A Mid-quarter Reminder of Why I'm in Student Affairs: Posse Plus Retreat - Feb 7-9

A couple weekends ago, I found myself one of two buses taking 80 UCLA undergrads (and me) to the Posse Plus Retreat being held at the UCLA Lake Arrowhead Conference Center. I was invited at the beginning of winter quarter by one of the undergrads working at my internship, and honestly I didn't know what to expect except that Posse was a pretty cool education nonprofit, and everything was paid for on the retreat. And the theme was "social and political movements"--which I thought would be a good experience being a part of conversations on that topic with UCLA undergrads.

Sure, why not? I thought. Before the retreat, I tried learning a little bit more about the Posse Foundation. Started about 25 years ago, Posse brings groups of about 10-20 low income students who are all from the same urban area who are going to the same university/college. For example, UCLA's Posse Scholar groups are all from the LA area, but Vanderbilt (in TN) has posse groups from the NYC area. The students get scholarships and mentors in the form of university administrators, and a year of training before going to college. Every year, the Posse Plus Retreat was an opportunity for each Posse scholar to invite two guests for an all-expenses paid weekend retreat on a certain issue (Gender and Sexuality, Social Class, Sociopolitical Movements, etc.) that all of the Posse groups across the country are also discussing at their retreats. Pretty cool, I thought, I'd like to check this out.

A month later...oh shoot, this retreat is right in between midterm/papers/the craziness that is Week 5 of a ten-week quarter. I really need to start applying to jobs, I thought. I really need to finish that literature review for my internship, I thought. I really need to finish transcribing those interviews for research, I thought. And I really wanted to relax. How all of this was going to happen, I didn't know. But what I did know was that I was not going to be doing many/any of these assignments.

Needless to say, I was a little lukewarm about heading off in the middle of the quarter. But of course, the universe sent some encouragement my way a few hours before the trip...in the form of an awkward work encounter that made me feel small and incompetent, and as is my general inclination, I just felt like getting as much space between campus and me as possible.

On the bus to Lake Arrowhead! We watched Mean Girls on the way up...maybe not the most appropriate pre-retreat movie, but delightfully enjoyable nonetheless.

Just a few hours outside of LA, we were greeted by breathtaking views of the mountains, and already I was feeling a whole lot better.

When we got to the conference center, we were surprised by the lack of snow, especially since it had been raining the previous two days. Our rooms, however, were amazing. 

 

 

2 queen sized beds, 2 full bathrooms, 2 floors! I got the top level/loft area, and I must say we felt super spoiled. 

I probably shouldn't even get started on the food, but it was ridiculously fancy and delightfully FREE.

So besides the food, the rooms, the views, the actual retreat kind of blew me out of the water. Like I mentioned before, "social and political movements" seemed like an interesting topic, but did I think I knew much about it? Not really...I always say that I'm more of a small community or small scale leader. Words like activist and protest just don't seem to fit what I do. This was probably the first retreat I had been to since high school that I wasn't involved in planning or facilitating in some way, and I wanted to take the opportunity to learn, observe, and absorb. 

 

What I was really surprised about was that our activities addressed social and political movements from both a historical context, such as learning about the Civil Rights, Women's Rights, and Anti-War movements, but also from a more contemporary "how can you make change in your campus community" perspective. 

(Very student affairs-y, yeah?). Just about halfway through my student affairs grad program, and this was one of the most meaningful opportunities in which I was able to hear from the students how they saw their campus--its strengths, weaknesses, social problems, gaps in resources, etc. Additionally, several of the Posse scholar groups' mentors were in attendance and got to witness their mentees talk about these university issues. As a group, we talked about issues at UCLA, what's being ignored and what's important to address now. In pairs and small groups, we talked more personally about how our experiences have shaped our priorities and how we feel we can make change. 

 

There were a whole bunch of activities designed to engage us...from icebreakers, to discussions about news headlines, to continuum activities, to brainstorms, etc. One moment that really stuck out to me, however, was an activity on Saturday morning in which each participant wrote on a piece of cardstock the "primary identity through which you experience campus. After some thought, I wrote, "graduate student of color." After being instructed to place the card along a line in the middle of the room with the sign "Powerful" and "Powerless" at each end, I put my card somewhere in the middle, slightly closer to powerful. "I don't know much about what's going on outside my department," I thought. I can't really make much change or wield much power on campus. 

Photo cred: Crystal K.

 The next step asked each of us to pick up a card and move it to where we

 thought it should be, and then take a look where your card was moved. Someone moved my card right next to the "Powerful" sign, and the feelings that washed over me actually surprised me. At first, I was thrown off--"Should I be making more change on campus? Grad students on an immense campus like UCLA have no idea what's going on!" But then after discussing with someone, I realized that for undergrads, seeing and interacting with graduate students, especially students that may have similar backgrounds as themselves, illuminates the possibility of going to graduate school.

The retreat was definitely a great and unique experience that really reminded me why I wanted to be in student affairs in the first place. Being a part of these conversations of students who care deeply about their campus community and how it impacts the larger community, I was reminded that so much of a student's college experience happens outside the classroom. These conversations, activities, and experiences provide opportunities for students to feel empowered to pursue interests that inspire them. I also felt really lucky, not just because of the food and comfy accommodations, but because I had the chance to meet a whole bunch of students that I probably wouldn't have otherwise. 

Photo cred: Crystal K.

I actually performed some spoken word at the "No-Talent Talent Show on Saturday night!

The "warm fuzzies" I received from my fellow retreat-goers.

 

All I can say is, I certainly hope I'll have more experiences like this one as I continue my career with student affairs :)