The Words of the Schuler Family
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The Words of the Schuler Family |
Mrs.
Heather Thalheimer speaking to students and young professionals at
Brandeis University.
College students and young professionals gathered at Brandeis University for a 12-hour Leadership Development Seminar taught by Mrs. Heather Thalheimer, National Director of HSA Education, and Mr. James Edgerly, State Director of HSA Massachusetts, on Saturday, January 22, 2011. The Massachusetts Youth Ministry Committee organized this event to help young adults acquire skills and confidence to initiate more activism within their community.
"Young adults have an incredible amount of passion and vision, but we are all helped by learning how to take a vision, or a dream, and make it happen," explained Mrs. Thalheimer in an interview following the seminar. "Doing this is a process. But it is not a magical process; it's a logical methodical process. In bringing together the young people, and providing this leadership training, we were able to help them understand how to take the vision they have, and learn how to describe it in a way that other people can buy into, so it can become a shared vision. Then, after you've done that, you are in a position to establish some goals or an action plan in order to take the vision to the next step and put it into action."
By bringing together 18 young adults in the community, who are passionate about making change in the world, whether it be in their church, their school club, or their career, participants were able to bounce ideas off each other and inspire one another to achieve their dream. The design of the workshop put the content of a two-day workshop into a single day, so that more students would be able to fit it into their busy schedules.
"The Boston Unificationist Community has some excellent, charismatic leaders," expressed Ms. Emilie Schuler, a senior at Brandeis University. "But it is not often that our local youth are able to sit down in such an intimate setting with two of our most respected elder leaders from the community to hear what they know, and learn how to become a more effective leader."
The guidance was described as a very "hands-on, nuts-and-bolts type training." Participants were instructed on different aspects of project management, including the best ways to fund their ideas, what resources would be needed, and how to gather them together and work with others in a collaborative manner. One particular session was focused on turning members into leaders, and how to manage teams. "In this session, participants were advised that if they are busy doing the work, they are in fact not leading. We focused on the importance of delegating, and inspiring and empowering others so that the work gets done together as a team and the leader is not just it doing alone," said Thalheimer.
Another key session spoke about the importance of communication, and the conflict that arises when working with others. "It's not that conflict is a bad thing," explained Thalheimer, "it inevitably arises because everyone is engaged and passionate and has an opinion. Therefore, we had a session on understanding positions and interest, and how to find common ground to work together peacefully and collaboratively toward a common goal."
Despite the intense schedule, participants were alert and engaged, even networking with each other during breaks. One student from Tufts commented, "I appreciated the comprehensive nature of the seminar. It attacked the topic of leadership from many different angles, from a principled perspective, financially, pragmatically, etc." Participants were also grateful to get a real-life testimony from David Brooks, a second generation Unificationist who has taken his passions and made them a tangible reality by starting "The Cape Ann Art Haven," a community art center located in downtown Gloucester, focused on helping youth through artistic expression. Because of his similar age, participants were able to relate to him well, and see themselves being able to accomplish the same things.
"I was really energized to hear David's testimony," said one participant. "It gave me hope and a new drive to move forward with my own project idea. He overcame many financial difficulties to pursue his vision, and followed his passion to serve the community, which was really impressive."
The group of young adults that attended was diverse and ranged from college freshman to graduates who are now working on their careers. They had all kinds of different interests and passions, but wanted to be taught how to make something happen in their life. One participant said, "The atmosphere was truly inspiring! From the moment I walked in, I felt alive, energetic, and excited to learn. It seemed like everyone wanted to be there and was ready to make a change."
"I think one of the greatest experiences you can have in your life is to be passionate about something and make it happen. To realize a dream, it is important to have the opportunity to learn the skills that are needed to make it happen. With the upcoming shift of leadership in Unification Church leadership to a younger generation, I see that our movement is able to become more professional, and able to achieve the balance in the world that God wants, between professionalism and spirituality. [Through this seminar] I saw the potential in these young people to create the type of church that we could all be proud of; I felt like I was seeing the future," Thalheimer observed.
It seems that everyone had a valuable experience, and many are looking forward to similar events in the future. It is our hope that the participants will spread the word about their experiences at the seminar, and that we will be able to get even more people to attend in the future.
For more information about Massachusetts Young Adult Ministry events, and to contact us, please visit our website: www.umoveboston.com
Contributed by Emilie Schuler, senior at Brandeis University, and member of the Massachusetts Youth Ministry Committee.