Blue Key Retreat - Golden, CO

I was greeted with hugs.
I was going to spend the weekend with the Blue Key national board. 3 students including myself and the 5 adults that have positions on the board. This was my first retreat with them since I was elected in January.
I arrived in Golden, CO and was immediately enchanted with the absolutely adorable town. The woman that coordinated the Blue Key retreat trip lives there and works at the Colorado School of Mines. She drove us around campus and told us some stories. There is a mountain that is seen from a distance with a big M on it. She told us of the tradition that every year, the incoming freshman brings a 10lb rock from their hometowns and carry it up the mountain to the M and they go back when they graduate to get their rock back. At night it lights up. I looked up the tradition on their website and come to find out, the tradition was started by the Blue Key group there and still to this day is taken care of by them. You can look at more info here. http://www.mines.edu/Traditions

The M on the mountain lit up at night.

We passed by a newer looking building and Michelle told us that the building was funded by an alum in his 30's that donated $10 million dollars for it to be built. I am pretty sure my jaw dropped. It is pretty amazing for an alum to donate $10 million dollars, but for them to be in their 30's is just extraordinary. The school is a pretty STEM heavy school. That means a lot of the programs have to do with science, technology, engineering and math. And that also means, that the boy population is a lot higher than the girl population which is quite the opposite to ESU.

City lights in Golden

I roomed with the other girl that serves on the board as a student. She just graduated from the University of Toledo. We quickly learned that we are similar and have stories that are quite a lot alike. It goes to show that yes, everyone's story is unique, but there are people that go through the same things. You aren't alone. So we bonded over the same things, but also, shared our stories that made us different too.

I learned a lot about Blue Key at a national level. And even learned some Emporia ties to it. I learned that Florida disaffiliated themselves with the national organization because they didn't want to deal with the GPA side of it and such. So all the Florida Blue Keys operate on their own. And apparently Tim Tebow was a Blue Key at the University of Florida and you can see it on his list of achievements here. http://www.gatorzone.com/football/misc.php?p=tebow/bio
Then irony came about when we decided to move the national documents to the University of Georgia archives. They will be sitting quite close to Florida. College fans probably know of the Georgia/Florida rivalry!

The board is made up of interesting people. 4 men and 1 woman. As I had said before, Michelle is from Colorado, then we have the director from Ohio, President from Portland, and the other two are from Alabama and Georgia. It was cool hearing their stories from all across the country. The board had joked about the President of the board and how they had written on his name tag, FOP (Friend of the Pope) at a conference. I went along and chuckled as they told me the story. I didn't know if it was a joke or maybe he did meet the Pope before? As the weekend progressed and I was enchanted with this man's stories, I finally asked if he was a friend of the Pope because it really seemed like a possibility now. I found out he really did meet the Pope and past ones. He's on the invite list to dinners and pretty sure he has been in the White House and met Presidents. Then I think about how he asked about my nail polish and if I sprinkled on the glitter or what. Makes me chuckle inside a little. Now I can't wait for conference in January so I can hear even more stories! And to think I get to sit on a board with these cool people? So lucky and blessed!

The Board

We had dinner at Michelle's house on Saturday and she literally lives on a mountain! It was about a half hour drive to her place from the hotel and most of it was winding up the mountain! I was in awe when I got out of the car and felt the cool crisp chill after the rainstorm that was happening on the way there. I was surrounded by mountains and trees. Later on when I was taking in the beauty, I could see the sun hitting the tip of a mountain across the way and then there was a little rainbow on top of another. It didn't take long for me to fall in love.

View from Michelle's porch.

You can see the sun hitting the top of the mountain in the distance.

The trip overall was great and I learned a lot from the people, organization, and town. I even had probably the most expensive wine I have had in my life to date! Colorado really touched my heart and I can't wait to go back sometime to see those mountains again! Sunday morning, I was left with hugs. And it meant a little more that time.

Sparkle & Shine.

Rachel

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There was about a four hour delay at the airport going back to Kansas City. I tweeted asking for 3-6 word suggestions and I would write a poem. I was given dinosaurs, Jurrasic Park and paleontologist. I thought about it for awhile and started sketching stuff and then finally came up with this and it actually is becoming a favorite of mine. I like when I can get in a zone and crank out something. Here it is!