Challenge & Selection

Storytelling is, in my opinion, the most important tool to use in any situation in which there

exists a problem needing a solution. As described in Week 2’s “Storytelling Tool” video lecture,  storytelling is a tool that provides Fortune 500 companies, schools, and other organizations the ability to  understand both the human dimension of their business as well as the impact of their work and  products on clients. Moreover, it provides for superior organic growth and the ability to empathize with  said clients to understand their unmet needs at a much deeper level. Regarding my challenge, I have  worked at a summer camp held at my high school as an assistant lifeguard for about four years now.  Therefore, I help the “head lifeguard” teach the girls how to swim with different strokes as well as  supervise them during their time to have fun in the pool. The groups I oversee include Pre-K 3 to 6th  grade and all of the girls who attend the camp do activities based on a block schedule rotation; in short,  they attend the swimming session in a random order throughout the day rather than in the order of  their ages. As these girls enter the pool, they each become so eager to share the stories of how their  summer has been so far, spewing details of what they have done and the beautiful places they have  visited.

These very stories are important to me because they make me strive to make the girls’

experiences at the camp just as good as the other memories of their summer. These stories move me to  find a way to make their experience at the camp vibrant, a time that they will never forget. I hope to  make the days at the summer camp just as fun as their trip to New York City or San Francisco. However,  for example, Kindergarten students who endure an intense swimming class right upon their arrival, only  to be followed by an intense desire to take a long nap, may not remember such events like their day at  summer camp so vividly.

Application

My story of applying the tool to the way the summer camp would run begins with the idea of

keeping the girls as awake as possible to optimize their energy and participation in their other activities  such as drama classes and art lessons, rather than the simple goal of only keeping the girls awake  instead of caring about their participation. This idea led to the discussion with the camp’s director and  counselors of how to make the schedule more efficient for the girls as they move between activities  while trying their best to pay attention in each one as the day drags on. Therefore, I provided the  examples of a Pre-K 3 girl and a 6th grader, telling a short story about each one. Overall, I posed the  questions: “What would be more efficient: to have a Pre-K 3 student exert the most energy during the  first hour of their day, or to have her exert that energy at the very end of the day in her only session of  physical activity? Also, wouldn’t it be better to have the 6th graders begin their day exerting more energy  at the pool since such exertion won’t have such an impact on them being that they are older and much  more active?” These questions motivated the camp director, counselors, and myself to work together to  improve the experience for the girls. This idea led to the changing of the schedule to having the girls  attend the swimming session throughout the day based on age and the impact of energy exerted by  these girls: the 4th, 5th, and 6th graders would go first, then the 2nd and 3rd graders, then 1st graders, then  Kindergarteners, and then levels Pre-K 3 and 4.

Insight & Approach

Creating this narrative allowed for the camp counselors and director to empathize with the girls

who go to the camp. They empathized because they were able to consider how to make the days at  camp more worthwhile for the girls based on what they can handle in regards to their ability to be active  and alert for the rest of the day after “intense” exercise. This change was applied effectively because it  proved the girls to be more alert throughout the day based on when it was that they went swimming;  the Pre-K 3 girls maintained their energy throughout the day until their last session of the day, which  was swimming. However, I would apply this change differently to benefit all of the teachers and  counselors as well, not only the girls. As a result, the policies and schedule of the camp are always open  to adjustments in order to benefit the camp as a whole. No matter the possible improvements, this  challenge was truly an eye-opening one because I was able to overcome the challenge with stories that  were meant to improve the camp experience for these young girls. These small, hypothetical stories  were able to make a big change to make the summer camp vibrant. These stories allowed me to  successfully visualize and display my ideas to my peers, followed by the implementation of these ideas  to change the goal of keeping the girls awake to the goal of maximizing their potential to succeed in  their other daily activities.

