Go Belles Go!

I recently decided to join the girls ultimate Frisbee team here at Ship. While I have played on sports teams before in high school, I was worried about joining this year. Would they already have their team filled pretty much? Would they be accepting of such a late newcomer?

Well after my first practice with the girls I realized that this team was an awesome one which fully employed Tuckmans stages of team development all the time. And I was not the only new girl trying to learn how to flick a Frisbee and hoping it would fly semi-straight! I would say that during my first practice there was a lot of Forming going on. It is early in the season and the first tournament was that weekend. While all of the returning girls were very nice and helpful, it became quite clear what was expected of us and who the team leaders were. All three of the leaders, along with the other returners, were very supportive and helpful of the new girls. They were excited by our interest in the sport and the team, and gave us a lot of help and praise.

As these next few weeks go by I expect that there will be a lot of Storming and Norming going on, as us new girls compete for the open positions, in a friendly manner of course. One thing that I really like about the girls is there lack of conflict, at least from what I have seen so far. The competition is encouraged and friendly, and we all learn from each other a lot. I am excited to see how we all fit together as a team this year, and how well we Perform during these next few months! And as for Adjourning.. well I don't really want to think of that for now, this team is just too much fun and I am excited to be a part of it!

The Challenger (race cars and space shuttles)

As soon as Dr. Goates told us that the Carter Racing statistics were actually taken from the Challenger Space Shuttle disaster of 1986 I knew that I would write about it in my blog post tonight. I have been thinking a lot about the decision making process and in particular the decision to race or not race.. to launch or not to launch.

I feel that when people get involved in making a good decision they get so caught up in various courses of action and their outcomes, that a lot of times the most important solution to the problem could be forgotten. I believe that inaction gets skipped over because we feel the need to prove ourselves and to succeed. When you think of a person who does not do a lot the words lazy, coward, etc. come to mind. I don't think that these are always true because inaction can sometimes produce the best end result when it comes to decision making.

A lot of us in class today said that the Carter team should definitely race. We brought up good points about how the team had come so far already and how if you want to win you have to take risks, but if not racing will allow the team the most stability and better them in the long run, they should not be ridiculed for their inaction. When I think of the 1986 Challenger, I think about how the decision for inaction could have saved the lives of many smart individuals during that time. Like Dr. Goates said, if we have the knowledge to understand the probability of a positive or negative outcome of action, some of the top scientists of the time must have known what could result. While I am sure that those on board the Challenger knew of the risks they were taking, I feel that the mission itself could have been pushed back at least to prevent such a negative outcome to occur. Either way, I think it is a good idea to consider inaction when choosing the best decision for a positive outcome.

Spaghetti and Gumdrops

I wanted to blog a little bit about how my team (team #1) completed the in class activity on Tuesday, and why I feel that this was a valuable assignment.

First of all, I don't know how many other teams choose who they were going to work with this semester, but my team knew that we would be working together from the start. When we first received the assignment and our materials we spent about 10 minutes planning. I think that this helped us out a lot in the end. We were able to test the materials (spaghetti and gumdrops) and even draw a sketch of what our base would look like. Together, we collaborated on how to build the tallest spaghetti tower, while keeping a strong base that was able to hold all of the books. Another factor that helped us complete our design in the remaining time was the fact they we sort of knew each other and the roles that we played in the group. We were able to split up the construction of our tower and even had time to build a spaghetti man and make our base stronger at the end of the time period. I was really happy with the way that our spaghetti tower turned out!

I also feel like this activity helped us to get a feel for how well we will work together for our bigger group project. Now we know what our personalities are and how we can each contribute to the group. I am excited to take what I learned during Tuesdays class and apply it to our bigger assignment!

Save your GPAs!

After reading about how low grades in college can affect a graduates job search, I realized the unfair disadvantages of my generation in a competitive job market. Both of my parents found their jobs straight out of high school, with nothing to show besides a diploma and their own personalities. They did not have to spend the first decade of their adult lives in debt up, just to receive an average job to start their family. Now a days not only do college students have to pay and outrageous amount of money to get jobs, they also need to be well above the majority of their classmates. If the smartest kids from my high school are lucky just to get in to college, it should come as a shock that many of them will have to be the smartest of the successful just to land a job.
If what is stated in this article is true, then I feel there are not enough organizations within many collegiate institutions to help those with average gpa's to stand out. I feel that just one or two classes that really may not be a persons strong suit, could potentially have devastating effects on their futures. Lastly, I do not think that employers realize the stress and pressure trying to succeed at the top of a college class, especially within a college of business. I feel that we are still at a point where many top executives did not even attend a college setting similar to what students experience today.

For better or for worse, this article was a wake up call for me to do my personal best to succeed and be involved throughout the rest of my college career!

My Personal OCEAN

Hey guys! My first blog post (which I am hoping will turn out okay) will be based on my personality test results.
The first of our two online personality assessments was the Big 5 Personality Test. I am going to try to post a link to my results if anybody is interested in checking them out. When I first found out my results for this test I was surprised to see a lot of what I expected my personality to be rated as. One category that surprised me was that according to the test I am a more close-minded, conventional individual. I actually have always thought of myself as being very open to new things and ideas. And thinking back to when I was taking the actual test I don't remember many questions about openness. Therefore, I have a feeling that I may have answered neutral, which may account for my close-minded result. One last result that I found interesting was how I am exactly in the middle of being an introverted versus extroverted individual. I have always wondered which of these two categories I fit into best, but a lot of how I act around others depends heavily on the situation and my particular attitude for that day. I have enjoyed taking the time to think about my personality after viewing these results, and I am excited to take the second assessment and see how the two compare!

My Big 5 Personality Test Results:
I'm a O24-C79-E48-A69-N18 Big Five!!