Guest Post: A reflection on Toolkit November 25, 2010
Posted by Chris Garbutt in Uncategorized.trackback
Does your student group stand out?
By Kyra Cockwell
How do you meet the needs of your student organization while incorporating your own motivations, interests, and goals into a common purpose that you and your teammates stand for?
This question served as the backdrop for most of last Thursday’s Toolkit session, presented by the U of T Office of Student Life. I was one of about 15 student leaders from nine student groups, with interests ranging from ethnic and cultural groups, organizations for social change, religious fellowships, and a student publication. While the interests of these student groups were truly diverse, we began to realize that once we considered our personal vision and connected it with the vision of our organization—an exercise at one point during the session—many of our conclusions were the same.
The session had a powerful impact on my own position as a club president at U of T n, especially when we broke into the small group discussions. From these, I was able to glean an understanding of the major significance of personal reflection as a group leader. George Gretes, president of the Greek Students’ Association shared my sentiments. He explained to me that the GSA has been using personal reflection in the form of shared journals for a couple of years now. “We keep journals to record the reflections of group members,” he said. “It helps me learn from their reflections.” He felt that the Toolkit leaders’ advocacy of personal reflection reinforced something that his group already practices and will continue to practice.
Connecting personal goals with group goals was a major point of the session, as well as finding common ground within the group, which is attained by understanding group dynamics. “Why re-invent your organization every year? Build on your successes so you don’t start over each time,” said Ian Simmie, Student Life Coordinator in the Office of Student Life and co-leader of the Toolkit session.
At a running time of just an hour and a half, the Toolkit session fit perfectly into my schedule, with enough time at the end to share a few minutes of reflection with my fellow attendees. The sessions are enlightening and help you acknowledge the interests of other student groups by realizing that their core values and interests are not so vastly different from your own.
Find more information about the Toolkit program at their website.
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