Canadian Internship- Progress Report #3

Kayla Chubbs
Renaissance College: UNB

Canadian Internship- RCLP 2023

Nayda Ladouceur

Progress Report III

Goal statement #1: Currently my communication skills could use
improvement from voicing my own opinions in a respectful way that
others can understand, and in understanding and listening to others.

My goal at Camp Rotary is to enhance my communication skills

verbally and non-verbally. Throughout my internship it is vital to have
clear and constant communication with staff members to make sure
everyone is on the same page. While on the other hand it is very
important to be patient in communicating with campers that may have
different modes to communicate or communication may require more
time and effort. Accomplishing this goal will allow me to pay more
careful attention to how I communicate with others and how others
communicate with me, and allow me to have a better understanding of
various communication styles.
1. What you have been doing since your last report to advance this
goal (action, reflection, reading, discussions, meetings, etc.)?
Since my last report I have been communicating with campers,
parents, staff, and my mentor. Doing both my midterm evaluation for
camp and for my Canadian Internship really helped me to understand
what my mentor expects of me and how I am doing in my position. One
thing I learned in regards to my communication from doing the
evaluations that I did not know before is that I need to be more
assertive with other counselors. I thought that since I was only a first
year counselor that it wasnt my place to direct others especially staff
that had been working at camp longer than I have. However my
mentor told me that it does not matter how long people have been a
counselor that it is important to take on a leadership role and direct
others in your cabin if necessary. I also got the chance to have two
non-verbal boy campers in my cabin one week and discovering how to
communicate with them has also tested my skills. I also had one
counselor in my cabin one week that my communication skills were
challenged once again because we did not always see eye to eye on
issues.
2. What challenges/difficulties did you face or are you facing?
The challenges I have faced are being assertive or giving directions to
counselors who have been at camp longer than I have, communicating
with non-verbal campers, and communicating with staff members
when you have opposing viewpoints.
3. What questions did you ask yourself to deal with these
challenges/difficulties, and how did you answer them?
Questions I asked myself were: Does more years experience make
you a better counselor?, Will counselors who have more experience
than myself be offended if I asked them to do something or pointed out

where help was needed?, How can I communicate with a non-verbal

camper?, and How do I address disagreeing with another counselor
in my cabin?. I answered these questions by examining each
situation. I realized that having more experience working at camp can
give a person a head start in understanding how camp runs and how to
approach situations, however I do not think that years of experience
have anything to do with how qualified a counselor is because each
counselor was hired for a reason and brings something valuable to
camp. I also realized that I do not get offended when someone asks me
for help or asks me to do something- so other counselors shouldnt
either because we all work as a team. Through working with non-verbal
campers I have realized that although they cannot verbally tell you
how they feel they can physically. If a non-verbal camper is smiling or
laughing you still know they are having fun or if they are restless and
cant stop moving around you know they are bored. And lastly when it
comes to communication in regards to conflict, I realized that it is
important to explain and let the other person explain himself as well.
4. What came out of your discussion with your mentor and/or
colleagues about your difficulties/challenges?
My mentor during my evaluation told me that I am doing great for a
first year counselor but one of the things he told me I could improve
upon was directing and motivating other counselors. I had been so
camper focused in my weeks at camp that I did not think that I had to
also be a leader for other staff. I also spoke to one of the head
counselors about a non-verbal camper that physically violent towards
females about the situation. The conversation started because I saw
her dancing and playing soccer with the violent camper and he was not
being violent at all just having fun. I was so shocked to see that this
aggressive camper had a sweet side that I almost cried, and when
speaking to the head counselor she told me that because this camper
does not speak he is physically aggressive towards females, but really
it is because he just wants attention from them not because he is out
to hurt anybody. And when talking to other counselors in my cabin
about the counselor that I found it hard to communicate with, the other
counselors in my cabin agreed with me, but also pointed out the fact
that everyone communicates differently. Maybe how I was
communicating my opinion to this counselor was not in a way that he
could understand and maybe it just required more patience in
explaining myself or choosing my battles.
5. What did you do or what are you planning to do to overcome these
challenges/difficulties?
In order to overcome these challenges I have been practicing giving

