Kylerawn

This past weekend the Orr Fellowship ventured to Bradford Woods for our annual retreat and an escape from our high-growth and fast-past companies, for me it was a break from Fifth Gear, an Ecommerce Fulfillment Company.  As a coordinator of Fellow Development it was my responsibility to help establish the theme, plan activities, and coordinate with the mediator, Mike Langellier a 2004 Orr Fellow, for the retreat.  The two primary focuses of the retreat are to plan for the upcoming years activities (i.e. set goals, brainstorm ideas) and begin fostering the unique Business/Peer relationship that the Orr Fellowship offers. 

Many fantastic activities were planned.  A few of my favorite were Coat of Arms and kickball.  Coat of Arms has each individual create a shield with different aspects of their life in four quadrants.  The four quadrants we choose to put on our Coat of Arms were our proudest accomplishment, our future goals, our favorite hobbies, and our most cherished thing.  To keep with the spirit of entrepreneurialship, we one minute, rocket pitched our Coat of Arms to everyone in the group.  This allowed valuable personal information sharing in a constructive and visual way.  On the purely enjoyment side, we ended the retreat with an intensely competitive game of kickball.  My team won, but more importantly we found that we are all fierce competitors and able to quickly locate our niche on the team.  Shout out to Claire for her awesome bunts and Sally for perfect placement multiple times between infield and outfield.

Although there were many planned activities we attained the perfect balance of having fun, creating interpersonal relationships, and setting direction for the upcoming year (specifically with respect to recruiting [Apply Here]).  I had a great time during all the activities and even when we cooked all of our own meals, especially our own gourmet Italiano, but the time I cherished most was relaxing by the fire with 40 of my Fellows and listening to what makes each of us unique.  I learned some of us have awesome families (shout out to Kara and her dad’s falconry future), some of us have already started successful businesses and I learned each of us has genuine passion about something.

While the quarters were close in our 24 person cabins and the food was tasty, the thing I will remember most is the connection I made with many of the Fellows.  Many memories were made but more importantly relationships were formed, and the entity of current Fellows established a more meaningful purpose as we set out on our 2011-2012 adventures.