If you can think it, you can do it.

This is a tad late, but here are my thoughts on how GUALA training went on Tuesday!  My excuse for not posting this yesterday has to be because of my watching YouTube videos in the hallway with my peers (and Judy!)...I prioritized this well :)

The workshops on Tuesday were held at the Catholic Univeristy of America (CUA).  All I can say is wow, what an amazing university.  Literally every building on this campus so neat, from the architecture to the upkeep.  Of course, I didn't think to take any pictures!  The campus was so tidy, quiet, and very open.  They were in for quite the treat with our crowd!

The morning workshop was spent learning how to structure our stories to make them accessible to the audience we were speaking to, with emotion - not to force out tears! - but to allow the audience to connect with us.  We learned through using postcards made from foster care "alumni" discussing their feelings/emotions about their lives through and after foster care - we built a story around this one postcard.  It was quite surprising at how quickly the GUALA members could come up with a story off of a postcard!  We're just that good.

The second half of the day, Adrianna and Sebastian discussed building community capacity through social movements.  It was a bit difficult to see the connection between GEAR UP and building community at first, but by the end of the session, it made much more sense.   That's exactly what NCCEP is - a social movement!  And its so important that we get as many people as we can on board with GEAR UP, and spreading the word!  Sebastian built on this through discussing the movement around the Dream Act and the Justice for Students in America group.  The thing that I really identified with was when Sebastian said: "If you can think it, you can do it."  That's completely true.  As long as you have the drive, and motivation personally, then nearly anything is possible!

The Nats vs. Diamondbacks game was a fun experience - although I'm not that into sports, it was a good time to just meet with other GUALA members! 

At the game!

This whole experience has been truly phenomenal.  The people I've met are beyond awesome, every one of them.  Their stories are amazing.  I'm so excited for what the rest of the week has in store for us!

- Cody