other counselors tasks to do. I found this to be very rewarding because

other counselors whether they were junior counselors or had been
working at camp for a few years for the most part listened to what I
asked or gave me help when required. This experience really gave me
more confidence in my abilities as a counselor and a leader because I
no longer found myself frustrated or overwhelmed and I found our
cabins ran more efficiently. In regards to non-verbal campers I have
learned that it really takes time and patience to understand each other
and to be careful not to misjudge a camper that cannot verbally speak
up for them self. With the other counselor in my cabin, when we
disagreed on something I took the time to explain myself instead of
being frustrated that they did not understand right away. For example
this counselor thought that it would be better to break the glow sticks
and put the fluid on the floor and in the pee bucket at night so that the
campers could still see but would not chew on the glow sticks
themselves. This made me really frustrated because I thought this was
a horrible idea and could not see why this counselor didnt think that.
However I explained my opinion that although these glow sticks were
non-toxic the campers would still consume to fluid by licking it off the
floor and that it would get all over their skin and clothes and parents
would not be happy to discovery their childs clothing covered in glow
stick fluid toxic or not. Once I explained my reasoning myself, and this
counselor then agreed on the situation and he cleaned up the mess.
6. Do you need to readjust your goal in terms of scope or timeframe? If
so, how?
No, I do not think that I need to readjust this goal because I think that I
have made a lot of progress.
7. What have you learned so far while working on this goal? What
theory, concepts, skills, abilities learned during your first year were you
able to apply? How can you connect your learning to the RC outcomes?
What I have learned is that it does not really matter how long you have
been working a job in some cases-such as in the camp atmosphere,
everyone is on the same level and there is no superiority. I also gained
confidence in myself as a counselor because I realized that although
this is only my first year as a staff member that I am capable of
assigning tasks to others. This applies to my first year at Renaissance
College, because I felt that I was just as equal as the rest of my
classmates in group projects and did not always think that I should
take the lead and assign tasks. However camp has showed me that no
matter if someone has more experience than you, a leader to assign
tasks and mange everyone is always necessary. Not only has this goal
greatly increased my leadership skills but it has also contributed to the

outcomes of knowing oneself and others, because I now have a better

understanding on how I communicate, how others communicate and
how to communicate with others, as well as social interaction because
how I interact with other people and communicate my thoughts and
ideas has improved greatly as my confidence has improved.
Goal statement #2: To increase my awareness and skills when working
with those who have disabilities I want to be able to better empathize
and be able to put myself in someone elses position. I want to gain
knowledge of what it is like to have a mental or physical disability, the
obstacles you are faced with, and how the campers overcome those
obstacles, and how I can help if possible. The skills I want to learn are
of empathy, understanding, but also physical skills such as personal
care.
1. What you have been doing since your last report to advance this
goal (action, reflection, reading, discussions, meetings, etc.)?
Since my last report I have gotten to work with the same counselor
that is in a wheel chair again and I have also gotten to work with a
male counselor who was born with a condition that causes him to have
no arms and very short legs. I have also gotten the opportunity to talk
to more mature and older campers about their disabilities, one such
camper was a teenage girl with Asperger syndrome, and I have also
spoke with many of our staff that have various conditions such as
diabetes and celiac disease. I have also had the opportunity to work
with many campers that have downs syndrome and learned quite a lot
about that.
2. What challenges/difficulties did you face or are you facing?
One challenge that I face when it comes to people with disabilities I
think it is impossible to fully understand their condition if you are not
faced with the same thing yourself. I think that a person can become
empathetic and patient, however I will never truly understand how it is
to be them or any other person than myself. Another challenge I faced
is underestimating or in some cases over estimating peoples abilities
and also directly talking to a person about their disability.
3. What questions did you ask yourself to deal with these
challenges/difficulties, and how did you answer them?
Some questions I asked myself were: How can I be truly empathetic
and understanding?, Why did I think it wasnt okay to talk openly
about disabilities?, Should I ask this person if they think they could
do this or just assume they can?. I answered these questions by

