Patrick
MACDONALD
Oh, the agony!
Don’t suffer from post-spring break syndrome
So you have returned from South Padre
Island, Cancun or other parts where warm
climates prevail. After this much needed
respite, I have to believe many of you are
reluctant to jump right back into the grind.
It is with this in mind that I now present
my retum-from-vacation shock therapy. You
will be happy to know that I do not charge a
fee for this service.
First, let’s be honest. I know that a
number of you tried to get cloned during
spring break. While you are still enjoying the
beaches, your clone is here doing his/her best
to greatly reduce your GPA. So for you clones
out there reading this, call your progenitor
(what do you call the original anyway?) and
tell them tp get back here — pronto. That is
if they want to be able to fend for themselves
in the future.
So now you have to blow the dust off your
books, put fresh batteries in your TI-85s, boot
«
While you were away, your professors and TA’s had
time to add 10,000 more problems to their lesson
plans.”
up your computers and finish what is left of
this semester.
Shock No. 1: Nebraska weather is still the
most unpredictable thing cm earth. Your
chances of winning the PowerBall Jackpot
are better than guessing what it will do
tomorrow.
Shock No. 2: All of your classes are
picking up right where they left off. Imagine
that. So taking a quick refresher on integra
tion-by-parts won’t save you. Ancient history
is now four centuries later and you were left
in the dust two centuries ago — and all of
those papers that were due the day after
spring break are now overdue.
Shock No. 3: You still can’t find a decent
place to park. ‘Nuff said about this one.
Shock No. 4: You don’t get to sleep in
anymore. That annoying sound that wakes
you in the morning has returned with a
vengeance and hitting the snooze button
doesn’t make it go away.
Shock No. 5: You have to find something
clean to wear, and because you have been
stockpiling laundry since the day you left,
this may prove to be a significant feat.
“Laundry, I don’t have to do no stinking
laundry.”
Maybe not, but this is a sure-fire way to
lose friends and alienate people.
Shock No. 6: The construction all over
campus is not diminishing with the nicer
weather. So welcome back to the constant
sounds of sledgehammers on concrete, saws
ripping through lumber, a virtual cacophony
of construction or maybe its destruction.
Shock No. 7: Schedules, deadlines and
other assorted nastiness. For an entire week,
all you had to worry about was when you
should turn over to get an even tan. Now, it’s
that 10 minutes of hell trying to get from
Brace Laboratory to Nebraska Hall.
Shock No. 8: You have $3,000 of bills
waiting for you when you return, and the trip
you just took cost you all of that. By the way,
mom and dad have moved and did not leave
a forwarding address.
Shock No. 9: Homework. While you were
away, your professors and TA’s had time to
add 10,000 more problems to their lesson
plans. During these last few weeks, you will
get to see most of them. Research papers —
you mean we still have to do those? Group
projects? I can’t even remember who was in
my group.
Shock No. 10: Finals are just around the
comer. OK, I had to bring it up. Just want
you to be prepared.
So what do we do to recover from post
vacation shock? Have plenty of aspirin on
hand, find a quiet place to go where you can
let out a blood-curdling scream (a library
would not be the place to choose for this) and
jump in with both feet.
If this is not your idea of what it takes to
relieve the shock, perhaps a hot bath, soft
music and one-hour photo developers arc
what you need — not necessarily in that
order.
I have heard that exercise reduces stress
induced shock, but I can neither confirm nor
deny this.
While these may not be the best solutions,
we can look forward to a couple of things —
graduation and summer.
MacDonald is a freshman electrical
engineering major and a Daily Nebraskan
columnist.
Paula
LAVIGNE
Nothin’ on Padre
m
Break at LeaderShape challenges impossible
I earned a C over spring break.
And I’m very proud of it.
The C meant I displayed conscientious
ness. (I would have earned a D with a little
more dominance.)
My “grade” came from a personality test
given at Nebraska’s first LeaderShape
Institute where I — and more than 50 UNL
student leaders — sacrificed a road trip to
South Padre Island for a gravel road to
Ashland.
For six days of spring break, those leaders
learned how to lead and guide with integrity.
They left with a vision. They will reach that
vision after hurdling several short-term goals
— and you will benefit from those goals.
