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Back from my SWE-ekend the middle of nowhere…
By Julia | May 7, 2012
So this past weekend I had the great pleasure of spending my weekend in Hocking Hills for the Society of Women Engineer’s officer transition retreat! We rented this amazing cabin without cell service (and it had dial-up internet…. I can’t even think about that without playing the weird alien noises to connect to it in my head ;p ).
Picture break from hiking! I'm wearing the bright green/yellow in the middle ;)
It was truly awesome to be totally away from internet, yet still be in the comfort of a house (I am NOT the camping type…). So despite the lack of internet and cell service and the fact that the water smelled like eggs (sulfur), we were hardly ‘roughing it’ (this place had a hot tub, an HD tv and a full kitchen).
I got to transition into the position of webmaster (which was kind of hard to do without the ‘web’), while I taught the new publicity director everything I knew, and gave her tips on how to do better than I did ;p. We also made goals as an organization to be even more awesome next year than we were this past year.
Being involved as an officer in a growing student organization has been an amazing experience. Not only has it opened my OSU experience to awesome things, like traveling to Chicago last year for Nationals, Cincinnati in March for regionals, or Houston this upcoming November for Nationals 2012, but I’ve met so many awesome people that I may not have encountered otherwise.
For those of you interested in getting involved with a student organization here is some foolproof advice:
- Start Early/ make an impact
Now, this one doesn’t mean that you can’t get involved later on, I just mean if you want to run for a position, don’t make elections the first event that you attend. Start early in the year, get involved throughout the year. Work hard. Be memorable.
- Say the Magic Words
I’ll give you a hint… It isn’t please. The magic words for getting involved in a student organization, is to show up to events and ask, “Do you need help with anything?/Is there something i can help you with?” . Events can be stressful, and even if the person that you ask says no (I don’t know why they would…), they’ll definitely appreciate the thought and will remember you when they do need help!
- Be genuine
This is more a comment on effective leadership, but people trust and respect people more when their character/presence is consistent. No one wants to work with a Jekyll/Hyde.
Peace,
-J
Topics: Advice, Julia L., Relaxation, Student Life, Student orgs | 3 Comments »
May 8th, 2012 at 6:44 am
When I first read SWE-eekend, I though you’ve been to Sweden! hhaahah However, about the dial-up sound…I always hear it in my mind even when I read the words “dial up” :D
May 14th, 2012 at 10:05 pm
I’m glad I’m not the only one who does that ;).
We for the most part went without internet (unless we could get a faint 3G signal) because we couldn’t figure out how to connect to it, haha.
May 17th, 2012 at 10:56 am
Same here lol! :) Sounds like the SWE-eekend was a blast…