Our team did not really form until a few weeks into discussion. The first week we were established, was during the discussion where we did the, “rafting in the wilderness” activity. Right off the bat we debated various options for the most and least useful items in the activity. We learned each other’s way of thinking and started to build a solid foundation for which our team would build. Once the results of the most useful items in the wilderness were shared, we began to notice who was right about what and how their train of thought got them there. That is when we first started building trust within our team. Even though we did not know each other all that well, the manner in which we worked together so well during the activity made us trust one another even more. The biggest thing for us was communication and honesty. Even if there was something that would hinder the success of the team, we would be honest right off the bat and address it in a timely manner. Overall throughout our journey and this project, we always had a solid foundation built of trust. It was what kept us together through conflict and what kept us moving over time.
Throughout the completion of our project we used this built up trust to take the stress off one another. We trusted each other to complete their part. We did not have to stress about any of us not pulling out weight. Worrying about whether someone may or may not do something has the potential to drag down a team’s success. Fortunately, we didn’t have that dragging us down. It made the journey throughout both the community service itself as well as the project surrounding it much easier on us all.
To make sure we were on track to be a successful team, we scheduled multiple deadlines for various parts of the project. A major one for us was when we would do the actual community service by. Initially, we wanted to participate in the Make a Difference Day opportunity, but two of our team members had a conflicting event on that same day. As time passed, we very quickly realized that we had yet to choose a volunteer opportunity. Eventually, one of our team members went to the Center for Community-Based Learning, Leadership & Research office on campus and to our surprise, there were no more spots left for UWM based community service opportunities. We had hit a wall and a large conflict since the due date for the project was approaching quickly. We explored many options with little success. Due to so many students signing up for community service, we were left with little probable options. However, the front desk person suggested we check out the United Way of Greater Milwaukee website for upcoming volunteer opportunities. We did as we were told and that is how we came about organizing the clothing bank at the Milwaukee Women’s Center. The Milwaukee Women’s Center needed some assistance with going through and organizing their clothing and bedding inventory. At first, we had already had a time scheduled and picked out but there was a mistake made by the community service office for the clothing bank. They had told us the wrong date and the date, which we had scheduled, had no more room. We communicated clearly and ended up finding a time that worked for all of us.
Once the time came, we ran into another issue; a miscommunication of the address. Two of us went to the address given while one of us went to the wrong address on the form. Oddly enough, although two of us went to the address given it still turned out to be the wrong address. The two of us that went to the wrong address were becoming worrisome after realizing we were in an unfamiliar neighborhood and most definitely at the wrong place. We quickly called the person in charge of the volunteer event and asked them where the building was and if we had the wrong address, as per the email they had sent. The person quickly realized they provided us the wrong address and apologized for directing us to the incorrect address. We found that there was a typo in the email and that they had just switched two numbers around. Before calling the person, some of us were feeling like giving up due to the inconvenient circumstances we were in. This had been the second time we were given inaccurate information and it was becoming stressful looking forward to the rest of the afternoon. But, nonetheless, everything worked out for a reason. Though we were close to giving up, we remained committed to completing our community service and making a difference in our Milwaukee community. Initially, we had planned to meet at the Milwaukee Women’s Center around 3:30PM and finish around 5:30PM, but of course due to the circumstances our times fluctuated just slightly. We were all able to recollect ourselves after a few minutes of frustration once we were all at the right place just a couple of minutes off schedule.
Another issue we ran into in the process of completing our project, was the end of semester rush with classes and preparation for exams. Due to us not being able to get a community service project until just a week before our deadline, other classes with exams and projects started impeding our progress. We had to think rather quickly in order to completely satisfy the requirements of the project. Some of us had to wait last minute to complete our tasks while others had to sacrifice work to get done what needed to be done. Fortunately, we planned to have our deadline for the project to be early submission. We agreed that we would juggle the project with our own classes and that if we were not happy with the results by Monday evening that we would postpone turning it in early in an effort to bring about our overall satisfaction.
DelaCruz-Jauregui-Mcdowell-DMP4 