Class XIII Day 1: A Zoo Party

I'm in good company this week. It took me pretty much no time to realize that. I got to read all of the student applications and biographies that they sent in before YLOK, so I had a good idea of what the students were going to be like on paper. But then I met them in person. 

Whoa.

These people rock. I want to be like them when I grow up. Usually it's the YLOK students that grow up significantly after their week on this trip, but I'm already wondering if maybe it will be a mutual thing instead.

Today we began our program at the Gaylord-Pickens Oklahoma Heritage Museum in the spectacularly historic Heritage Hills neighborhood just northwest of downtown Oklahoma City. Parents joined their students as we checked in all 52 of them and held a brief opening session in the large, beautiful meeting room on the 4th floor. 

Once the program concluded, students said goodbye to their parents and immediately began chatting it up with each other. Seriously, they wasted no time getting to know each other. We gathered in an amoeba-like blob (it was supposed to be a circle) to play my favorite icebreaker, Thumb-Ball. We each took turns throwing a soccer ball around the circle, introducing ourselves, and answering whichever question that their right thumb landed on. It was rather amusing if I do say so myself.

LeeAnne (chaperone and YLOK director), Emma (YLOK Class XII grad), me (Class IX Grad and AmeriCorps Intern/Chaperone), and Liz (YLOK Class XII grad) posing for Selfie Sunday. 

And then there was dinner. Have you ever had Cheever's? It's great. Really, it is so delicious. I don't know what kind of magic they perform on their food, but it's not human. I'd be totally fine if they catered for us all week. Tonight, we had chicken topped with capers, some sort of mixed salad that had an Asian flair to it, green beans with roasted red bell pepper slices, mashed potatoes, and a tasty little upside-down cupcake-like thing that tasted like a mix between pound cake, coconut, and a donut. It had a bit of icing and was topped with an edible flower. I'm beating myself up for not taking a picture of this fine set of culinary creations.

After dinner, the director of Student Life at the University of Oklahoma (and consequently, my supervisor at my job within Student Life), Kristen Partridge, arrived to facilitate a round of U-Zoo. The U-Zoo is a hysterical game with several components. First, each student fills out a short personality quiz, ranking rows of words from 4 to 1 based one the order in which they feel each word relates to themselves. After they have done this, they add up each column, circling the column with the highest number of points. Each column corresponds to one of four animals: Lion, Porpoise, Koala, or Eagle. Some people are hybrids, others are extremely high in one. Kristen picked the students with the highest in each category and sent them downstairs with these sparse instructions: plan a party. While they were planning, she informed everyone upstairs of exactly what to expect from each group, giving specific instructions of how to interact with them when they presented their party plan to everyone.

The "Eagles" on the left, and the "Lions" on the right. 

The "Koalas" planning their party for the U-Zoo game.

A couple of the "porpoises" unknowingly acting exactly as they were predicted to act. 

Meanwhile, while I spied on the party planning downstairs, Kristen was informing the rest of the audience exactly what to expect from each group.

The lions would be alphas. They would be very direct, they would want to present first, they would use the microphone and step forward, and they would have a very good idea of the big picture of their event, and that all aspects of the event would be grandiose, include some sort of competition, and that there would, of course, be several famous people attending. The audience was told to ask questions that would annoy the lions, and then they were instructed not to clap for them. Meanwhile, downstairs, let me tell you, those lions did not mess around. Wow. They stood in a perfect circle at equal distance apart with arms crossed and lots of instructing going on. There was no "maybe we could do this?" All I heard was "Ok, we're going to do this, this, and this." In no time, they were literally practicing their event. It was a perfect, classic example of lion-hood. Their "party" was actually to be the graduation event for YLOK. The theme was "Success" and the colors were red, white, and blue, since America is successful and we want to only represent the best. Kevin Durant would be attending, and all food was coming from Mahogany Grill. Flawless.

Chaperone Katie Kimberling found out she was a lion today. Here, she can be seen answering a question from an audience member that she felt should have been obvious with a sassy, "Duh." 

Next up were the porpoises. These are the people-persons, full of endless energy. Kristen explained to the audience that they would probably volunteer to go first, but would concede to letting the lions go first just because they love people and want everyone to just have a good time without a fight. They don't really care. The porpoises would be loud, smiling, brimming with adjectives in their presentation that allude to "fun" or "happy," and that they would probably be bouncing off the walls and incredibly random. Their event would be absolutely outlandish. It would be completely implausible, but it would sound fantastic nonetheless. Their party would be a party to rule all parties. The audience was told to ask them detail questions as well, because porpoises also don't care so much about the details, they just want to have a good time and enjoy the time spent with friends. Details are such a drag. Downstairs in the planning room, they literally paced as they "planned." They introduced each other to themselves, chatted a bit, decided on a theme for the party, then changed it, and then changed it again. No matter the theme, it was always a pool party, and people were just going to show up and there would be food and a pool. Whoever wanted to come was invited and they couldn't leave until they passed out from exhaustion. During the presentation of the party, we were also told to "imagine the party in The Great Gatsby. It will be that. Times ten." That's it. Done. It took them 30 seconds to plan that. Then I found them wandering around the museum, rubbing their heads against the wall, talking about each others' lives, doing spirit fingers, and more. It was almost too perfect.

