Unite UW | Mysite

Once United Never Divided

In my role as a facilitator for Unite UW, I led a group of 4 students and helped lead a bigger group of 36 other students coming from different backgrounds. My main responsibility was to help these students build a community for themselves, support them whenever needed, and build a prosperous relationship within my smaller group. Furthermore, I helped plan and set up events throughout the quarter and throughout my time in UW so far. My experience in Unite UW is valuable to me since it taught me how to build meaningful bonds within a group, planning, organizing, and time management.

My time as a facilitator at Unite UW has been one of the most meaningful experiences during my time at UW. Being a part of this program helped me see how I can have a positive impact on people and play a meaningful part in their lives. This allowed me to become more confident and helped me gain experience when it comes to bringing a team together. Similarly, having to organize multiple events ranging from weekly meetings for 40 people to a BBQ on the beach for 200+ others showed me the importance of staying organized and staying on top of things. These are skills that are important for any person in order to grow and these experiences have helped me become a more responsible and accountable person, which will be beneficial for me in the future. In my time as a facilitator, I believe that I have helped people build a community for themselves, become more confident in themselves, and most importantly, enjoy the time that they spent in the program.

Being in this position helped me develop several skills such as :

Idea Generation – Having to plan events every other week for my smaller group and a bigger event almost every month is fun, but there comes a time when these ideas can become repetitive. Furthermore, there are times when a proposed outing is not feasible due to others’ circumstances. For example, one of the events that I planned involved going to a waterpark; however, one of the group members could not swim. Being in this situation calls for being able to come up with different ideas whenever it may be, and being able to accommodate everyone and ensure that everyone has a great time.

Personal Contributions – It is important for me to do the most that I can while I am working. Being a facilitator is a short experience, one quarter, so there is only so much time that you have within the group when you are in a position to bring upon a positive change. I am a part of a group of 4 people, each with a different background, but that doesn’t change the fact that I have to tailor the experience to each of their needs and make sure that they get the most out of this experience. Once the program was done, my group got me a little gift with a card that talked about the impact that I had on their lives and seeing that helped me realize the importance of my contributions and showed me that what I did helped them.

Empathy – Leading a group of people where each person has their own story and understanding their experiences in order to ensure that they can make the most of their experience in the program. Talking with all the different people and learning so much about their cultures, their lives, and their goals were motivating and helped me develop a better understanding of different cultures. Being in such a position allowed me to learn so much more and be able to relate to the experiences of those that are from a completely different place. Furthermore, it helped me create a genuine connection with these people and actually learn to care about the lives of those important to me.

Verbal Communication – Knowing how to communicate with people given the circumstances is a skill that takes a lot of time to learn. On one side I needed to be professional and formal when communicating with my boss, I needed to be emphatic and friendly when talking to the participants. Furthermore, being able to be a good listener and knowing when to let a conversation flow and when to interject was something that I learned through my time in the program. For example, there would be times when my small group would be having genuine, organic conversations and there were times where I felt like jumping in with my opinion; however, being able to take a step back and letting the others lead the conversation was a decision that I had to make in order for them to bond and grow closer to each other.