Having a good time with food, music, dancing, and evident youthful banter is the definition of a perfect evening. But as an introverted adolescent who preferred a fun night with books to this spotless spread, I was hesitant to join the Farwell. My friends were incredibly eager to plan and execute a memorable occasion. I unexpectedly leapt and entered my name as a member of the event’s host committee, not anticipating approval. Cut to, I got the part. Despite having a comedic disconnect with my friends, we ultimately came up with a script of everyone’s liking which included a sweet mix of light laughter, recollection of memories, and future wishes. Lastly, weeks of preparation and meetings brought a lot of personal learnings and reflections, which could be discussed further in the form of LOs.

My participation in the Farwell can be considered as creativity. Hosting required us to write up our own script that required us to go beyond the basic format of acknowledging the guest, introducing people, and commencing other activities. We ended up including a lot of humour and analogies, the write-up included music that connected with our central theme of the event, “Coldplay.”

LO 1- Identify own strengths and develop areas for growth
Throughout the writing and collaboration process, I ended up learning about my strengths and weaknesses. At the beginning of the process, I remember initiating the writing process of the script with my peers, not waiting for the teacher to formally commence. I was accepting of my peers’ suggestions and modified the draft to the extent that almost all possible suggestions such as the relevance of the content, deadpan humour, missing link between series of events(speech-activity-dance), etc were catered to at the best of my ability. In contrast, I struggled the hardest in the sharing part of the committee, there were days I was hesitant to speak my mind and ended up agreeing with the consensus. As an illustration, there was an extended discussion on the theme of the event. For, the first day, I remember being silent throughout the meeting.

LO2- Demonstrated that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process
The only drawback of writing for yourself is the lack of diverse perspectives you miss out on. So, the sudden influx of feedback was new for me and challenging too. Because, often I found myself not able to go beyond what I had written. However, I overcame it by frequently getting into conversations with my friends about the clarity of their comments. Following by, I have a peculiar habit of doing or approaching things my own way. There was a time when I voluntarily offered to help my peers with decor. I found myself not following their instructions and causing inconvenience that didn’t settle well with me. Therefore, I put in the habit of acknowledging the instructions given and then if mutually agreed upon I could suggest my opinion.

LO5- Demonstrate the skills and recognize the benefits of working collaboratively
1)Adaptability- Acclimatizing to a new set of people and workspace allowed me to put my tolerance and patience to the test. Being open to criticism, fluid with communication, and open to discussion are some parameters that I predominantly showed improvement ever since I felt a hint of discontent. For instance, once I remember I was holding back from freely communicating my dislike for a certain statement that was put in by my peer in the script. Later, our mentor pointed out the same concern which led me to realize that honesty was something I should have used to prevent my peers from putting something without relevance.
2)Problem-solving- I faced a short-lived writer’s block with the end portion of the script, where we were wrapping up the event. I was asked to write the portion but failed to do it in the allotted time. After, 2 days of nothing I approached my fellow peers in the committee and I instantly got a bag full of ideas which was apparently my favourite part of the script.
3)Interpersonal skills- Respecting the speaker, tolerating each other itty bits, suggestions without condescendence, and no fighting was my innate policy that I avoided doing. Once, amongst the committee, we were on the verge of initiating a squabble. One of us stepped in and made all of us realize how there was no point in it and established our own rules that we followed till the very end of the event to avoid unnecessary hassle.
In conclusion, collaboration with my classmates on this Farewell was a huge learning expedition for me. I had a lot of fun anchoring in front of an audience, not been on stage for so long. I was tolerated, helped, encouraged and felt included in the stages of the event. The reality was a lot different from my expectation and I am happy that I took the leap and did it.