(MEETING THE PRESIDENT AND CEO) Tuesday, June 15th

Tuesday morning, we started out the day listening to Julia Wulf speak to us about maximizing the blood region experience. Julia is the Chief Executive Officer of the Lewis and Clark Biomedical Services Region (the Utah, Oregon, area). She has been the CEO since 2004. She gave us some great tips including leadership according to Julia: “find your passion, be prepares, team diversity, work/life balance, value kindness, and leading vs. managing.” We also asked her how she wants to be remembered. She responded by saying, “I want to be remembered as a leader who cared and had great ideas and her region wouldn’t be where it is at without her.” She was really inspirational and I really enjoyed hearing her input and leadership advice!We then had another workshop with Rob Haworth, this one focusing on growth mindset.

Fixed mindset is when you believe intelligence and talent are fixed, whereas growth mindset is when you believe intelligence and talent can be cultivated. Having a growth mindset will get you places; on the other hand, fixed mindset may get you nowhere. Intelligence and talent are important qualities to have, but if you don’t believe you can get smarter or become better at what you love, you’re crazy! Rob also spoke to us about covenants. A covenant is a solemn agreement to do or keep from doing a specified thing. At first, I didn’t really know what to think of the idea, but the more the group talked about it, we decided we would build our own covenant for our 2010 class of student-athletes. We thought of different things we would all agree to do at our separate schools and we filmed them and presented the covenant to Brian and Jennifer on our last day at work.

We then had lunch with Rob and Staci again before heading down to the headquarters office where we could get to spend a few moments with Gail McGovern, the President and CEO of the American Red Cross. Gail has also help top management positions at AT&T Corporation and Fidelity Investments and she has also taught at Harvard Business School. In 2000 and 2001, Gail was recognized by Fortune Magazine as one of the top 50 most powerful women in corporate America. Gail was by far my favorite speaker, and even though we got to spend only a few minutes with her, her thoughts and advice I will always remember. She said “if you want it, you can have it.” Although, that is a little farfetched in some aspects, I think it is inspiring because if set your goals high, your life will be full of possibilities and opportunities!

After work, I was so exhausted; I went back to the dorms and passed out for a few hours. After getting some beauty rest, the girls headed out for an ice cream run; this time Conie Island was our destination! There was a park nearby, so we went there and ate our ice cream. Before you know it, with all the cheerleaders in our group, we were learning cheerleading moves. What a sight! It was so much fun, and the girls in this group are especially close!

(WORKING WITH OUR CEOs) Monday, June 14th

The first day of week 2!! It has come to the point that all of us are so close, it’s crazy! Monday morning, we were all pumped up for our workshops with Rob Haworth. Rob is the vice President for Champions of Character and has been since July of 2008. Before his role as Vice President, he was the superintendent of Warsaw Community Schools in Warsaw, Indiana. Rob spent the morning with us focusing on the Core values of the NAIA and also on finding our locus of control. The core values of the NAIA are integrity, respect, responsibility, sportsmanship, and servant leadership. I think these values are what makes the NAIA so great and what separates us from the NCAA. I really enjoyed Rob’s workshop with us and a quote that I grabbed from his presentation was “if character development is not your first priority, then all your other priorities are at risk.” This quote will definitely stay with me for years to come!

We then worked on our strategic plans for an hour before our lunch with Rob Haworth and Staci Schottman. Our plan was coming along very well and we had just thought of a interacting game for our presentation. After lunch, Sharon Jaksa was our next speaker. Sharon graduated from Michigan State and she currently is the Chief Executive Officer in the Great Lakes Region in Lansing MI with the American Red Cross. Sharon talked to us about maximizing the blood region experience and her insights were helpful for what we should and shouldn’t do when conducting our blood drives.

We then were each filmed for the NAIA student filming. We were asked to repeat a long phrase and then speak about what the NAIA Champion of Character core values meant to each of us. I get so nervous when I have to speak in front of people, so it was extremely nerve racking in front of a camera! We the continued to plan for our presentations for Friday until about four when we headed back to the dorms to get ready for the reception!

