CST Recap: Effective Teamwork and Peer Mentoring Kick-Off

The final on-campus Civic Skills Training session featured a workshop on Teamwork led by Assistant Athletics Director for Leadership Steven Spaulding. During the session, we brainstormed and discussed attributes of a successful team or group, such as sharing a common overall mission. 

Dividing ourselves into four smaller groups, we completed the team-building exercise of “untangling the human knot,” after which we analyzed our strengths and weaknesses in the activity and other forms of group work. Each group then composed and presented a team “mission statement” outlining the specific characteristics it strives to embody as a unit. 

The session concluded with a group analysis of how to respond to certain difficult situations in a workplace setting. In our smaller teams and then as a large group, we discussed appropriate reactions to scenarios such as inappropriate jokes or sexual harassment.

CST students participate in a teamwork exercise led by Steven Spaulding.

Following the session, we attended the introductory meeting of the Rockefeller Peer Mentoring Program. We met and shared a meal with our upperclassman mentors, all members of the Class of 2014 who are actively involved in the Rockefeller Center. 

We had the opportunity to discuss our mentors’ experiences with the Rockefeller Center, the First-Year Fellows program, and other involvements at Dartmouth. We also discussed guidelines, goals, and expectations for our mentorships, which will continue throughout the coming academic year. 

- Marie Plecha '16