Even though a few days of drizzling damp
weather at Camp Carol Joy Holling didn’t
compete with the sunny shores of South
Padre, the spark given off by the motivated
students rivaled the fires of any beach’s
sunset glow.
I admit, I went into it less poetically. I was
regretting what I could have done with a
vacation. I also swore that the first time we
held hands in a circle and sang “Kum-Ba
Ya” I’d be hitchhiking on Interstate 80 back
to Lincoln within seconds.
Instead, I found the the conference to be a
little utopia of trust. We kept our doors
unlocked, and we kept our minds open to
how we, as leaders, can help each other build
a similar community at the University of
Nebraska-Uncoln.
i
And if LeaderShape could intrigue a
serious cynic like myself, imagine the
conquest it will have over the many apathetic
students at the University of Ncbraska
Lincoln.
LeaderShape’s path to UNL began when
the program’s success at other universities
attracted the attention of UNL administrators.
UNL sent select students to the institute near
Champaign, 111., where it was founded in
1986.
Those students came back with rave,
reviews and turned their training into
leadership, especially for one LeaderShape
student who was elected ASUN president.
The first students for LeaderShape
Nebraska came from ASUN, the Residence
Hall Association, Campus Recreation,
various colleges and ethnic and minority
groups and greek organizations.
I was there representing the Daily Nebras
kan as next year’s editor, and I received an
incredible amount of feedback and input,
which I guarantee will put a new student face
on the DN for next year. I realized the
responsibility of resizing student interests
and putting those interests to print. I realized
that as much as we complain and write about
student apathy, we should take charge and
change it. ■
This desire to make a difference is part of
the LeaderShape mission.
LeaderShape’s goal to shape leaders who
lead with integrity was broken down into six
themed days: “Building Community,” “The
Value of One, the Power of All,” “Challeng
ing What is, Looking to What Could be,”
“Bringing Vision to Reality,” “Living and
Leading with Integrity,” and “Staying in
Action.”
We started to define a community and
realized that leadership is journey. We moved
to defining our personal styles of leadership
with feedback, listening and dropping masks.
Much of the rest involved developing a vision
for yourself or group, examining those
involved in your vision and plotting the steps
to get there — keeping in mind the ethical
values that should guide you along the way.
A typical LeaderShape day started at 7:15
a.m. and ended around 10 p.m. Depending
on the schedule, we’d either join in a large
group, break into nine-member “family
clusters,” or engage in one-on-one discus
sions.
Though LeaderShape was intense, almost
24-hour learning, it wasn’t boot camp. Aside
from setting my goals, I learned how to
country dance, make elaborate food in
aluminum foil, build towers of balloons and
relate every word in the English language to
sex.
The learning and the fun together broke a
lot of stereotypes among people of different
organizations — mine included.
Outside their organizational elements,
Panhellcnic, Afrikan People’s Union, the
Residence Hall Association and all the others
can make the meanest web of rope tough
enough to break any 8-foot post — which we
did ... on the ropes challenge course.
While much of our training was inside on
overhead projections, a lot of it was physical.
Falling backwards into a stranger’s arms
builds trust pretty quickly when two hours
later you’re letting five people pass you
through a small hole five feet above the
ground.
The games also were about letting your
guard down and being able to make a
complete fool of yourself in front of influen
tial people — thus said: You have to act like
children sometimes to know what it is to be
an adult.
Children think they can do anything, and
they’re really honest about that. Somewhere
in there, we lost our “healthy regard for the
■ i . ■ -
•
• ■ ■ • • K
impossible,” and our leadership can be
tainted with doubt.
Hopefully, the University of Nebraska
Lincoln and other organizations will continue
to fund LeaderShape; its value to the univer
sity and its leadership are priceless.
The university needs good leaders who
can keep any group of people on the right
train of thought.
One-two-three, OOOO-Rah!
(See, you just had to be there.)
Lavigne is a senior news-editorial major
and the Daily Nebraskan managing editor.
Paula Lavione/DN
DANA VANLANN6HAM, a wterisary scleace
■aim; passes a heart te Reeee Ritchie, a
hertlceltere majer, art Marine Beieehapee,
Ahrecter ef StaAeat lavehrmaeat, Aarhifl the
LBNRWpC CMIICIfG CNIH*