reflecting on the experiences I have had and speaking with people who
have disabilities themselves. I think that people really associate
disabilities, as an illness and people do not general like to speak about
their illnesses. However a disability is part of who people are, so if you
do not understand and talk about their disability you wont be able to
fully understand and appreciate them entirely as a person.
4. What came out of your discussion with your mentor and/or
colleagues about your difficulties/challenges?
I have spoken to colleagues and campers about their disabilities and
each and every one of them really helped me a lot. The female
counselor in the wheelchair and I, have really become close friends
over the summer and becoming good friends with her has helped me
to understand her disability and capabilities much better. The other
male counselor I have worked in cabins with and I had a conversation
after I had asked him to do something that he could not do. I had asked
him to carry a dirty attend to the washroom for me, however after I
asked him that I realized it was a dumb thing to ask because since he
has no arms he carries things between his shoulder and his face and
no one wants a soiled diaper near their face even if it is wrapped in a
plastic bag. I ended up apologizing to him and like the female
counselor he told me that although he would like to help with
everything there are just some duties as a counselor he physically
cannot do.
5. What did you do or what are you planning to do to overcome these
challenges/difficulties?
In order to understand any persons disability better I think that you
really need to know them. I think to be truly empathetic you need to
really know someone and be able to put yourself in his or her shoes.
Once you do that you are better able to understand their capabilities
and know whether or not to push them to their limits to see if they can
do something they never thought they could.
6. Do you need to readjust your goal in terms of scope or timeframe? If
so, how?
I think I have made a lot of progress for this goal in the time I was
given, but it is definitely a goal that I can keep working on even after
my internship.
7. What have you learned so far while working on this goal? What
theory, concepts, skills, abilities learned during your first year were you
able to apply? How can you connect your learning to the RC outcomes?

I have learned so much about disabilities, how to approach people with

disabilities and most importantly having understanding and
compassion for other people. In first year it was easy to talk about
having privilege, inequality, and leadership, but being in the camp
setting and working with people with disabilities has taught me more
about understanding others and being a leader than anything I have
learned in a classroom could. I think that this goal mostly fits the RC
outcome of knowing oneself and others, because I was able to develop
a better understanding of other people, particular those with
disabilities.
Goal statement #3: To communicate with parents and guardians in a
reassuring, understanding, and helpful matter.
1. What you have been doing since your last report to advance this
goal (action, reflection, reading, discussions, meetings, etc.)?
Since my last report I have communicated with parents over the phone
and in person for various reasons. Two sisters that were at camp one
week were quite homesick so their parents allowed them to call home
everyday if they wanted. I went with the girls three times to call their
parents. One sister was less homesick than the other and the one that
was really homesick cried on the phone to her parents and I had to
reassure her family that she was all right despite the homesickness.
However on the last phone call they made the homesick sister did not
cry, which made her parents really happy. Another camper who was in
his second week of camp parents had to be called due to behavioral
issues. This specific camper was not behaving well and not listening to
counselors so he was on the verge of being sent home. I had never had
to send a camper home from camp and it was something that I really
did not want to do or have to explain to his parents. However, during
the phone call with the campers mom I became aware that this
camper not only has behavior issues at camp but also at home, and
that the family was trying to figure out how to better deal with him as
well. This made me realize that camp is a safe place where maybe the
counselors along with the parents help could help discover ways to
handle behavior issues with this camper. I also suggested that our
cabin call a campers parent when we lost his sunscreen and he has a
lot of skin conditions so we wanted to be careful of what we put on his
skin. The phone call was definitely a good suggestion because there
were a lot of things that could not be put on the campers skin that we
would have not known if we did not ask and just assumed. Also one
campers mother was so happy that I was the first counselor that could
ever get her son in the water to go swimming that she thanked me,
took pictures of me with her son, and added me as a friend on

