The CLC leaders were a little burnt out from our day of service with all the AmeriCorps groups of New Hampshire. It was a unique experience to be able to do some great community service with the rest of the AmeriCorps groups; it was also a very rewarding and humbling experience. At the end of the day we were brought back to Manchester where we were anticipating the next education and preparation night at the Salvation Army. We were beat but still excited to see our members again!
This week’s meeting we went over the importance of diversity. Of course, with everything we do with the Manchester CLC we made sure to make the activity fun and exciting. We began the meeting with a game of amoeba tag. This was the first time we actually played this game and with the space we had in the gymnasium we really were able to have a extraordinarily fun time. The game gave the members an opportunity to really step up as role models and teachers for their peers. Everyone really stepped up to guide each other through the game. After amoeba tag we gathered back to the meeting room to go over perceived judgments and stereotypes.
We jumped in to diversity by presenting them with an iceberg. We told them that the top of the iceberg will represent what we first notice about a person the moment we meet them. This represented how people can stereotype or cast judgments based on appearance and presentation. We then asked the members to think a little deeper and tell us what kinds of characteristics are noticeable after really getting to know a person. These characteristics help us create a better understanding of a person and goes past the tip of the iceberg by breaking any shallow stereotypes. The activity was received well and the members loved talking about their personal experiences with stereotypes and judgments. We then went into silent interviews. This is where the members really got engaged and tried to read their partners and figure out some deep characteristics about them. The results were hilarious and the members ended up learning more about each other. We ended the activity with a discussion about diversity and stereotypes, then we went back into the gym to play fire on the mountain. Fire on the mountain was a huge hit. For those of you that aren’t familiar with the game, fire on the mountain is played by having all the participants lay on the floor then when “fire on the mountain” is shouted all the participants must stand up. If somebody stands up when “fire on the mountain” isn’t called or is the last one standing when it is called they are out. We had many laughable moments and poked fun at each other for falling for any of the tricks.
After the closing game we returned to the meeting room to remind the members that we will not be having a Saturday event, but we will be getting together the week after to go to the concord Audubon center. The members really seemed to gain a lot about our diversity lesson. It was very rewarding to hear the members talk about it up until the end of the meeting. We circled around and cheered for the SCA.
