Reflection of PossePlus Retreat

Last weekend I went on the Posse Plus Retreat as a member of the New York sophomore Posse DP’15.

The topic of the retreat was Us vs. Them but over the course of the retreat it changed to Us and Them and finally Us ? Them.

I think (as a member of Posse) that one of the main purposes of these Posse Plus retreats is to build a sense of community and bridge the gap between Posse Scholars, who may seem to be clique-y by Dickinsonians who are not in Posse, and the broader Dickinson community- including faculty and staff.

I personally had some really amazing conversations with people that I usually don’t have the opportunity to talk to while I’m on campus because of different and busy schedules. I challenged myself to stray from my comfort zone, which is the few close friends that I have on campus who I usually do  almost everything with when I’m on campus, to talk to and sit with people who I don’t really know too well and wanted to get to know better.

While the retreat didn’t really solve any problems concerning the Us vs. Them dilemma we face in our everyday lives explicitly, I found that my perspective changed on how I see inclusivity and how I could do better at diversifying my conversations and friend groups. So, at least for me, I feel like I broke some Us vs. Them barriers by talking to different people during the retreat and not limiting myself by just hanging out with the people I see and talk to everyday. That’s a huge step for me in the right direction because I tend to be comfortable in the safe spaces I’ve made for myself in Dickinson’s campus and now I need to hold myself accountable to broadening my perspectives and actively engaging with people I don’t know too well and who have  different perspectives from me. Perhaps I may even grow in the process.