Guest feature by Cohort 45 Mentor Jimmy Miller (Cohort 41)
In the early hours of the day on August 28th, 45 students from QUEST Cohort 45 embarked on their QUEST journeys by taking off to Sandy Hill Camp in North East, MD for Orientation. The sun was shining, and the weather was perfect for a day of team-building, problem solving, and meeting new friends. The excitement of the semester on the horizon and the prospect of the team’s future projects filled the air with an energetic buzz. Returning to QUEST Camp as a mentor evoked a feeling of nostalgia, deja-vu, and excitement for Cohort 45’s future.
After spending the morning bus ride talking with their seat buddies, the students arrived at Camp ready to tackle the many events planned for the day. Cohort 45 continued to get acquainted with one another before finding out the team they would be on for the rest of semester in BMGT/ENED 290H. After having the opportunity to speak with their team and mentor, the students were launched into multiple activities including Ships Ahoy, Pilot Products, and Low Ropes.
During these various events, students received a crash course on problem solving, collaboration, and team dynamics. QUEST Camp is designed to help teams bond quickly and effectively, so that they will be set up to succeed and hit the ground running during the semester. My personal favorite activity to oversee was Ships Ahoy! Students had to think outside of the box in order to build a ship out of cardboard, duct tape, and trash bags. After a 45-minute build sprint, each team selected a captain to paddle their boat about 30 yards off the coast and back. To my surprise, many of the teams built sea-worthy vessels that stood the test of the Chesapeake Bay with impressive success.
After changing and drying off from their sea journey, students experienced one of QUEST Camp’s traditions: Pilot Products. This is a brainstorming/pitch sprint where students think of real world problems, come up with novel solutions, and design a pitch to share with their classmates the following day. Teams are given just over an hour to complete all of this. I was blown away by Cohort’s 45 creativity and enjoyed seeing each and every group pitch realistic, innovative solutions to real world problems students face on campus everyday.
The final activity before dinner was low ropes. This offered Cohort 45 the ability to get out of their comfort zone and build trust with their new teams. During this activity, we worked as a team to pass a tennis ball as efficiently as possible between 17 group members. The winning time was about 0.2 seconds. I am still not completely sure how we did it that quickly. We also worked as a team to pass everyone through a spider web, lifting one another off the ground and passing them through different openings on the web to get everyone across safely. It was encouraging to see Cohort 45 become more open with one another and put their minds together to succeed.
After dinner, the teams came up with their names and presented them to one another through light hearted and comedic skits. Afterwards, we were all able to enjoy smores over the campfire which was a picture perfect ending to the first night of Cohort 45’s QUEST journey. As students retired to their cabins for the night, many games broke out including an intense and fun game of mafia.
Day two of QUEST Camp began like most days do, with an alarm going off way too early. Except instead of your usual iPhone alarm, QUEST students were awakened by Pitbull reminding them that “every day above ground is a great day.” A wonderful and not so subtle reminder that QUEST offers students the Time of [Their] Lives. After getting ready and enjoying breakfast together, students listened to each team’s pilot product pitches. After a long and difficult deliberation, the Quality Guild (QUEST faculty and staff) selected the winning team. Congratulations to SMACK who designed an alarm clock that could funnel sound to only one person in a room, allowing one roommate to wake up while the other could continue their sleep unbothered. I know I could have used a product like this a few years ago!
To wrap up camp, the students had the opportunity to learn from Program Manager Emily Marks about the stages of team development and communication styles. Teams were then able to discuss how they planned to move through each stage during the semester so that they could deliver the best projects possible. Afterwards, Cohort 45 had one last meal together before loading onto the bus to return home.
As I reflect on QUEST Orientation, I am filled with excitement for what Cohort 45 has in store. In just two short days, I saw the students work together, solve complex problems, and share exciting ideas all while having fun meeting new friends. I know that the semester ahead will be one of great success and growth as Cohort 45 progresses through the QUEST curriculum. If QUEST orientation was any indication at all, I know the new future of QUEST is as bright as it can be. I can’t wait to see what each team does this semester and beyond!
