I’m incredibly grateful that working at Flourish has opened the door to many wonderful professional growth opportunities. Most recently, I was accepted into the Connect 27 class with Leadership Greater Huntsville. If you haven’t heard of Connect or Leadership Greater Huntsville, they are powerful programs designed to help industry professionals grow as leaders. These programs empower participants with connections to their community and inspire them to give back, strengthening Huntsville through unified efforts.
Day 1: Kicking Off in Downtown Huntsville
We started our journey downtown at the Embassy Suites, where we dove into enriching conversations with alumni of the Leadership Greater Huntsville program. The morning featured an inspiring talk from their new CEO, Christie Finley, and a hands-on DiSC workshop with Flourish friend, Lana Barshinger. We participated in several activities that created fast bonding between our group members, helping us form connections that will be vital throughout the program.
After lunch, we were assigned to small groups to work on service projects for local organizations. My group’s project is with The Caring Link, an organization that provides care closets in schools for children in need. These closets are stocked with donated clothing, snacks, and essential items to help students with disadvantages succeed alongside their peers. Our main task will be helping The Caring Link build a new care closet at Blossomwood Elementary later this month. I can’t wait to see how our team can help them with their mission!
Later, we split into small groups and were handed a mysterious envelope. The clues inside sent us on a downtown scavenger hunt, exploring the historic charm of Huntsville. We took selfies with colorful murals and historic landmarks, learning more about the city we call home.
Day 2: Team Bonding at Shocco Springs
On the second day, we loaded onto a bus and set off to Shocco Springs, a beautiful campground in Talladega, Alabama. The day began with a workshop on handling difficult conversations. It was eye-opening to see how much we share in common, even within such a diverse group, and how much we can grow by embracing our differences.
After lunch, we headed to the lake for some hands-on teamwork. Our challenge was to build a foam board airplane and launch it off a three-story waterslide! Finding out we had two of the four engineers in the program on our team, I thought we had this competition in the bag. However, despite our efforts, our plane flew the second-shortest distance. But the project highlighted something more important: everyone on our team contributed, jumped in when they had ideas and handed over tools when someone else was ready to take a turn. We cheered each other on, and though our plane didn’t win, we had a great time cheering each other on and strengthening our bond as a group.
Advice That Stuck With Me
Before starting my Connect journey, I received two pieces of advice. The first is to be open to everything this program offers. There’s so much to learn, and having an open mind will allow me to grow in ways I never expected. The second is to sit next to someone different on the bus each time. Apparently, there’s going to be a lot of bus riding! Even though I had a few people I knew on the bus I might’ve been more comfortable to sit with, I challenged myself to branch out and meet new people. Knowing they are also here to make these connections and having participated in the bonding exercises (I’ll leave them mysterious, so I don’t spoil the surprise if any reader wants to join Connect in the future) made it easy to reach out and start a conversation with someone I haven’t spoken to yet. I’m looking forward to continuing to build these relationships.
I’m already excited for our next program day, where we’ll be touring locations at Redstone Arsenal for Local Economic Development Day. Stay tuned for more updates from my leadership journey!