New Board, Same ASDA — Colorado ASDA

by Catherine Petty

Welcome to the Colorado Quickset! It’s a new year for Colorado ASDA, and I’ll be in charge of our blog for this term. I’m going to kick off the posts for this year by recapping my experience at the Executive Board retreat that we had just this past weekend.

I’m new to Colorado ASDA, but I’ve heard countless times that as an organization, we like to work hard and play hard. Retreat weekend certainly lived up to that reputation! We all met in what we were told was Jefferson, Colorado…but it was really the middle of nowhere. Our house had a beautiful view of the mountains during the day and breathtaking views of the stars at night. Naturally, with about 30 board members in attendance, the house was huge! I mean, I slept in a room with triple-decker bunk beds! There was plenty of room for all of our work and play.

Friday night of the retreat consisted of group introductions and forming teams for various tournaments (cornhole, etc.) that we had on Saturday. My team name? Full Mouth Rehab, 40k (shoutout to Shannon, Jeremy, and Tyler). A group of us also tried to coax the limited Wi-Fi into letting us stream the Nuggets game, which went into quadruple overtime (!!!) and did not end in our favor. Somehow, I got coaxed into agreeing to a freezing cold jog the next morning. I pretend that altitude doesn’t affect me after a year in Colorado, but running at over 9,000 feet in Jefferson is absolutely different than running in the Mile High City. Thankfully, Health and Wellness Chair Sierra was ready to teach a relaxing yoga class when we returned.

Most of Saturday’s activities were of the “work hard” variety. Madame President Jillian gave a presentation outlining her goals for the year and what ASDA means to her. We also heard from a few other board members before breaking up into our furcations to discuss specific goals and action plans. For me, that involved meeting with Sansriti, who will be running the CEJ this year (that’s The Colorado Extraoral Journal, our official newsletter), and president-elect Aaron, who is our furcation lead. After lunch, everyone came back together to recap their furcation goals and discuss how they planned to achieve them. We also heard from VP Tyler about DISC personality types and how to be intentional in working with each type. Finally, Aaron and Ty wrapped up the workday with how to give our ASDA “elevator pitch.”

Saturday night consisted mostly of a giant Catch Phrase tournament and a bonfire. Regarding the former, I can’t remember the last time I laughed so hard! This weekend made me excited about what’s to come for Colorado ASDA this year. We’ve got some fantastic people on the board who are fired up and ready to achieve some really awesome things. Make sure to stay tuned to the blog and follow our social media to keep up with all of it! And as always, don’t hesitate to reach out to me if you’d like to be a contributor to the Colorado Quickset. :)

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About the Author

Catherine Petty is the Electronic Editor for Colorado ASDA and a current DS1. Originally from Stillwater, Oklahoma, she received a B.A. in Biology with a minor in Spanish from Clemson University. In her spare time, Catherine loves to hike, ski, and read.