I find the concept of time intriguing. There are tons of questions without answers that I have about time, and I suppose the world in general, too. Does time pass differently for different people? What are memories? Was there a beginning of time?
Today, we celebrated the passing of an incredible amount of time – the 30th anniversary of the Shad Valley Waterloo program. Since Waterloo was the first ever Shad Valley university campus, this merits an occasion that all Shads nationwide should have a reason to celebrate. Here at Waterloo, we are big on the processes of design, and especially on iterative design. This year marks 30 successful iterations of the design of the Shad Valley program, 30 years of revision and adjustment, 30 years of hard work. To celebrate, we reunited with Shad Valley alumni from the 30 years past and participated in a design challenge and barbeque together. The goal of the design challenge was to expand our community, as well as to re-establish the Shad Valley problem-solving mindset in the alumni.
Another fantastic event that occurred today was our Coffee House performance. We had the pleasure of being thoroughly entertained by our own Shad Valley Waterloo musicians and dramatists, as well as by a University of Waterloo a capella group, the Water Boys. There were some performances that made us laugh out loud; others that conveyed a deep, complicated sadness; and still others that caused us to sink back into our chairs and let waves of music crash over us.
And now, with a week left remaining in the program, I beg time to grind to a halt. I will cherish these last few moments of my life at Shad Valley. In the words of Barry Bisson, President of Shad Valley, the program is truly a “transformative experience.”
Debashis Chakraborty, Shad Valley Waterloo 2012
