Teamwork, Building Bikes, and giving back!

I should probably write these the day they happen right? I'm trying to write blogs more and more so I think about what I want to write about yet It takes me a day or 2 to actually start it.

This past Wednesday I did another brand ambassador job with a staff company that involved team-building activities at a conference for Ted's Montana Grill. Ted's Montana Grill is an American restaurant chain co-founded by Ted Turner and George W. McKerrow. Here at this conference were 46 employees from various locations around the country joining together to learn how continue the success of their restaurants.

Why was I there? Well the organization i was working for that day of an organization call Impact 4 Good. Impact 4 Good provides facilitators to conduct activities that increase team interaction & participation, build camaraderie, and ethical values, all while giving back to the community. This community driven activity chosen for today was bike build for charity. Our job, the brand ambassadors, was to lead teams through various team building games to complete before the finale which would be the bike build. Some of the stations we facilitated were:

Building the tallest standing Jenga tower
Team crossing the pond without letting go of any stone
Trivia
Weave and Shoot soccer competition ( Which I manned)

It was fun watching the employees in slacks race against time to score as many goals as they could in the soccer game. After all 16 teams completed their rotations of activities they returned to their table to unbox their bike and begin their build. Each table of 5/6 had their own new bike to build and complete along with technicians roaming who would correct anything wrong and review the bikes afterwards to make sure their were safe.

Here comes the best part! All 16 of these bikes were built to be donated to an all girls organization called I am B.e.a.u.t.i.f.u.l. I am Beautiful is a nonprofit organization that engages girls in interactive learning experiences designed to build self esteem and strong leadership skills to help girls and women live B.e.a.u.t.i.f.u.l lives inside and out. Those 16 girls arrived at the end of the build and were presented each with their own bike, helmet, and personalized note from the team that built it. The smiles on their faces and the employees was the best part of the day and I was glad I applied for this opportunity. If you want to learn more about the restaurant, team building organization, or I am Beautiful please check out the links below!

I am Beautiful: https://www.iambeautiful.org/

Ted's Montana Grill: https://www.tedsmontanagrill.com/our-story.html

Impact4Good: http://impact4good.com/

Student night at Dad's Garage

As many of you may know I'm currently taking level 1 Improv classes at Dad's Garage in Atlanta Georgia. Woot! We are about 6 classes in with 2 more to go and it has been amazing. It has taught us how to be ok with failure because the only punishment is trying again; is that even a punishment?!

Throughout the weeks we also learned various ways to warm up our impulsivity before getting into our work for the day. One of the opportunities we get each week outside of class is a student night where level 1 and level 2 can try scene work on stage with themes given by an instructor.

A classmate and I decided to attend and boy it was nerve wrecking. Through these weeks I surprised myself with how many times I got up to volunteer first in class but pulling up to the actual theater and seeing all the random people, got me in my head. We started with all participants going outside to practice warming up and letting others know of any physical limitations. I was pleasantly surprised on how the mixed classes knew the same games to warm up.

After the warm up the show started with a house team performing for about 15 minutes before us newbies got our turn. Our names were randomized into teams of 3, duration about 3minutes, and our theme came from the song that played as we walked in stage 😲. I felt like I walked on stage and forgot everything. I mean I went for it but I forgot certain tools to use such as establishing names for the people you talked to and the relationship, and normalcy before the problem. It wasn't just me who forgot either and that's why it's called practice! At least we got laughs right? Afterward we got general feedback as a whole on things to pay attention to and needless to say, I will be back!

improvHosea DeMarzinoApril 18, 2019dad's garage, theater, comedy, Georgia, improv, student night, atlanta, improvisationComment