The accidental leader: new friends, newfound respect, and the importance of paying attention
Richard Veal, Huron High School ’09 shares his recollections from the NZ Teen Leadership Retreat, September 2007
I was Lori’s intern, and she asked me to go to the Leadership retreat. I asked here what we were going to do there, and she told me it would be fun, I’d meet new people, and we’d do a little planning. I thought, “OK, I’ll go there, sit down, have fun, play games, not do any work…” but what happened was almost the total opposite.
I come for drop-in, so before the retreat, I only knew the other drop-in kids. NZ staff specifically asked us not to hang out with the same people we always see. At the retreat, we did. So the first thing that happened at the retreat was that I met a lot of people I would not normally meet — people from different programs and groups, people with different interests and backgrounds.
Now when I’m back at Neutral Zone, it feels different. I know a lot more people, which makes me feel a lot more comfortable.
We actually had to “work” at the retreat, but it wasn’t what you might think. At the beginning, the work was to interact with the other people, to meet everyone. Then we used those new relationships to get together and plan out the strategic goals for the year. We came up with the goals in groups, and then were free to critique our ideas. We gave the thumbs up to the goals that we’d have fun doing, that we thought would be important for the success of the Neutral Zone.
There were other unexpected things, too— for example, the game “Zoo.” It sounds simple, but isn’t. You have to pick an animal that you want to be and you make a hand sign for it, or some kind of beat. Then different people make different signs, and if your sign is called, you have to follow up. Everyone has to be paying attention, otherwise, you mess up. It’s a fun game, but also a lesson. It shows you how to focus and pay attention to what’s going on around you, to think and react fast.
I want to go on the retreat again next year, and maybe in the future as a NZ staff… I’m really grateful that we have the Zone. I’m here every day. If there were no Neutral Zone, I’d just be at home doing chores or sitting around, maybe watching TV. I’d so much rather be at Neutral Zone.