Honestly, the only reason I applied for Goldmine was that my sister had been and said it was ridiculously awesome. “What do you do there?” I asked before filling out the application.
“It’s a leadership camp, and you just do things all day… but its waayyy different from con. “ she replied.
Even though I never considered myself a leader in any capacity, I took my sisters advice and sent in my forms.
A few months later, I arrived at the Kitsap Unitarian Universalist Fellowship. At the beginning of the week, I timidly introduced myself to the 26 other youth, and kept quiet, but by the end of the week things were much different. Goldmine taught me to assert myself and made me more comfortable with sharing my ideas and opinions, which in turn helped me work better in groups in every part of my life.
Throughout the week, as we all become a tight knit community I learned something: in order to create such a tight knit community, everyone had to participate. This made me start participating in all aspects of life, hoping to be surrounded by more involved people; People who cared just as much about the things I do. By bringing up an idea or a suggestion I had, it let other people know that I was trying to help and open to get constructive feedback. By the end of the week, nobody was quite while we were planning things or working together, and in turn, we got better at the tasks at hand. (worship planning, etc.)
Although I haven’t been the dean of a con, or ran for ASB since goldmine, the impact on my life, and the way I conduct myself in a group has been significant.
