Adaptive Sports Association:
Description:
My whole sophomore class spent a week focusing on college and careers as well as working with a specific organization and did volunteer work for them. There were 5 different options. Myself and 14 other kids chose to go to Purgatory Ski Resort for three days and work with Adaptive Sports Association. Throughout the day we paired up with an experienced instructor and shadowed them doing lessons. The students had a range of different cognitive and physical disabilities as well as ages. We learned about what they do as an organization and how they teach specific lessons. Another big learning point was with the equipment that they used to accommodate different people with physical disabilities. It was very interesting to do some skill teaching as well as interacting with people who don't get the same opportunities as most of us and helping to assist them in experiencing something fun.
My whole sophomore class spent a week focusing on college and careers as well as working with a specific organization and did volunteer work for them. There were 5 different options. Myself and 14 other kids chose to go to Purgatory Ski Resort for three days and work with Adaptive Sports Association. Throughout the day we paired up with an experienced instructor and shadowed them doing lessons. The students had a range of different cognitive and physical disabilities as well as ages. We learned about what they do as an organization and how they teach specific lessons. Another big learning point was with the equipment that they used to accommodate different people with physical disabilities. It was very interesting to do some skill teaching as well as interacting with people who don't get the same opportunities as most of us and helping to assist them in experiencing something fun.
Reflection:
Big Takeaways
I learned many things in this short week that I think I will remember forever. One being the fact that I really like working with people in general as well as people with a cognitive or physical disability. It felt very rewarding to help and hangout with these people. I have always thought that working with people is my thing but through this experience I found that I really like working with kids specifically. Another thing that I learned was about communication. Many of the people I worked with did not communicate how I communicate and it took an open mind and some extra listening and watching to be able to understand how they were feeling. This is something that I actually felt was a strength of mine and was very interesting to utilize in a real world situation.
Connections Between School and Work
For me I think the biggest skills I used were collaboration and communication. At Animas I have had to adapt to different groups and figure out how to work with certain people. Through this experience I had to use what I have done in the past and apply that to different ages and abilities. I did feel that sometimes it was difficult to collaborate with the instructor I was shadowing. I had so many ideas on how to help the student but it was hard to get those ideas across. By the end of the week I had figured out how to take initiative and share my ideas in a respectful way without sounding pushy. This is something that I have learned how to do through my time at Animas.
Time Management
I experienced a huge amount of freedom this week. This felt really good and I operated well with it. I did well with a loose schedule and I was good at going with the flow. Sometimes when we had a short break and I wanted to do a run it was hard for me to stay focused and make the right decision on whether I should go and feel rushed or just stay and be ready to go out with the student. Other than that I thought that I did well following instructions, even if they weren’t specific at all or super specific. Overall, I really enjoyed the laid back structure because I knew I had responsibilities and I was motivated to get them done but it felt good to know I did all my tasks without constant reminders.
Connections to YouScience
Looking at my YouScience results I can see how some of the things that they pointed out as my skills came through my work with adaptive sports. For example, my ability to brainstorm. One day when we were working with a kid who had a hard time keeping his skis together I had an idea to add a spacer bar to the back of his skis to help him stay stable and it did actually work. Another example is with my skill being an improviser. With each different student new challenges came with them. There was a lot of improvising on how to get them to want to ski or keep them happy and having fun. I was glad that I was able to go with the flow and stay adaptable because it made it easier to work with my student and the instructor I was shadowing.
Advice to Future Students
One piece of advice I would give the next year of students who participate in sophomore inspire week is to go into it with an open mind and with the mindset that you are going to get out what you put in. I personally got a lot out of this but that was mainly because I didn’t go into it with any expectations. Just try to learn as much as you can and don’t be scared to ask questions to help yourself stay engaged and curious. It’s important to look at it as an exploration of your own interests so that you feel less lost when trying to find your true passion.
Big Takeaways
I learned many things in this short week that I think I will remember forever. One being the fact that I really like working with people in general as well as people with a cognitive or physical disability. It felt very rewarding to help and hangout with these people. I have always thought that working with people is my thing but through this experience I found that I really like working with kids specifically. Another thing that I learned was about communication. Many of the people I worked with did not communicate how I communicate and it took an open mind and some extra listening and watching to be able to understand how they were feeling. This is something that I actually felt was a strength of mine and was very interesting to utilize in a real world situation.
Connections Between School and Work
For me I think the biggest skills I used were collaboration and communication. At Animas I have had to adapt to different groups and figure out how to work with certain people. Through this experience I had to use what I have done in the past and apply that to different ages and abilities. I did feel that sometimes it was difficult to collaborate with the instructor I was shadowing. I had so many ideas on how to help the student but it was hard to get those ideas across. By the end of the week I had figured out how to take initiative and share my ideas in a respectful way without sounding pushy. This is something that I have learned how to do through my time at Animas.
Time Management
I experienced a huge amount of freedom this week. This felt really good and I operated well with it. I did well with a loose schedule and I was good at going with the flow. Sometimes when we had a short break and I wanted to do a run it was hard for me to stay focused and make the right decision on whether I should go and feel rushed or just stay and be ready to go out with the student. Other than that I thought that I did well following instructions, even if they weren’t specific at all or super specific. Overall, I really enjoyed the laid back structure because I knew I had responsibilities and I was motivated to get them done but it felt good to know I did all my tasks without constant reminders.
Connections to YouScience
Looking at my YouScience results I can see how some of the things that they pointed out as my skills came through my work with adaptive sports. For example, my ability to brainstorm. One day when we were working with a kid who had a hard time keeping his skis together I had an idea to add a spacer bar to the back of his skis to help him stay stable and it did actually work. Another example is with my skill being an improviser. With each different student new challenges came with them. There was a lot of improvising on how to get them to want to ski or keep them happy and having fun. I was glad that I was able to go with the flow and stay adaptable because it made it easier to work with my student and the instructor I was shadowing.
Advice to Future Students
One piece of advice I would give the next year of students who participate in sophomore inspire week is to go into it with an open mind and with the mindset that you are going to get out what you put in. I personally got a lot out of this but that was mainly because I didn’t go into it with any expectations. Just try to learn as much as you can and don’t be scared to ask questions to help yourself stay engaged and curious. It’s important to look at it as an exploration of your own interests so that you feel less lost when trying to find your true passion.