Facebook.
2. What challenges/difficulties did you face or are you facing?
Challenges I faced were telling parents stuff that they maybe did not
want to hear like that their child was misbehaving or homesick. I
thought that all parents want to hear that their kid is having a great
time at camp and isnt causing any problems etc However I was
really surprised when I called parents and they completely understood
everything about their child and many parents knew what to expect of
their kid. Some parents even gave us helpful suggestions of things that
calm down their kids or things their kids like.
3. What questions did you ask yourself to deal with these
challenges/difficulties, and how did you answer them?
Questions I asked myself were: Should I be honest to the parents?,
If I were a parent what would I want to know?, Does this make me a
bad counselor that I cant handle their child or that I need help?. I
answered all these questions by just talking to more and more parents.
No parent that I have called or talked to this summer ever seemed
annoyed or upset. They appreciate how Camp Rotarys staff is honest,
open, and approaches them when concerned.
4. What came out of your discussion with your mentor and/or
colleagues about your difficulties/challenges?
Before calling any parents the counselors in my cabin all discussed
why we were calling parents and what we should discuss. In regards to
the camper that was misbehaving the head director approached me
and told me that he had talked to that campers mother and that he
wanted me to as well since I was a counselor in that cabin. The head
director told me how the conversation he had went and what to expect
when talking to his mom. It was also good talking to the head director
about calling this campers parent because since he had talked to them
before I did, they were prepared to hear if their child had not been
behaving well. I also knew that the parents were not upset, because
the head director told me that the parents know their child well and
know that he has tantrums often.
5. What did you do or what are you planning to do to overcome these
challenges/difficulties?
In order to overcome being nervous to talking to parents about
negative things I think I just need to be able to put myself in the
parents position. If I had a kid that was badly behaved at camp I would

want to know, I would not want to be lied to and told that my kid was
behaving when it was the opposite. It is also important for parents to
know how their child behaves outside of the home environment, since
behavior at home and at camp can be quite different because campers
know that they can get away with a lot more at camp then they can at
home. Camp is a place where people can come to learn a lot about
themselves or their children, and in order to grow and make
discoveries it is important to be open.
6. Do you need to readjust your goal in terms of scope or timeframe? If
so, how?
I think that I have achieved a lot of growth in this goal throughout the
summer and can extend this knowledge into further learning in other
settings.
7. What have you learned so far while working on this goal? What
theory, concepts, skills, abilities learned during your first year were you
able to apply? How can you connect your learning to the RC outcomes?
The main thing I learned from this goal is that I do not have to act like I
am a perfect counselor, or that a camper is perfect, or that camp itself
is perfect my any means. No parent thinks that their kid is perfect and
nor do they expect perfection from me. It is okay to talk about
incidents or mistakes. I can relate this goal to my first year at
Renaissance College because many people in my class like myself were
high achievers in High School and expected to get the same results
coming into university. However, it came to a shock to many of us that
the work was harder, we had to think more critically, and we were not
perfect at anything. I learned this past year that although we can
always improve in our work, there is no such thing as being perfect at
anything, if you want to learn you need to be challenged. I think that
this goal was connected to the Social Interaction outcome, because
learning how to approach people especially parents about their kid or
anything that is a concern or not necessarily good news takes practice.
If you cannot communicate appropriately conversations can go wrong,
for both parties.
Goal statement #4: To increase my confidence as a leader through my
roles as a counsellor. There are many times when assigned a cabin or a
program that being confident is an asset, because the campers look up
to you as a role model. I want to be able to make a decision for my
cabin that I know that my fellow counsellors would agree with and I

