Creation and Camaraderie

(year 3, Week 30)

Monday Morning’s launch started off with the following video:

The video is about a woman, Lisa Bu, who grew up in China and had dreams of being an opera singer. Her parents, however had other plans. They wanted her to become an engineer because, “stability and earning enough money was most important.” At the age of 15, Bu decided that her dream of becoming an opera singer was probably a no-go. She then found solace in books. She read and read and learned things about herself and her culture that she otherwise said she would not have. She developed the skill of comparative reading and deep thinking. Helping her develop new and better passions.

As the heroes watched the video, they were then asked a question:

Has there been a book that has deeply affected your or changed your life?

Their answers were insightful. One of them brought up a past teacher, who read this book that he loves because it makes him feel good. Another hero brought up a book about war, and how it has shaped her belief on what war means. On and on the heroes went discussing the books they love and why they love them. They discussed more questions around the purpose of books and whether or not they were important. But, the final question was the most intriguing to them. It came from this quote;

“Books can be used for education, spiritual understanding, boredom, and even, unfortunately, used as a weapon.”

Heroes, do you believe books can be used as weapons?

Hands shot up. Their answers passionate. Ranging from, “yes, because people can lie to benefit themselves.” All the way to, “yes, because no two people will read a book the same way depending on their personal beliefs, and this can lead to arguments.”

Starting the week and morning with a strong and controversial discussion got the wheels turning for the heroes, they were equipped with their critical thinking. Their ability to dig into a simple topic such as books was profound on many levels. Knowing books can change their life, be used as a weapon, alter their reality and even inspire them to do more Some of the heroes had goals of reading and even expressed,

Now that I see books differently, I am really questioning everything.

Guiding

One beautiful aspect of Hero’s Academy is watching children of all ages, work together to solve problems and help guide one another. During quest, the heroes were paired up with their siblings so it made it easy for their parents/guardians to test out their Escape Rooms. While at first, there was a steady stream of disagreements and frustrations, this last week something shifted.

A pair of siblings were seen working out a difficult issue in their escape room. They decided they would work together at home to figure out how they could get through the situation. They used growth mindset dialogue and really listened to one another. While that was unfolding, a younger hero was found in the bathroom by an older hero. The younger hero was crying saying,

I don’t understand how to do this. It’s too hard.

The older hero was heard saying,

Here, I can help you understand. Maybe I didn’t explain it right the first time.

The heroes were constantly learning how to better communicate with one another. The older heroes were learning how to manage their expectations and develop stronger communication strategies. While the younger heroes were learning how to actively listen and help in areas that they were able to. Sometimes the beauty of these moments can get lost in the day to day, but when someone walks into the Academy, the first thing they might notice is the friendship, mentorship and understanding between an eleven-year old and six-year old.

As adults, it is so easy to pretend that communication comes naturally. However, every adult can name a time that a meeting went south. A time when nobody was listening, helping or working together. At Hero’s one of the biggest lessons and skills they get to learn and work through are the ups and downs of communication.

Flow Phase

After the first two weeks of excitement, the heroes thought that flow phase would get back to normal. Normal to them was a working time where everyone was silent. However, that did not happen.

During one of the launches, the guide presented a story about accountability. Telling a personal tale about a person in her life who went through some hard years. This person in her life was now on the other side of their demons and she recently had a frank conversation with them:

What made you wake up, and change your life?

He replied,

Finally realizing I was to blame. Finally realizing I must be held accountable for my actions. Not my parents, not my friends. I spent years battling demons that I caused.

This led to a discussion about the importance of holding yourself accountable. The guide then asked the heroes,

When have you not held yourself accountable?

Many of the heroes replied that they didn’t hold themselves accountable during flow phase. Not keeping it quiet for their fellow heroes and not being a courteous neighbor. Some of the heroes dove even deeper. Saying they would often lie about their points, or to their parents because facing accountable was hard.

Accountability is hard. But, having the awareness and vulnerability to be open and talk, had to have been much harder.

They decided to devise a contract. One that squad leaders could refer back to when things went awry. They decided a silent hour for core skills and whispering for collaboration. That way they were going to respect all of the heroes in the studio.

Later on during the day, the guide walked into a reset space and overheard a conversation that the heroes okayed her to share:

I am so sorry for blaming you. I want to hold myself accountable.

It’s okay. Thanks for being honest.

I want to tell the team it was your idea and that I lied. I hope we can be friends.

Accountability, one small word with a huge impact.

Writer’s Workshop

Writer’s Workshop was a source of slight contention during the session. There appeared to be three culprits.

1. Having to write a story and do an animation.
2. Working with partners.
3. Being held to World Class standards.

Many of the heroes faced multiple problems. Hung their heads on their desks and begged for something a bit easier. Sometimes challenges are flat out hard! The objective for Writer’s Workshop was to write a short story, based on the idea, “what if dog’s took over the world!?” After they were finished with their story, they were then asked to animate it. For some heroes writing was hard, for others animation was horrendous. Then add a partner into the mix and communication became the enemy! There was truly, a lot being asked of them. Being challenged can be extremely uncomfortable.

What growing moments!

The first few weeks there were grumbles and gripes, then the last week rolled around. All of a sudden stories were being checked off. Partners were laughing and adding in humor. Heroes who said that animation was too hard had finally tried it and had something to show! One hero even said,

Once I finally just kicked my fixed mindset outta my brain, I was able to actually do it!

Turns out, there weren’t three culprits, only one, and his nasty name was Fixed Mindset.

Quest

Come Friday, the studio was all laughter, rejoicing and bouncing around. It was the last day of their quest challenge and boy were the heroes pumped. They had put in so much work and were on their final, probably most fun, challenge for quest. The decorate challenge!

The heroes had worked so hard all session to save up their hero bucks. They were then able to use their hero bucks to buy items for their quest rooms. They did not disappoint. From fake cobwebs to birthday themed decor, their imaginations were endless. What they couldn’t create on their own, they budgeted for and mapped out their room like true professional interior designers. They even had to calculate their own money to pay for the items. One hero buck was equal to two dollars so they set forth to calculate and divide between members. They were so proud of their final decorations that they all made a pact to not mess with or tear down one another’s hard work.

Wrap-Up

The camaraderie is always something to be admired at Heroes. Sometimes it is even too precious to put into words. The heroes are doing amazing things and this week was one of heartwarming togetherness mixed with tough growing pains. The heroes got to celebrate the newest fellow traveler’s birthday, filled with small gifts and delicious cookies. A few of the heroes made an intense game of tic tac toe strategy.

Other heroes developed a love for painting and a distain for ants that seemed to be attacking the kitchen. Four heroes knocked out their badge books and three heroes started helping build seating for the future MS studio and finally, two of the heroes set out to plan another special surprise for the virtual hero. The list could go on and on, but to boil it down even further, creation and camaraderie were the definite themes for the week.