Growing up, I helped assist in teaching children’s dance classes, did student council, and would always volunteer to lead group activities in classes. As an extrovert, leadership has always come so naturally to me as I had no problem being the center of attention and making connections with new people. But what about all our introverted leaders? Being an introvert can sometimes be viewed as something that is negative within American society. Introverts are often labeled as anti-social, awkward, or unfit to be leaders. There is even research showing that personality tests are biased toward introverts which have arguably caused discrimination within workplaces in the United States. During our NOW Junior Counseling programming this summer, I have found that these stigmas are absolutely not true. 

While my extroverted Junior Counselors (JCs) are quick to help our younger campers as soon as they are in need of help, our introverted JCs are more likely to actively listen to the words of each camper in order to truly understand where they are coming from. After doing some research, I discovered that my observation aligned with a study done in 2018 that compared the listening skills of introverts and extroverts. Scholars from the University of Bengkulu discovered that introverts scored significantly higher than extroverts on their listening tests. 

To show all my JCs the power and challenges of listening and speaking, we did many activities including a listening dyad. To do a dyad, I had them go into pairs and switch between two roles which included the listener and the speaker. After they were asked a question, the speaker had to speak for one minute while the listener had to listen for one minute. The listener was not permitted to respond physically or verbally even if the speaker had finished before the timer was up. They observed that listening was hard for extroverted students and that speaking was hard for introverted students. They both had their strengths and they both had their challenges. Throughout the week, I encouraged them to embrace what their strength was and challenged them to do what was hard for them whether that was actively listening or putting themselves out there. Here at Neck of the Woods, we recognize that we each have strengths and that leadership comes in many forms. We celebrate these differences and assist children to harness their strengths no matter what they are challenged with as individuals.

   The first three weeks of NOW’s Infant and Toddler program have been full of connection and exploration. Temporarily housed in Waitsfield United Church of Christ (WUCC) while the NOW building is under necessary construction, the kiddos in our program have been venturing into the surrounding area on the hunt for frogs and fire trucks. So far, we’ve found both! We’ve also made use of having the Joslin Memorial Library located directly next door to us by checking out books and taking our groups to a Monday Storytime – something we will definitely do again.

"Billings Farm! Because there was ice cream!"

"Rock climbing because I like to climb."

"I loved VINS Nature Center because, you know, I want to be an ornithologist*!"

"Echo because- I don't know!"

"The farm because I got to pet the cows."

"The Fun Zone because it had a bouncy castle and a pirate ship bouncy castle and the regular bouncy castle."

"The same thing as Julian."

"Going bowling! I love bowling!"

"My favorite field trip is the Waterbury Reservoir because my favorite part is we got to go swimming."