want to be able to do various programs without being shy and timid,

the campers feed off your enthusiasm.
1. What you have been doing since your last report to advance this
goal (action, reflection, reading, discussions, meetings, etc.)?
I have gained a lot of confidence in giving directions to other
counselors and stepping up and being a leader in my cabin when
necessary. I also signed up for various things in campfire, the talent
show. I also helped to do a program with the LIPs (Leaders in
Progress). I found that by doing a program with the LIPs it gave me
more confidence because I was teaching them how to do a program
when I myself had only just learned as well this summer. My LIPs also
really looked up to me during the program, and when they were
encouraged they did a great job and ran most of the activity
themselves and I was really impressed. I also did my midterm
evaluations with my mentor and we did discuss my confidence to some
extent. Also since my last report I spoke to another staff member about
making improvements in the camp in the form of asking for donations,
and we are planning on writing a donation letter and asking around for
various items. I think that by sharing my leadership skills and ideas
with the camp it will increase my confidence and self-esteem as a
leader.
2. What challenges/difficulties did you face or are you facing?
One difficulty I faced while at camp was sometimes just letting go,
having fun, and being goofy. I always felt like I had to take my job very
seriously and I was very camper focused. I find it difficult at times to
display a goofy version of myself in front of my peers unless I am
pretty good friends with them. I found it hard to enjoy myself
sometimes and just have fun being myself.
3. What questions did you ask yourself to deal with these
challenges/difficulties, and how did you answer them?
The main question I asked myself was: If I cannot be completely open
and myself at camp, where can I be that way?. Camp is such an open
and supportive environment where campers and staff feel safe and
welcome to be goofy and be their true selves without judgment. I was
not being my truly open and complete self- I was holding back.
However, as the summer went by I realized that by doing that I was
doing to opposite of what Camp Rotary intends. I realized in order for
other staff, campers and everyone around me to feel free to be
themselves- I had to also set an example.

4. What came out of your discussion with your mentor and/or

colleagues about your difficulties/challenges?
During my midterm evaluation with my mentor, my mentor said that I
was achieving results way above a first year staff member in maybe
areas but he said that the one area that I could improve the most in
was being goofy and silly in programs and motivating other staff to do
the same. My mentor could see that I was still holding back a bit when
it came to not being shy or afraid of what others would think. My
mentor participates in many programs and dresses up and acts
hilarious and it makes a program fun for all of the staff and the
campers. My mentor really gave me the push I needed to start letting
loose a bit more for programs and enjoying myself while I do it!
5. What did you do or what are you planning to do to overcome these
challenges/difficulties?
In order to overcome these challenges I signed up for acts to do in the
campfire talent show. One of the skits we did was called Body Break,
and it is when you have two people sitting down and two other people
hiding behind them and acting as their legs. This makes it look like you
have really flexible legs when really they are just someone elses legs
and yours our hidden. Anyways, it is a really well known skit at camp
and me and another girl did it for the first time and we messed up a lot
because we could not figure out how to get our legs right and I am
really tall and she is really short so it made the skit even more
awkward and funny. Although I felt embarrassed to mess up the skit on
stage in front of everyone both the campers and the staff thought that
it was so hilarious that I felt glad that I made a fool of myself on stage
because they enjoyed it.
6. Do you need to readjust your goal in terms of scope or timeframe? If
so, how?
I think that working at Camp Rotary has definitely increased my
confidence as a persona and as a leader a lot. The next step will be
taking the confidence I have gained from camp and being able to be
that confident in different settings.
7. What have you learned so far while working on this goal? What
theory, concepts, skills, abilities learned during your first year were you
able to apply? How can you connect your learning to the RC outcomes?
What I have learned from this goal is that it is okay to be myself and to
be silly. I feel a lot more comfortable being myself because I know that
those around me will accept me. During my first year at Renaissance

