My day started at 7:15am, when I joined a small group of my peers at the Hangar, the fitness facility at Lakehead University. There's nothing like waking up with the sun and jumpstarting the day with an intense workout! After a shower I joined all my other Shad Lakehead peers for a huge breakfast, and then several Shad Speaks. The 10-minute presentations were entertaining and informative, mostly centred on this particular day around the science behind various sports and activities. This was followed by a lecture in a series about axiomatic design, presented by our own Dr. Sultan Siddiqui, and then a delicious lunch of tacos :)
The rest of the day proved to be fairly relaxing for a day in Shad Valley, as the time between lunch and dinner were occupied by time to work in our soft project committees and then two hours of fitness at the Hangar. The soft projects here include committee work on such projects as the organization and facilitation of the banquet and the production of the monthbooks. I am on the committee responsible for organizing the dance that will cap off our month here at Shad Valley, and we are well ahead of schedule. During scheduled fitness time, we had a choice of activities at the facility. I chose to join a yoga class facilitated by our wonderful Rheta, because I definitely needed some revitalization after my brutal morning workout. During this time, I was overwhelmed by a feeling of contentment and peace that proves to be quite rare in such a packed program like Shad Valley.
After dinner (which my hunger propelled me to eat three servings of), we sat down for an entrepreneurship lecture by Professor Ken Hartviksen. We left to go work on our Shad Cup projects armed with his words of wisdom and ready to tackle the daunting task of progressing in this major project. At the risk (certainty) of sounding very cheesy, I am grateful beyond words for what I am blessed enough to experience here. Shad Cup Time has proved itself to be riddled with trial, coming as a package deal with all the stresses of working in a group on a very important project. But all the frustration, discord, and tribulation that we are forced to overcome by working together has been teaching me invaluable life lessons that can't be learned from a textbook or a Wikipedia article. I know that by the end of the month, I will walk away from this program a better learner, teacher, friend, innovator, and person.
By the time I finished tweaking my Shad Speak for the following day and retired to my dorm, I was content indeed. Tired, yes, from everything I had done in the past two weeks, but all of it has been so worth it. I remember being told over and over that this would be the best month of my life, and skeptical as I was, I cannot deny the truth of these words so far. Through all the sleep deprivation, stress, and fatigue I have experienced so far, I have been sharing magical moments with amazing people, learning astonishing things, and having the time of my life. My last thought before drifting off into the land of sleep was that of anticipation for what the next day held in store for me.
Julie Cho, Shad Lakehead University 2011
Hometown: Coquitlam, BC
