See you CU Women

I had the privilege of attending this year's CU Women Success Symposium hosted by UCCS. The theme "Stages of a Career" intrigued me since I'm on my third career path, this time in Higher Education. Women from all four member institutions: Boulder, Denver, Anschutz and Colorado Springs made for a healthy attendance.

Thursday night's kick-off was particularly memorable for me. My sister, Pamela Strauch drove down from the Anschutz campus and we had a nice sister-bonding time as I showed her off to my co-workers. We were treated to massages, a fabulous Greek buffet and a couple of glasses of UCCS 50th Anniversary Wine to get us going. Talk about a bang-up beginning!

The evening progressed as we participated in ice-breaker and networking activities which involved making beaded bookmarks and trading contact information as well as one-liner mottos. I liked the "read everyday" motto I received and instantly clicked with the woman who gave it to me. We were required to read the book Strengths Based Leadership by Rath and Conchie and take the survey showing what our natural leadership strengths are. I'd taken the test previously a few years ago and was not suprized at the results. I am very analytical and have a significant amount of ability to influence others. My sister, on the other hand, was at first angry with her results because it showed her as fairly dependent on history to make her current leadership decisions. After an initial outburst, she sat back in quiet acceptance.

The following day brought classes of all kinds. My favorite being the Improv workshop. We had fun sessions where we took turns spelling made-up words. In one session we had to jump when the facilitator said "run" and run when the facilitator said "jump." The activities helped us all to be able to think and act in the moment. Invigorating!