HUMAN SCRABBLE OFFERS INSIGHTS INTO ARMY BEST PRACTICES FOR LEADER DEVELOPMENT AT NASSP’S “LEAD” 2018
As five inches of snow was quickly blanketing the Chicagoland area outside on Saturday, February 17, the mood inside the Westin Lombard Center was much warmer and buzzing with excitement. Almost 900 students and advisors representing the National Honor Society, National Junior Honor Society and National Student Council were too busy sharpening their leadership skills through workshops, speakers, and interactive sessions to notice the weather outside.
Each year, the National Association of Secondary School Principals facilitates the Leadership Experience and Development (“LEAD”) Conference in Chicago for emerging student leaders and their advisors to hear from experts, learn techniques and get ideas for improving their school culture and community while networking with peers from around the region and country. For the fourth year in a row, the U.S. Army was there to lead sessions on leadership and teambuilding while emphasizing the opportunities and benefits of Army service to a group of highly-engaged and enthusiastic young people eager to gain skills and information to take back and apply in their own school and life.
This year, Major Paye Zawolo and Sergeant First Class Timothy Nosser from the Chicago Recruiting Battalion presented “Human Scrabble,” an interactive team-building exercise during two separate workshop sessions for over 110 students and educators. Together with help from Staff Sergeant Marco Servin and Sergeant Brett Tice, the sessions required participants to apply quick thinking, leadership skills and adapting to changes all while earning word scores in a physical version of the traditional Scrabble game.
Human Scrabble is not only fun and fast-paced, but when participants were asked how they thought it was relevant to the Army, an in-depth discussion began to unfold about Army best practices in assembling, leading and activating effective teams. Students and advisors alike offered their guesses about the parallels between the activity and the U.S. Army, while the presenters wove their own Army stories into a discussion that emphasized the Army’s ability to bring tougher people from different backgrounds, with varied skillsets, strengths and leadership attributes, and activate them as cohesive, adaptive and resilient teams that successfully operate in rapidly-changing, sometimes-stressful environments.
Major Zawolo shared his experience as an immigrant coming from Liberia as a child, to a teen going to school in Montana, and how despite the fact that he felt different from his peers when he enlisted because of his background, he was welcomed onto the “Army Team” which gave him a level playing field that made him feel supported and enabled to succeed as a leader throughout his Army career.
As the sessions drew to a close, participants were encouraged to analyze how their own leadership and teamwork skills emerged during the game and to take what they’ve learned back to their own schools and peers, and with that, the Army wrapped up another successful activation at NASSP’s LEAD conference.
Human Scrabble participants only had 90 seconds to work together to identify a combination of letters to fit each Scrabble category.
Sergeant First Class Timothy Nosser offered tips while students and advisors scrambled to get the highest word score.
A visiting student was thrilled to find another Montana native at the LEAD conference – Major Paye Zawolo!
