Marie's CAS Blog: S.A.G.E for S.T.A.M

Transformed Westwood gym with presenters and teachers alike.

On Friday, October 21, I was supposed to have a day off. But while every other sane student was snug in their beds; I, along with the rest of the ultimate team, was at Westwood Collegiate at 7 a.m.
That's right.
Exactly 1 hour and a half earlier than a regular school day.

It was the S.A.G.E (Special Area Groups for Educators) day hosted by S.T.A.M (Science Teachers Association of Manitoba) at Westwood Collegiate. And since the ultimate team had such an outstanding performance last year (I had not joined the team yet), we were again volunteered to represent the Westwood spirit. And here I was, the rookie, being delegated as the "student go-to with the walkie-talkie". This meant that I was the student representative between the organizers of the event, the presenters, and the team. A large task, but previous experience as coordinator for other projects hopefully allowed me to do the job justice.
A very busy S.A.G.E day it was too. Presenters moving carts, boxes, even live birds(!) filled the first few hours of our time. Then, strategic stationing at main entrances had us directing participants to classrooms and the keynote presentations in the theatre. It got very quiet after lunch, and the team spent much of the time wandering around, helping stray latecomers, and bonding. As a person who gets antsy when it's quiet and there isn't anything to do, I approached the teacher organizer, Mr. Shoesmith, looking for a few tasks for me and the team. What ended up happening was I found a job for myself sorting and stamping checks, which I found quite amusing since it completely defeated the purpose of finding tasks for everybody else. However, I appreciated the trust and responsibility that was placed on me, and I did enjoy using the clerical skills that I acquired during my summer internship!

Spiffy neon, question mark t-shirts.

The end of the conference brought an onslaught of work anyways, and all of us "yellow shirts" were busy folding and storing tables, carring boxes for participants, and rolling up the mats. I did have a challenge in getting a few younger guys to actually help out, but backing from the rest of the team and help from a teacher organizer allowed me to get through that particular "bump" and forced the guys to be more useful. More than one presenter commented, "If you guys have the day off, what are you doing here?!" This brought a smile to my face everytime, since, despite the very early morning, I actually liked being at the conference and taking advantage of all the presenters and their information booths. I also enjoyed being the student representative, since it forced me to not only think about what I could do to help, but also for the entire team. I believe this was a great CAS experience, because it allowed me to practice both initiative, creativity, and leadership within a service setting.