A test in teamwork and tenacity

Over the past year, I was a member of my department’s doctoral student society. We mostly plan social events; we hosted a summer barbeque, a Halloween pub crawl, the annual Christmas Ball, and, just this past week, a field day competition between our department and two other engineering departments. It’s been an exciting year, and being a part of this team has been extremely rewarding. But I’m really grateful that I get to take a break for the next year and let another set of students take over.

You see, I didn’t want to be a part of the student society. I really don’t like planning social events. For me, finding DJs and estimating snack budgets is more stressful than it is fun. In general, I like organization and preparation, and I’m always looking for opportunities to be a leader so when we were trying to decide who would be in charge this year, I mentioned to a few other students that if they couldn’t find anyone else, I would do it.

And I ended up doing it.

In some ways, it was exactly the torture I thought it would be. These large events are inherently unpredictable. Things go wrong. You run out of burgers. Photographers are late. You’re short-staffed. There’s not enough ice. Something is going to throw everything else out of balance. I really struggle with that. I like structure. I like when things follow the plan. I like the predictable. 

I was able to make it through this experience thanks to the other members of the student society. When we started out, we all knew each other but we weren’t exactly friends. While we’re still not exactly BFFs, we’ve gotten much closer over the course of the year. These five people have seen me when I’m scrambling and stressed out. I’ve seen them under intense pressure - I know how they cope with an unexpected obstacle. We’ve supported each other and found solutions to tricky problems. Over the last year, we faced several different challenges and we conquered each of them the same way – together.

It’s been an incredible year and I’m really proud of the work we did. I’m glad I had this opportunity. It forced me out of my comfort zone, and I learned to handle situations I would have normally avoided all together. All the same, I’m exhausted and I’m kind of glad it’s over. I wish the next group of students all the best!