October 24, 2021
Each year “The Green Machine” holds an all-team retreat to build relationships between members while learning team culture and history. COVID restrictions and hybrid learning put a barrier between the seniors and the incoming juniors and sophomores. On October 9th, 2021 we tore that barrier down as we debated various topics including, hard versus soft shell tacos, preparing and presenting to the mentors. The collection of team members with strong opinions made this an interesting activity.
Afterwards, 1816 discussed and debated our Team’s Core Values. We developed these Core Values at the retreat in October 2017, and it’s now a Team tradition to review and decide how our Core Values are meaningful to us in the current season as a Team. We split into groups (named for the division fields at the Detroit Championships!) to brainstorm how to implement two of the five core values, Respect and Inclusivity.
Being a student-led team, we are charged with making the decisions. Group decisions are often hard for any organization; therefore, the more we know each other the better we will work together. In the same groups, we raced to complete a scavenger hunt that included speaking to members of our community. This is preparing us to speak to the public during outreach and events. This was followed by FIRST/”The Green Machine” history bingo – with prizes!
It was great to get everyone caught up. And we capped off the night with games like Uno, Egyptian Rat Slap, and more. We had so much fun and learned so much, can’t wait for next year! —By Venna W.