So, the hits just keep coming.
By this I mean the wonderful, amazing, meaningful,
emotional smacks that cause me to promptly burst into tears which I do ALL THE
TIME now. I recently put a Facebook
status that said “I am amazed every day.”
I am. I
love it. My family, my friends, my
co-workers, my life, nature, all of it.
Amazes me. Daily.
So I’d like to dedicate this blog to the awesome
place that I work which is Chapman University.
Last year – hemorrhage. We all know this. At the time, I was on the Wellness Committee
at my work and was part of the planning for the Health and Wellness Fair that
we were going to have at our 1st annual Staff Summit Week. Originally there used to be a Staff Summit Luncheon,
but last year they decided to make a whole week out of it! So cool!
There were fitness sessions, trainings, prize drawings, etc. I was thrilled and signed up for a bunch of
stuff. Well, I was in recovery when it
went down last year so this year it meant something completely different to
me! But I will mention that last year my boss and two of my co-workers came by to visit me and brought me a whole bunch of stuff from the Summit that I missed!!!
So let's start with Summit Week:
So let's start with Summit Week:
Our Staff Summit Week started off with a kickoff
that had some snacks and beverages. We
were assigned tables and given a neat little backpack bag. The tables were mostly people you didn’t know. This was a great way to meet some of the
other folks you work with on campus! We
found out later that table is our team for the week. One of my co-workers who I’m developing a
wonderful friendship with was on our team so that made it that much more awesome. We were Team 5. Our 1st way to earn points was to
partake in the little trivia game they had at our tables. We rocked it.
Tuesday was a Food Truck Rally. We got points if our team got together for a
photo. We didn’t quite get our entire
team, but we got most of us!
Sessions began Tuesday as well and continued
through Thursday. We had an event we
worked on Wednesday so I didn’t get to too many sessions but I did make the
Stress Reduction which was a lovely session about ways to counter stress when
it hits you. I also took a Barre class one evening. On Thursday they had a
popsicles and prizes afternoon. There
were a bunch of prizes that we got raffle tickets for and popsicles for
all. They also had games to play that
our team could get more points for. I
kicked ass on the Dice game – you had to roll a 7 or 11 and guess who rolled a
7!!!
Friday morning ended the Summit Week with an
appreciation brunch followed by the awards ceremony. At the awards ceremony different departments recognize
employees who go above and beyond. They
also show photos of the peeps that have been here for 5 years and after that
you are called up and you get pins. One
woman has been here for 25 years! The
head of our department announced the winners from our department that we
celebrated at a Staff Meeting a few weeks prior. Which leads me to the next awesome
announcement:
I won the UA Teamwork Award! There are about 60/70 people in our
department and you are nominated by your peers.
We give out 3 awards a year. The
Spirit Award (Person most embodies the Chapman Spirit) The Teamwork Award (Self-explanatory)
and the Staff Member of the Year (Pretty much kicks ass). I was so flattered and surprised when they
called out my name for the Teamwork Award!
We get a pretty trophy that sits in our office for a year and our names
added to the plaques below. Our names
are also added onto 3 large plagues that hang in our department. It was so cool to win and realize how
appreciated and loved I am here!
The third thing I would like to share is what
happened to me today.
One of our co-workers who is by far one of our most enthusiastic peeps (He shared the Spirit Award win with Riley!) decided we should have an annual Superhero Spectacular Potluck. He thought it would be a very cool fun way to honor some more hard working folks. He and Riley teamed up to put it on and a handful of us chipped in some $$$ for the adorable little bobble head awards we gave out. These were the Superheroes you could nominate:
·
The Ironman – Innovation, Ingenuity, Clever, Forward
thinking, Futurist, Intelligent Practices
·
The Hulk – Bold, Doesn’t take “no” for an
answer, Go-Getter, Spontaneous, Makes things Happen
·
The Captain America – Leadership, Good
Spokesperson, Willing to be the example, Humble, Loyal
·
The Thor – Epic, Awe-Inspiring, Awesome,
Astounding
Again these were all nominated by our peers. I had a ball writing up my nominations and was
excited to see who would win. Ryan had
decorations that he made that were so very cool:
My contribution:
Some of us wore Superhero shirts or at least bold bright
colors to celebrate. Before the awards
were announced we were told how it would work.
The winners keep the bobble head trophy for a year, then their photograph
will be put in the little sandwich box it sits on to forever live with the
award. So cute right! Well, the awards were given out to well
deserving people and then he announced there was one more award. I of course panicked thinking I missed something
to nominate until I realized what they did.
Ryan pulled out a little Phoenix bobble head and started
talking about this person who like a phoenix has risen from the ashes to become an inspirational person who
is positive, stronger and willing to always help. When he went on to say we almost lost her
last year my heart dropped. He said my
name and I fought as hard as I could not to burst into tears. I did pretty good, but did have to rush to
the bathroom at one point to ball my eyes out.
I know the trophies are silly and fun, but the meaning behind that was
so overwhelming. Riley told me later
that they decided this award will be for someone each year that has a rough
time and comes back stronger. I think
that is pretty rad. Photos below:
The last thing I’d like to share in this blog is that when
the Supreme Court ruled DOMA unconstitutional and slapped Prop 8 in the face
our very own Nancy Brink who heads up our Church Relations put together an impromptu
champagne toast in celebration. She and
her wife were one of the 1st two couples to start this fight against
Arizona a friggin year ago!!!!! She
rules. The link to that story is here Interfaith Center
So to sum it up – I work with some pretty fucking awesome
people. You don’t realize that you
actually touch people and when you see that you do it’s amazing. Working here is great. I adore my boss. I work with some of the most incredible
people. Chapman cares about its
employees which is certainly not something I’m used to, but it’s the people I
work alongside that really make it. All the perks like an amazing Christmas Party, random gatherings, random ways to win prizes and free fitness sessions aren't so bad either!
I’m so lucky. I’m so
grateful. I will never ever take any of
this for granted and I will continue to be amazed every day.
This also gets me re-thinking my next tattoo...a phoenix sounds pretty rad.
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