During Spring Training, the Presidential Fellows completed two professional development workshops. These workshops were led by fellows, and informed by the expertise of our Professional Development advisor, Mae Cooper. The professional development presentations are an ongoing initiative of the Presidential Fellowship to address our 13 professional competencies that are considered to be essential to the success of new professionals. The two workshops during spring training cultivated the following competencies:
Dealing with Ambiguity and Problem Solving
First-year fellows Helen-Christy Powell and Emily Somberg and second-year fellow Marisa Cordon led the group in a circuit of short games to practice problem solving in ambiguous situations. With minimal instruction, the Fellows worked in teams to complete the “Zoom” puzzle, play the card game “Mao,” and answer sample questions from the Defense Language Aptitude Battery.
Valuing Differences
Second-year fellow Grace Mausser and first-year fellow Ian Tang led the fellows in an interesting exercise in valuing differences. The Fellows were given a list of people with professional and interpersonal pros and cons, and had to pick a select few to “go on a spaceship to colonize another planet after the destruction of the Earth.” The Fellows had some great discussions about understanding and valuing differences, especially as it concerns teams