My alarm clock rang awfully early this morning. It was quite a challenge forcing myself to wake up after last night’s game of “Uno” between my roommates and me that escalated into an all-out, two-hour tournament. I slid into the shower, stumbled into some clothes, and staggered down the hallway towards the cafeteria. Before I went 20 feet, I came upon Shad Carleton’s fearless leader, Adrian Chan, curled up on the floor sleeping under a blanket. I looked like I wasn’t the only one who could use a bit more sleep.

(Above picture) Carleton Program Director Adrian Chan sleeping on the floor.

Over the past two weeks at Shad, I’ve had to come to terms with one simple fact; Shad Valley is busy. Insanely busy. The constant onslaught of exciting, challenging, stimulating activities is enough to make even the hardiest of us a tad weary.

Today was different, though. It was the first time in the entire two weeks that we were given a substantial amount of free time. The three hours we were allowed may not seem like much, but to us Shads, it seemed like an eternity. There were so many possibilities such as shopping, watching a movie, or sleeping. But guess what we chose to do? We worked, of course! My entire house got together and worked on our design project for hours on the one day that we could have done whatever we liked!

Yet there wasn’t a single frown or complaint for the entire time, and every person put their whole heart into the prototype, design, or business model that they were working on.
At Carleton, we call it “Shadditude” and it’s the passion for learning, respecting others, and driving to succeed. It is inside every Shad. And we will need every ounce of passion and drive we have in order to meet the upcoming deadlines and successfully complete our lengthy design project.

After a number of fascinating lectures and a workshop on creating simple computer games, it was time for my team, the green house, to present the product design we’d been working on for days.

As the deadline for our presentation slowly drew closer, any minor quarrels we may have had with each other melted away. We became a well-oiled machine, each piece fitting perfectly and our ideas combining to form one vision.

Many of us were quite nervous about presenting to the panel of judges. We heard that they were brutally honest and any weaknesses in our product would be exposed. To our great delight, the judges responded to our project well and gave us some excellent suggestions.

Walking back to the dorms, a collective sigh of relief came from the green house for the fabulous feeling of a job well done. And that is what this whole thing is about. Shad Valley is made up of a lifetime’s worth of life-changing activities and experiences, lovingly crammed into one furious, passionate, soul-altering month.

Yes, Shad Valley is delightfully busy, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Ben Barrett-Forrest
Shad Valley Carleton
Hometown: Whitehorse, Yukon Territory

Spontaneity. One common factor between all Shads is their innate ability to adapt to change, to innovation, and in the case of the community of 60 here at UNB, to the ever-changing weather and shy sun. Having said that, it was no surprise when our sudden change in plans today did little to "dampen" our spirits. (The forecast was for intense downpour.) Instead of taking our Bay of Fundy trip, we switched two weekends and explored downtown Fredericton instead.

Having already experienced the stress and sleep deprivation outlined an alarming number of times in last year's blog, we slept in and woke up to a casual breakfast in the downstairs cafeteria. Our CT projects were already taking a toll on our sanity, and a relaxing morning was much in demand. Our Program Directors, Ian and Julie, always stress the importance of balance in everything we do, and of course that was not limiting to the variety of food our staff had to offer.

We divided into our groups of six in the courtyard and smiles were all around – we got that beautiful sun everyone were hoping for, and we were off on our way! The community here in New Brunswick is warm and welcoming, and the market place was alive with regulars, visitors, people sipping fresh-squeezed juice and taking everything in. A snapshot of the vibrant community that is Fredericton, the tightly packed area was buzzing with the organized chaos of traffic of people squeezing between the aisles. It was on the way back that we learned the people here rarely lock anything. In the words of Ian – “why?” This community that’s welcomed us for a month this Summer opens its arms to everyone. This is something we should all strive towards: the realization that there is no point in creating harm.

After some delectable shopping (samosas! yummy), we walked down to the river and had a lazy picnic along the riverbank, stretched out on the sun. It allowed time for some personal reflections and room to breathe – and of course, more eating!

A little while later (my definition of time has completely changed with Shad – they kind of just melt into one another), being Shads, we could not help but visit the local hotspot – Geek Chic. In there, we found all sorts of goodies -- from laser keyboards to witty t-shirts, I’ve never felt so at home. Our group then visited the local barracks, a second-hand book store that went on for miles, and “Tiny Music”, the biggest music store in the city. We also got to see the changing of the guards at the City Hall – it was quite a sight, seeing red-uniformed soldiers marching down the sidewalk to a drum beat, and better still, waiting at the crosswalks for the pedestrian light to change.

