Fun and Unique Ice Breakers for Scrapbook Crops

SES Retreats

Students Engaging Students (SES) hosts a retreat for its members every semester in order to further bond existing members and to incorporate the new members. Sometimes, these retreats take place on-campus and have various themes and planned events. This year's retreat was themed "Survivor." However, SES also hosts out-of-town retreats at local outdoor camps that strengthen bonds between members and cultivates leadership.

My favorite retreat was during the Fall semester of my Sophomore year. We traveled to an outdoor camping facility within the wilderness of Bellefonte. It was my third semester in SES and I was still trying to integrate and connect with other members. I must say that this retreat changed my experience with SES. Previously, I had not been to a retreat. However, after this retreat, I made it a point to make it to the majority of my remaining retreats. We participated in, and even technically failed at, various activities and grew as an organization and, more importantly, friends. SES retreats shaped my experience with leadership and had defined my time at Penn State.

By: Christina Rohe

Christina #2

Happy Quarters

Happy Quarters is one of the simplest things that we do in SES, however, it is also one of the most meaningful. It is the last thing we do at each Monday night meeting and it allows everyone to leave feeling, well you know, happy. It starts with one member of the organization depositing any change or dollars they have into the Happy Quarters Jar. Since we are poor college students sometimes even just a smile will do! The member then says basically anything that is on their mind that makes them happy and that they are thankful for. This can range from something like "I'm happy my class was cancelled today." All the way to "I'm happy my brother is getting married and he asked me to be the best man!" No matter how little or how small everyone always says something.

There are two main reasons why this thing we do it so great. The first is that it makes you realize how lucky you are to be at Penn State and to be part of an organization with such amazing people. No matter how tough of a day you may be having, the Happy Quarter activity always makes you realize that your life actually is good. Expressing this and sharing it with peers and friends makes that happy feeling even better! The second reason why this activity is so great is because it really allows you to get to know the other members of the organization. While everyone has such crazy busy schedules it can be hard to find the time to really get to know everyone; however, with this activity every week you get to hear an update on how each members lives are going and you are always eager to hear what they have to say next! Happy Quarters gives us a wake up call and reminds us how fortunate we really are in the grand scheme of things while allowing us to stay connected in the other member's lives.

By: Mike McCarren

Mike M (2)

Into the Streets: Faith Centre

For my very first Into the Streets I went to the Faith Center over in Bellefonte. I went with Dan and Lynn, two top members of Students Engaging Students and we ended up having a blast! When we got there we were merrily greeted by the staff, and at first I was frankly shocked by the sheer amount of stuff that there was in the Faith Centre. It was filled to the brim with great clothing and accessories that I kind of wish we had more time to look around but alas there was a job that needed doing and our merry band of three were off to find out what they needed from us.

Well towards the back of the Faith Centre, they have a separate hall where they keep all of their donated food, and that thankfully was quite packed. They wanted us to organize the foods as with the labels they had scattered about the large pantry. It seemed that it would take a lot longer than the time we had but thanks to good spirit, motivation from Lynn's phone blasting One Republic and Katy Perry, we soldiered on and managed to get the task done even faster than we needed! Well we didn't want to leave the Faith Centre before the time was done, so they then sent us to organize the donated clothing by age and gender and we soon embarked upon that adventure.

Before we knew it our time was up, we were tired but feeling very content. As we were leaving, the Faith Centre provided us a great meal with a huge pile of brownies, delicious sandwiches, and the always jolly Jim to get us what we needed. It was a great way to begin and end my first Into the Streets and I'm looking forward to doing many more!

By: Sam Rakowski

Sam (2)

SES Retreat

When ten o'clock rolled around on the morning of Spring Retreat, I'll be honest… I was not too thrilled about the idea of crawling out from under my blanket cave. Once I made it outside, my suffering continued as I trudged through the wonderful wintery sludge, with an added wind whip to the face every five seconds. But upon my arrival, my mood took a turn for the better with the warm greetings I received from fellow SESers.

As a new member, I was a little nervous about the group activities, since I don't really know many of the members too well yet. But SES was true to its name and I was immediately enthralled with the activities. The energy in the room was terrific. Prioritizing items for survival in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean turned into animated conversations about survival TV shows like "Naked and Afraid" and "Man vs. Wild." The silly energizers like "Advanced Twister" with SESers balancing in awkward positions back to back and the human chain were definitely noteworthy. Oh and let's not forget Canyon Wings. Greasy chicken is never a bad idea, and I feel that we all bonded over its divine flavor.

