Collaboration, Conferences, and Capitol Conquering

As I sat on the curb of the deserted light rail station at a quarter to midnight waiting for a cab, I couldn't help but wonder...with all this transportation that surrounds me, how do I still lack a destination?

That doesn't really relate to anything. I just wanted to start this entry with a Carrie Bradshaw-esque prompt, haha. However, I did find myself a bit stranded this weekend...let me explain...

Emily and I enjoyed some fabulous visitors this weekend in the form of Ashley Sousa and Jon (Jon...JON...JON!) Hess. Ashley came up on Friday after work (Emily and I were off. Furlough day. Loves it!), and the three of us went down to Socals, spent some QT in the hot tub and had an overall relaxing day. On Saturday, Jon arrived, fresh from his motorcycle trip to Seattle and back. (And I use the term "fresh" loosely. He really needed a shower.) Saturday was also Second Saturday, so we all headed downtown to check out the various galleries that were open, street vendors, and general chaos of downtown Sac. After a nice dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory (and I also use the term "dinner" loosely, as I just had 5 diet cokes since I had eaten a Mr. Pickle's sandwich before we left -- delish!) and providing our waiter, David, with his fill of sass for an evening, we peaced out. Well, quelle surprise, we find ourselves heading the wrong direction on the last light rail train of the evening. So there we are, having gotten off the train immediately after realizing the error of our ways, at the deserted Sac City College station.

To further my general annoyance with public transit in Sacramento, no cab company seems to understand where we are at. Apparently saying "the City College light rail stop" is crazy talk to them. At one point, my frustration boils over, and I say "Ma'am, are you familiar with the light rail in Sacramento? I feel like it's a fairly prominent feature of the city." Fortunately a cab does come to claim us (and the driver ended up being a pretty cool dude who even turned off the meter while he went out of the way to find us an ATM), and after an extensive national search we finally get to Hilltop to quench our thirst and play a few rounds of shuffle board. After a nice Chipotle lunch the next day, we wave goodbye to our guests. Come visit again soon?

On the internship front, things have been going swimmingly. You can now browse Emily and I's learning objectives on the right side of the blog, but I thought I would give you a little bit better sense of what my general tasks have been in this first few weeks. My two big projects for the semester revolve around Summer Bridge (an Equal Opportunity Program for traditionally under-represented students to take courses over the summer before they their first full semester of college) and the SO&L Fall Leadership Conference. For the former, our office coordinates a 1 credit leadership course for the students, and Karlos and I have been working on developing the curriculum (which is going to include a leadership assessment that I will be designing -- the Sproul Leadership Inventory? Has a good ring to it!). Of the two projects, this is by far the most collaborative thus far. Summer Bridge is not our program, and we only coordinate one piece of the puzzle, so it has been interesting to see how the Summer Bridge director, Vivienne, coordinates the program by juggling the needs and wants of the SB faculty, the EOP higher-ups, and our piece.

A common theme of this project has been flexibility. When I first started the internship, Karlos was still in the dark as to what changes EOP would impose on the LS 79 (the official name of the Leadership Course) schedule. More recently, we just found out that 24 students from South Korea will be attending two class sessions of LS 79 due to a collaboration between EOP and the College of Continuing Education, which adds some logistical speed bumps for Karlos and I that we are in the process of navigating.

My other project is a little more self-directed. While SB and the LS 79 course offers me the chance to dive into completely new waters and see how our piece fits into the goals of a larger and mostly academically-driven system, the Leadership Conference is exciting in that it's pretty much my baby. The SO&L office coordinates a 1-day leadership conference for approximately 150-200 student leaders. Everything from theme, to marketing, to programming and sessions, to assessment, to corporate partnerships, and beyond is pretty much mine for the developing, which is incredibly exciting. (Once I have the teaser promos ready for the students, I will post them here as well.) The office is really looking for a conference that brings in a critical thinking/self exploration piece for the students, so the conference is not solely about the specifics of leading an organization, and I hope I am up to the task!

Finally, the wrap up this already excessively long post, I have a new summer goal. I live only 4 miles away from the state capitol building, and by the end of the summer I would like to run from my apartment to the steps of the capitol and back. I am calling it Conquering the Capitol. I will keep you all updated on my progress!