College I feel like I did open up quite a bit to my classmates, however

they know me as a classmate not so much the silly outside of class
version. I think that RC has given me a group of people that I can be
safe, confident and learn around and working at camp was just another
opportunity for growth with a different group of being just as
accepting. This goal connected to my outcome of Knowing Oneself and
Others, mainly I learned about how to be more confident in myself.
Goal statement #5: Resolve conflicts in a professional and empathetic
manner.
1. What you have been doing since your last report to advance this
goal (action, reflection, reading, discussions, meetings, etc.)?
Throughout my summer I have experienced conflict with various
campers and also a counselor. One particular female camper I had was
very attention seeking and non-verbal. When she did not get enough
attention she would cry hysterically and on one particular occasion she
climbed up a tree and cried there for an hour. Another camper I
experienced conflicts with was a young male. This camper had
frequent mood swings, one minute he would be great and get along
with everyone and then the next minute he would be physically violent
with other campers as well as staff and he would also do things that he
knew that he was not allowed to do like run around naked on the
playground or spill other campers water on the floor. I also experienced
conflicts with one counselor in my cabin. This particular male counselor
had a very strong personality and would always choose an opposing
view or argue no matter what the situation it seemed.
2. What challenges/difficulties did you face or are you facing?
The challenges I faced were how to deal with conflicts with campers
and how to get them to calm down. Each camper is very different, and
the same tactics do not work on every camper. I also faced challenges
with getting along well with the other counselor in my cabin. Despite
not getting along very much on anything we still had to work as a team
within our cabin.
3. What questions did you ask yourself to deal with these
challenges/difficulties, and how did you answer them?
Questions I asked myself were: What kind of things make this camper
upset and what kind of things do they like?, How do I deal with
misbehavior appropriately?, and Should I pick and choose my battles
with the counselor or stand my ground?. I answered these questions

by getting to know the campers better, getting to know the counselor

better and by talking with the rest of my cabin group. Once you get to
know a camper you can learn to spot the signs or things that trigger a
tantrum, what you can do to prevent an outburst, and what you can do
to distract and redirect once they are having a tantrum. Also when
dealing with the difficult counselor I realized that no matter what I said
or did he would always go against it. What ended up being the easiest
option was if it was over an important matter I would hard to prove my
point and explain myself, however if it was a smaller argument over
what award to give each camper at the end of the week I would just let
him pick because it was such a little thing that there is no point
arguing about it.
4. What came out of your discussion with your mentor and/or
colleagues about your difficulties/challenges?
I spoke with the other counselors in my cabin about how to deal with
the campers that misbehaved. Lastly, I other counselors spoke to me
about the counselor that I did not get along with well, and I realized
that from my conversations with other counselors that he had trouble
getting along with most of the staff. It is not because he is not a good
counselor; it is mainly just due to the fact that different people have
different maturity levels and personalities.
5. What did you do or what are you planning to do to overcome these
challenges/difficulties?
In regards to the girl that threw tantrums of tears we learned that
usually if she got enough individual one on one attention throughout
the day that she was less likely to seek attention later. We also learned
that if we ignored her tantrums they usually ended faster because she
was not getting attention. However, when it came to the male camper
that was misbehaving it was really difficult to prevent his mood swings.
If he was going into a tantrum rage we could usually see it coming and
isolate him from a situation. He would usually run around for a bit and
try to hit people but after that we could calm him down enough to talk
to him. When talking to him we could not tell him he was being bad or
tell him to do anything or that would make him worse. We had to
strategically distract him with his favorite topics of minecraft, Google
video downloads, spiders, or dancing to Taylor Swift. With my conflicts
with the counselor I tried my best at times to try to calmly explain to
him reasons for not doing things such as fooling around with glow stick
fluid etc. But What I realized was that this counselor just required more
time to mature and learn about things and was maybe not at the same
level yet as the rest of the staff. It really came down to picking and
choosing my battles when it came to getting along with this counselor.

