For the second year in a row, Woodland Worldwide members along with their advisors gathered together from 5:30 to 10:00 to enjoy pizza and ice cream while having an enjoyable and productive time.
On Friday November 1, Woodland Worldwide hosted a “Wicked Awesome Bash” in the Media Center of Woodland Regional High School. The goal of this event was to thank students for their contributions to the organization and give them an opportunity to share and discuss their ideas.
“It [the bash] allowed us to communicate in a more intimate way,” said Hatch. “We got to hear their voices and they had a lot of interesting and important things to say.”
Both new and core members alike attended this event. Unfortunately, the attendance as compared to last year dropped due to the large amount of students that took a fan bus to a football game. However, the students along with the advisors, Megan Hatch and Lisa Olivere, had an entertaining evening.
Hatch and Olivere were able to tailor the activities to what the group of students wanted. They played “get to know you” games.
One of these games is “who are you” which involves interacting with someone you don’t know very well and asking them “who are you” for 60 seconds and each time the person is asked the other person has to answer.
“This forces the asker to be a real listener, and the “answerer” to probe deeply into themselves and reveal information beyond the typical. This helped those who attended the event to get to know one another and themselves,” said Hatch.
They also watched a documentary film called “Miss Representation”. According to misrepresentation.org the film “uncovers a glaring reality we live with every day but fail to see.” The film shows how media adds to the under-representation of influential women.
“Every time I see the film it’s as compelling as the first time I saw it,” said Hatch.
Next, the students wrote why Woodland Worldwide is important to them and what their goals for the organization are on a sticky note. The members discussed what was really important to them.
Also, during a brainstorming session, senior Dan Johnson showed a slideshow explaining his senior project which is the Real Man Campaign. The purpose of his project is to answer the question, “What does it mean to be a real man?”
“Dan wants to highlight the many ways in which men can be men; ways that don’t revolve around toughness, six-pack abs, power, and steak,” said Hatch.
The other students were very collaborative and eager to share their ideas. Hatch said this was her favorite part of the night.
“It was a real world moment; watching the kids get so involved in Johnson’s project and being able to see that they care about him and the success of the program,” said Hatch.
At the end of the night, the room was filled with optimistic words, and radiated with positive energy as each student shouted one word to describe their experience that night.
“It was a really enlightening moment for Ms. Olivere and myself,” said Hatch.
Hatch and Olivere had a “wicked awesome” time working with the students who are both devoted and interested in contributing to the program.