The reception was so much fun. There were so many interesting people to talk to; it was a great networking event! Sam and I worked the room real good, we had awesome conversations with everyone especially Nadia Mitchem, who would be speaking to us later in the week, and also with Sharon Jaksa’s daughter who was heading to Africa to work in an orphanage that next week. It’s amazing how one conversation could get you that big interview in a few years!

After the reception, we went back to the dorms, changed and decided we needed some Ben &Jerry’s. At this point in the trip, I am starting to love all our ice cream runs and all the different flavors at Ben & Jerry’s. Since I’m so picky and like only cheesecake flavored, Ben and Jerry’s is amazing because its strawberry cheesecake! YUM! Later in the night, Jon and I decided we were hungry so Jon, Patrick, and I headed out to find some food! We ended up eating at this little hole in the wall, Lindy’s pub and grill, but it was delicious!

(SHOPPING) Sunday, June 13

Since Sunday was the only day in the trip that we were given the day off, I used it to my full advantage to sleep in. My roommate Amber and I both woke up around noon and received a text that a group was heading to The Hard Rock Café in about a half hour. We got ready quickly and along with Olivia, were out the door in fifteen minutes. Hard Rock Café was awesome! I had only been in one other one in Puerto Rico so it was a ton of fun for me! I bought the souvenir cup for my mom and a shirt for myself!

After lunch, Amber, Olivia, and I grabbed a cab and headed to Georgetown for some quality shopping! After shopping for a few hours, we headed back to the dorms to regroup with everyone to head to Arlington Cemetery before dinner. We were a little rushed at Arlington since it was a little longer walk than expected. But after watching the changing of the guards, we headed back to our metro stop-foggy bottom. We then walked the few block and met up with Brian, Jennifer. We had dinner at Bertucci’s, an amazing Italian restaurant with Rob Haworth (Vice President for Champions of Character at the NAIA) and Staci Schottman (Director of Public Relations and Communications at the NAIA). Rob and Staci had pre-ordered our meals and they were delicious!! Having dinner with Rob and Staci got everyone excited for the next two days we would be spending with them.

(D.C TOUR!!) Saturday, June 12th

We headed out from the dorms around 9:30 to start our tour of Washington D.C. We went everywhere you could imagine that day. I loved it! We started on the metro station and got off at Union Station where Jennifer handed each of us questions and we started our tour at Union Station where there was a lot of history.

Our next stop was the Supreme Court; we didn’t get a chance to go in but we took pictures outside. After that, we went to the Library of Congress, which was my favorite building in all of D.C. It was absolutely beautiful inside and all of the books! I was in heaven! At the Library of Congress, I bought a book on Martin Luther King Jr., and also a silver pendant. We then walked past the Capitol where we learned that the Armed Liberty faces the east because the sun never sets on freedom. We also learned that the Lincoln Memorial faces General Lee so he could get his revenge on Lee. Lee is buried on his land plot which is also Arlington Cemetery so he can look at all of the graves for eternity. JFK was also at Arlington days before his death so he is also buried above Arlington. We then went to the Botanical Gardens, which were gorgeous! We tried some jumping in the air group pictures and failed miserably before heading to the National Art Gallery for lunch.

After the National Art Gallery, where we took some great pictures, we headed to the Holocaust Museum. The Holocaust Museum was, if I had to make a choice, my favorite part of the entire trip. I learned so much that I believe I would have never learned from a history course, it was so real.

Amber, Patrick, Sam, and I ended up being the last ones out of the museum so we headed back to the dorms together. We were sort of looking for food and shopping, and we ended up being a very long ways away from the dorms! Patrick started a little documentary on his camcorder device of our death march back home. It was about 95 degrees and so humid that day and we had already been outside or walking since 10 am. We finally got back to the dorms around 6 o’clock after walking for over an hour! The rest of the night we all just hung out.