I had to be more understanding of the fact he did everything he did

with the best intentions he just maybe went about things in the wrong
way. I had to accept the fact that things that seemed like not a big deal
to me and maybe other counselors were a big deal to him. One such
thing was camper awards and newsletters, since he had been a
previous camper I think that these things really mattered to him a lot
so he was really particular about how they were done and wanted to
do them all his way. It is really hard to have understanding for
6. Do you need to readjust your goal in terms of scope or timeframe? If
so, how?
I think that I dealt with a wide variety of conflicts this summer and I
think the skills I learned in conflict management will help me in any
future conflicts I face.
7. What have you learned so far while working on this goal? What
theory, concepts, skills, abilities learned during your first year were you
able to apply? How can you connect your learning to the RC outcomes?
What I have learned this summer while working on this goal is that
conflicts are all different and there are many different solutions,
however you can become better at how you handle conflicts. For me I
feel like I handle conflict better when I am able to put myself in the
other persons situation. What I could I apply to this goal from my first
year was reading the novel Being Wrong, the novel pointed out how we
as human beings always like to think that we are right and the other
person is wrong. In the novel the author charts the three stages of our
disbelief at other peoples ideas when they differ from our own- we first
assume that they are ignorant, then idiotic, finally evil. At first reading
this I thought it was funny because that is how I think sometimes, but
dealing with conflicts on my internship I realized how true this
philosophy is. This goal improved my growth in the social interaction
outcome, because I learned a lot about how I handle conflicts.
Goal statement #6: Time management has always been a difficulty of
mine. I am excellent at managing my schoolwork and friends, but I am
not very good at managing my own personal time- I plan no time for
myself. This can become a problem in the camp setting because you
really need to understand your limits and when you need to take a
break. So my goal is to enhance my personal organizational skills and
time management skills.
1. What you have been doing since your last report to advance this
goal (action, reflection, reading, discussions, meetings, etc.)?

Since my last report I have learned a lot about my personally well

being at camp, from the amount of sleep I need, eating healthy, and
recognizing my own stress levels. I also learned the importance of
taking advantage of my breaks and time off work. All of my breaks this
summer I have spent doing assignments and doing relaxing things to
refuel for the next camp week.
2. What challenges/difficulties did you face or are you facing?
One difficulty I faced was adjusted to camp life in regards to food and
sleep. Camp is a very high stress environment at times, but what I
have learned is that if you take time to enjoy and appreciate camp and
have fun then it will help decrease stress. I also found it hard that on
breaks from camp all the staff would hang out, however for me I found
it most beneficial on my breaks to relax and catch up on sleep.
3. What questions did you ask yourself to deal with these
challenges/difficulties, and how did you answer them?
Questions I asked myself were: Why am I not having fun right nowam I tired or do I need a break?, What will be better in the long run
having a relaxing break or not really getting much of a break?. I
answered these questions by getting to know myself better and my
limits.
4. What came out of your discussion with your mentor and/or
colleagues about your difficulties/challenges?
One of my colleagues, who are a close friend of mine, could tell if I
needed a break before I could. If I was getting irritated or tired she
would ask me Do you need to take five?. And when she would ask
me this I would realize, yes I do need a break. What I learned from this
is that I am the type of personality who always thinks that they should
keep working even when a break could be more beneficial in the long
run.
5. What did you do or what are you planning to do to overcome these
challenges/difficulties?
In order to better know myself I think I need to recognize my own
limits. If I am able to take a break then maybe I would be less irritated
or frustrated in a situation later on. I think that this can be done as
simply and stopping and just asking myself How do I feel?.
6. Do you need to readjust your goal in terms of scope or timeframe? If
so, how?

I do not think I have accomplished the goal of managing myself and

knowing my limits, however I think that I recognized this a problem for
the first time. I think that from here I can begin to grow further in this
area.
7. What have you learned so far while working on this goal? What
theory, concepts, skills, abilities learned during your first year were you
able to apply? How can you connect your learning to the RC outcomes?
I think that this summer has been a big discovery in realizing that I am
not invincible or a super woman. I do need breaks and I do push myself
to my limits frequently without realizing it. I think recognizing this is
the first step to be able to make any changes in the future. I think that
this relates to how I manage myself while in Renaissance College as
well, I am hoping I can make improvements in my time management in
second year compared to first year. I think that I have grown a lot in
emotional wellbeing and knowing myself from this goal of time
management and organization.