workshops and lectures that focus on the sciences, engineering, technology and entrepreneurship, the program provides an academically stimulating, mind expanding adventure for top well-rounded students. Students will also enjoy team-building exercises, recreational activities and the opportunity to explore local attractions.

For 30 years, Shad Valley has provided over 11,000 students with some of the most challenge, fun and inspiration they’ve ever experienced, a network of friends and connections for life, and a competitive advantage in planning their future.

For more information, please visit the Shad Valley Website.