The surprises continue with our Coffee House night. I was lucky enough to host the night with my friend and keeping with the spontaneous spirit – we did it gangster style, and showed off some map rhyme skillage. Or not. Cheesy emceeing and nerdy jokes aside, the acts were delicious. From poetry about protractors, heart & soul (and not just the song), faux breakdancers, standing ovations over a capella crooners, “legit” poppers, guitarists, and group singing, complete with the Titanic reenactments. Even the PAs pitched in, gracing us with Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up” – complete live rickrolling.

Yet another day in the Shad program. I can’t believe these busy, laughter-filled days have flowed into one another. I’m excited by all the potential around me, and the warm fuzzy feeling when I look around. It feels like home, and these people are my family.

Through any uncertainties that may come, I know that these people will no doubt play a significant part in my life beyond the few weeks in which we laughed, ate, and rapped together.

Yours,

Kerri Lu
Shad Valley University of New Brunswick
Hometown: Richmond, British Columbia

Engaging, inspiring, challenging, collaborative, enthusiastic, memorable, and sleep-deprived are a few words which help summarize the Shad Valley experience thus far, yet they truly only begin to convey the power of this program.

Today started out with another amazing breakfast at 7:30 in the Conrad Grebel residence, followed by staff seminars for the remainder of the morning. This is when the very talented and experienced crew of Program Advisers here at Waterloo were able to demonstrate their abilities and passions to the students. With Rob and Paul, I had the pleasure of taking apart a variety of defunct electronic equipment, learn about the processes involved within them, and even attempt a few repairs on broken items that the Shads brought in! Although we had limited success with the latter, in many ways, this added to the entertainment value.

After lunch, it was our turn to prove our worth: Shad seminars! Everyone was given a 10 minute opportunity to teach or discuss something of interest to them. While I have had the fortune of meeting some incredibly talented and diverse people in the past, today truly opened my eyes to how there is always something more to learn, and that each of us has something unique to offer to the world. Learning to order Korean food (always impressive on a date), write credo poems (very humorous), fit your entire body through a single sheet of paper (yes it’s possible), and about the ‘science’ behind science fiction were just a few examples of this collective expertise!

The guest speakers Josh Vanwyck and Ben Best, two recent graduates of UW’s Systems Design Engineering program joined us after an exceptional dinner to offer valuable insight regarding the intricate process of social change and how it applied to our design projects. It was another very useful speech and the duo left a positive impression of the university’s program.

To finish off the day, all four ‘houses’ gathered to participate in a friendly (which inevitably escalated into a somewhat competitive) game of Cranium. Many laughs were generated amidst the ‘acting’ and ‘sculpting’ of varying degrees of aptitude. All in all, it was a great way to finish off this action-packed day!

Having described today as ‘another day’ at Shad Waterloo would have been misleading on many levels, as each day is indeed an adventure unto its own. Even with the daily schedule, it is nearly impossible to predict what is going to throw at you next! While the events and activities may be scripted, the experience is not. Your reaction to it, the impact it has on you, and the powerful aura of support and passion at every turn is what makes each moment unique. This is what I have to come to find makes Shad so incredible!

Josh Segeren
Shad Valley Waterloo
Hometown: Chatham, Ontario

Today was an unforgettable day because we had our Presidents' Luncheon. All the heads of faculty in McMaster University came, including Barry Bisson, President of Shad Valley International and Peter George, President of McMaster University.

Shad Valley is always keeping me on my toes and especially today since we had two tours and a couple of lectures. Doug Boreham gave us a lecture on Nuclear Reactors and as he gave this lecture "The Nature of Things" (CBC Program) videotaped his lecture.

After the luncheon I went to visit McMaster University's new Planetarium. The planetarium gave me an impression of what the size of space in on a 360 view. Once the tour of space was over I went on a tour to the Nuclear Reactor building. The tour with Doug Boreham was very impressive since this is a one of a kind Nuclear Reactor built in 1959.

After the tour of the Nuclear Reactor I realized that Northern Lights are cosmic rays coming from the sky. All of us do not need to be afraid of nuclear radiation because we are exposed to it everyday!

