by Ashley Vegh
Experiences are something that everyone has in life.
Recently I have had the opportunity to attend Provincial Club Week—this is a program through 4-H that teaches leadership, how to properly communicate, and most importantly to create long-term friendships. I am thankful for being able to be apart of this adventure and it was only made possible by Norma Howes, 4-H BC, and my 4-H club, Boundary C.
Through this program I learned a lot about myself and others. At PCW (Provincial Club Week), young adults learn correct communication, never to assume but to always “check it out,” meaning you must not judge a person before you know and understand the situation.
Leadership skills were gained through team working events, each person learned if they were more of the follower who would take orders or if they were the leader who directed the team. But many people learned that they are both, each person can be both depending on what they are confident with.
For me I found I was a leader when it came to sports. My second day at PCW I coordinated a huge soccer game that included most of the delegates. This sport event was important to me because I found a strong leader inside me. I also gained long-term friendships through the sport I love.
Throughout the week, all delegates attended sessions which included anything from engaging with inner emotions, trust exercises, communication skills, and team work skills.
Each session started with a song and we all had to talk about it. The point of this exercises was to understand what the meaning of the song was and how it related to life.
We learned trust exercises with our small groups; for example we did the “cradle” where each small group linked hands to create a cradle and a person within our group would have to trust each person in the group to hold them up and sway them to soft music. for some people this was a very hard exercise but helped them gain trust with the group.
Communication skills were the most important skills that I leaned from this week. I came home a more understanding person.
Teamwork was a set of skills I was already very good at so I had no challenge in these exercises.
At the end of this week we all became close to each other which made it very hard to say goodbye and head home. Some people didn’t want to leave because the friends they met at PCW were better than any friends they had at home—this of course was the saddest to see. Thankfully all delegates are able to keep in contact through phone, email, and social media. Special connections will never be lost.
All in all, this week was the best week of my life. I have lifetime memories from PCW and somethings I will never be able to properly explain to others about my experience. I learned so much about myself and communication. I would like to thank everyone that made this week possible for me.