The first set of technical memos have been turned in and graded, and the groups are on their way towards solutions. The first memo tasked groups with outlining their projects. One thing that became evident was that there was a disparity between the quality of the memos. This seemed directly correlated to the amount of interaction and feedback they had gotten from the A.L.’s during the writing of the memos. Groups that had been utilizing outside resources were much better prepared in writing their memos. However, this is likely a greater reflection on our (A.L.’s) leadership, than on the groups themselves.

One major challenge we have been facing is how to adequately interact with the groups, when there are 3 mentors to 2 groups. In the case of the Shriner’s groups, we have been having a divide where one leader has been shepherding the forearm rotation group and the other two have been effective paired to the wheelchair modification group. This divide led to a lot of really positive interaction in the forearm rotation group. However, it also meant that the wheelchair group was not getting as strong of a leadership role from us. We realized that our roles might not have been clearly communicated to the freshman. Therefore, we addressed the two groups as a whole in order to convey two major points.

• We are all working with both groups
• We are open and desiring feedback (via e-mail or in person)

We are still debating as to how best shift between groups. We don’t know if it is best to work with one group one day, and another group the next, or if we should be fluidly moving between both groups throughout the day. One major concern brought up was how to share what each group had been accomplishing with each other. For now, we are attempting a GoogleDoc that we jointly access and provide updates on what the groups were talking about and doing while we were with them. We will see if this is an affective solution. We are also trying to address the issue of having it appear that two A.L.’s are paired and the other is alone. We hope that by mixing up what two are together when talking to a group we can address this. For now, we are realizing that the three Shriner’s mentors each have different leaderships styles that are all pertinent for the groups to be exposed to. Thus, we need to work towards finding a balance in our interactions. Further, we hope to solicit feedback to help us become better leaders.