My day was fantastic and I hope every other day at Shad will be the same!!

Aloka Wijesooriya
Shad Valley McMaster
Hometown: Iqaluit, Nunavut

Psychological Experiment Shad Valley Dalhousie: Subject Log, Day 11

7:30.000 – Wakeup, the barrage of knowledge and learning is taking its toll, sleep deprivation evident as mind fixated on month project theme while showering begins: fibres, fibres, fibres…

8:45.000 – House group Vagapelago (derived from Vagabond and Archipelago, ergo hobos on an island) gathers final details for project pitch to group, 100% biodegradable pen idea on verge of reality

12:30.000 – Dared to down a slice of pizza in one bite, beginning to feel dreaded “Shad 5.000” coming on

13:30.000 – Walked from residence to Rowe Building for seminar on math and probabilities, have yet to see sunshine in Halifax for more than a total of fifteen minutes, weather predicted to be good for camping trip Friday, Vitamin D deficiency will soon be quenched…we hope

16:30.000 – Head swirling from overload of permutation, combination concepts, feeling sleepy and hungry, a good day’s work

17:15.000 – Practice for piano, singing duet for coffee house successful, probability of “rocking the house” significantly raised

22:30.000 – Beginning to suspect cool roommate is part of experiment to observe behavior of Shads in response to wild antics, sleep deprivation and hunger creeping in again, thought processes failing…having the time of my life!

Jonathan Lim
Shad Valley Dalhousie
Hometown: Calgary, Alberta

Today was another exciting day at Shad Valley at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay. It already feels like we have been here forever, as we have all made amazing connections with each and every 65 Shads.

This morning we started off with Shad Speaks, which were presentations prepared by each Shad on a topic that they have become an expert in. Next we had a lecture on entrepreneurship, which was really helpful for our Shad Cup project and provided us with some excellent pointers.
Mealtimes at Shad, are always entertaining. You never know what conversation you will be having, or what kind of activity will be happening.

After lunch, we had a very informative session on career development. The focus was on writing resumes, which will be very useful to every Shad some time or later. This was followed by a lecture on technology, specifically on computer communications and networking. Learning in the field of technology was continued with hands on experience with building a chatroom with Java and HTML, as well as working with a robot.

After supper we had time to work on our Shad Cup projects, which are on the theme of natural fibres. Although our time at Shad is so busy and our schedule is packed with different activities, it is definitely worth being here, and I will miss everyone terrible when Shad (sob) is over! Today was also my birthday, which was definitely a unique experience, and a day I will never forget. Continuing on with the birthday theme, I would like to wish my mom a happy birthday tomorrow!

Heidi Bentley
Shad Valley Lakehead
Hometown: Halifax, Nova Scotia

Fun, stress, fatigue and remarkable are the four adjectives most often used to describe Shad Valley Carleton ’09. We came back from camping yesterday, bitten, dirty and exhausted. However, the thrill of the camping experience cannot be described in mere words. Using the outhouses, sleeping in small tents with four other Shads and mosquitoes was, believe it or not, EXCITING!! This was because we were all together.

Today, Yellow House presented ShadNews in a very entertaining manner which distracted us from scratching our bug bites. ShadNews really helps us stay connected with the outside world which would be impossible otherwise as we are always caught up in the hustle and bustle of Shad. We then had the pleasure of listening to three fellow Shads present their Shad Speaks. It is really intriguing to listen to the Shads speak about their passions, since all 52 of us come from different backgrounds. In Shad, we learn about things which we hardly learn about in school, such as, recent developments in scientific research and volunteering opportunities.

Next, we had the honour of listening to Mr. Al Pilcher talk to us about the business aspect of the legendary DE project! It was then time to start exercising our bodies with a game of soccer. I got to see the Emperor and Empress of Japan; they were visiting Carleton as part of their two-week Canadian tour.

After lunch, the houses presented their codes of conduct to Al Pilcher and received some very useful tips for improvement. We then worked on our DE project for a half-hour (a very busy half-hour). After dinner, we had Committee Time. I am part of the Shadwear and monthbook committee so during this time we designed the logo for Shadwear. After a few more fun activities, it was time to go to bed and get a restful sleep. This only captures the essence of Shad, which is really hard to do in 200 words! In order to truly know Shad, one has to live the experience!

Sapna Shah
Shad Valley Carleton
Hometown: Markham, Ontario