Next were the eagles. The eagles are an interesting bunch. They are the other half of lions. They love details. They thrive on them. Put them with a directing lion, and they will make sure the job is done flawlessly, all gaps filled. They would have lists, perfectly described events, and nothing left out. They would not necessarily be enforcers, but they would know what exactly was needed to make something happen. And this group was perfect. They planned a beach party in Moore, Oklahoma, that would be imported from some lake that I'd never heard of. All guests would arrive at precisely 12:39. If they were from Moore, they could get in for free, but they would need to show proof of home ownership. The cost would be $20 for all others. During the planning process, I watched in awe as this group made at least 2 detailed backup plans in case this event did not work. They considered every possible thing that could go wrong, and came up with solutions via a brainstorming process. Classic, classic, classic. When asked questions by the audience (which was told to ask repeat questions and to ask them if they had thought of "x" detail if "z" happened), the eagles became agitated. How dare people ask them if they had considered something. Of course they had! They'd considered everything they possibly could have!  It is almost offensive to question an eagle, because they really do think of everything. If anything, they need to be questioning you.

Finally, the loving koalas. You could describe them in one word: chill. Whereas the porpoises have Red Bull instead of blood, the koalas have chamomile in their veins. They want everyone to be happy, but not so they can get a socializing fix. They do not like loudness, big crowds, or negativity. They just want to be cool and chill. These koalas planned in a corner to themselves. When I would approach them, they got silent. I was able to pick up on a few conversations though. They never interrupted each other, and they listened intently as each person spelled out a complete idea for a party. Then, they wanted to talk about each other's lives. They spoke softly, but genuinely were interested in what was being said. Most of their planning process was spent pondering. Koalas are introverted thinkers, and when they speak, their ideas are usually so well-thought out and rare that all who listen are intrigued by their wisdom. The koala party was a giant lake party. Whoever wanted to come could show up. If the cops came, they could have some cake. If a tornado came, well, they hadn't thought of that, but you know, hopefully everyone would be able to make it out ok. Grandma could come. Dogs, too. It'd be great, and we'd all just rent some boats, chill on the lake, and have s'mores later. Sounds like my kind of day actually. Once they finished presenting, the audience clapped wildly as they blushed and stepped wayyy back behind the other presenters. The lions were not happy about this.

After the presentations, Kristen explained what had been going on to all of the presenters (who felt tricked, but also experienced a giant, collective AHA moment). All leaders have different strengths and styles of leadership. We often blame other people if they don't get along with us well. However, the real problem may be that we are not approaching them in a way that they are wired to respond to naturally and positively. That is why it is crucial to make an attempt to discover what type of leader other people are. A lion might want to approach a koala with a more relaxed, less confident manner of speaking, then ramp things up as the koala becomes more comfortable. A porpoise might want to bring a listed agenda to a meeting that includes eagles. These are the types of things that will become more and more important to these YLOK students as they begin or continue to take on leadership roles in whatever place they may find themselves. A true leader must know how to work as a team with other leaders, otherwise they may be leading at less than full capacity. Kristen did an absolutely incredible job at explaining these things to the class, even reminding me, who has done this game at least 20 times, how important these lessons are. We are all of these animals at some point. One is usually our default, while another may be who we are under stress, and another during times of relaxation. No matter what, we are each wired differently, and that is exactly how it is supposed to be, or else nothing would ever get done.

After we wrapped up our time with Kristen, we drove a few blocks over to the Hampton Inn at Bricktown and had free time for the rest of the night. From 9:00 to 11:15, everyone snacked on junk food (sorry parents), drank water (you're welcome parents), and hung out. Some went to the pool and hot tub for a while, but eventually everyone ended up in the conference room sitting in a giant circle. Neither I nor either of the other chaperones had anything to do with this. They totally bonded on their own, and it was beautiful. They utilized the whiteboard in the room to write their social media names/handles and basically just talked and got to know each other in a very organic way. It makes me very excited to see how strong of a bond this whole class will have in just 5 more days.

Without me even having to go remind everyone, they all left the room at the exact time LeeAnne had instructed them to do so hours earlier. Let's just say I was impressed to say the least. 

And that was day one! Success. Bigtime. Tomorrow we'll be up and at 'em by 8:15 headed to Norman, where we will spend the majority of the day at TeamQuest Ropes Course doing teambuilding exercises and some time on the High Ropes. Keep up with us on Twitter @ylokylok, Instagram @youthleadershipoklahoma, and like us on Facebook. We will post all throughout the day! Until tomorrow, see you soon! 

-- Bryce Rowland