On a more serious note, Charleon definitely made an impact on SES. I'm sure all of us have done activities to help us understand what it's like for underprivileged kids, or just kids who don't fit in. But I feel that Charleon's activity was unconventional, and I mean that in the best sense of the word. She did a magnificent job of preparing and treating each of the "social" groups in a specific manner, and I think it's safe to say that a lot of us had some "Aha!" moments when we reflected back afterwards. On an ending note, my personal favorite activity was the tap reflection. Anonymous recognition is an amazing feeling, and it really made me feel closer to fellow SESers. I'm pretty glad I got out of bed for that SESsy Sunday afternoon.

By: Molly Ripp

Molly #2

SES Spring Retreat!

As you all know we had a spring retreat on February 9^th. It was so much fun! I loved how we were all engaged and in tune with each other. To start off, we all did a profile page for the very first SES Year Book. We colored with markers and chatted over our favorite memories since we joined the wonderful organization that is SES. Next we did an icebreaker in which we paired up and followed commands like foot to foot or head to head. It tested our balance and our team work.

We had Wings Over and Canyon Pizza for lunch. It was really tasty and we all enjoyed so much that food was taken home at the end of the retreat. We also did some team building while testing our survival skills. Later on, we had a special guest. Charleon Jefferies, the Coordinator of Diversity Education from the Affirmative Action Office here at Penn State gave us an educating and enlightening activity to do. We all learned some things about diversity on this campus and how different we all are. Lastly, we all did an activity that really helped us to connect more as a group and we took time to appreciate one another. Overall, I think that everyone who participated in the Spring Retreat had a lot of fun and it was a very good program!

By: Jalyn Taylor

Shaver's Creek ITS

My first ITS will probably be one of my all-time favorites. The new members of SES all got the chance to volunteer at a beautiful nature center called Shaver's Creek. With another strike of luck, we volunteered on the weekend of the Maple Harvest Festival. Upon our arrival, we quickly realized how deep in the woods we were. There was absolutely no service, and our group had to walk for about 10 minutes along a nature trail to get to the actual center. There we were cordially greeted by a member of Shaver's Creek nature center, given name tags, and a ticket for two free sausages. Little did I know a delectable breakfast awaited us just around the corner. Those. Pancakes. I still dream about them.

From there, we were split up into different groups. Some SESers manned the kitchen, my group oversaw the breakfast area (I wasn't too upset about that), and some of the late-arrivers were given the job of being human traffic cones in the parking lot. As long as you are with other SESers, there is never a dull moment while volunteering. I was accompanied by Ali and Jack, and we made a game out of keeping the breakfast area spotless. We also played trivia games with some other volunteers. Not to mention the fact that I ran into a kid from my art class as well as my sociobiology professor!

Everyone who worked or volunteered there was very friendly. When the breakfast area got slow, we were allowed to take a break and explore the festival. There were different stations set up; my favorite station demonstrated how to get maple syrup with a spile from trees. I also learned that almost everything is compostable. It made me rethink my materialistic ways. Unfortunately, as a Long Islander, materialism is in my blood and I don't think that will ever change. But, hypocrite that I am, I also love nature and really appreciated the center's efforts to preserve it. I'm so glad I was given the opportunity to volunteer there.

By: Molly Ripp

SES PIC Shaver's Creek

Molly #2

A group of us volunteering at Shaver's Creek!!!

From Left to Right- Jack Kulick, Jalyn Taylor, Molly Ripp, Kylli Spotts, Kaitlyn LaForme, and David Gaddy

Homecoming Workshop

The Homecoming Workshop, held on March 23^rd, was an experience for the Homecoming captains. Students Engaging Students led a variety of activities designed to build teamwork and communication. The workshop was especially fun to facilitate due to the high energy of the participants.

Being a participant in the Homecoming Workshop was a different experience for me, and gave me the opportunity to see a workshop from the opposite side. Being a part of SES, I have attended a few workshops and have only participated as a facilitator. However, I am a homecoming captain this year, and for this workshop, I got to participate in all the activities rather than lead them, and it gave me a whole new perspective on workshops. This workshop accommodated all of the captains for homecoming, and filled an entire hall in the hub. Due to the size, the group was broken into five smaller groups. Each one participated in a different activity and then rotated to the next one. We were broken up by which particular committee we were on, and then were paired with other committees who would be working closely with us throughout the year. This was a great idea, because it gave us the chance to become acquainted with people we could be working with later, who we normally wouldn't have a chance to spend time with. It also allowed me to observe how a workshop of this size could be run.

Each activity focused on different skills, many of them being communication and teamwork. A few of the activities were pretty challenging and ended up frustrating a lot of us. However, our desire to complete the activities definitely made us pull together and work harder. Being able to accomplish each activity was both rewarding and fun. At the end of the day, I spoke with my particular committee and everybody agreed that it was a great experience. After both observing and participating in this workshop, I feel more knowledgeable and comfortable participating as a facilitator in my next workshop.

By: Karly Feinberg and Harry Goniprow Harry (2)