Headlands 2007 Orientation Retreat

The UC Davis chapter of Net Impact sponsors an annual retreat for the incoming first year MBAs to build chapter awareness and membership, support environmental education, and establish connections with classmates: a weekend-long orientation activity that nearly all incoming students attend, full of outdoor activities, get-to-know-you games and a fun way to kick off a year of Net Impact activities.

This year, Davis Net Impact led the first year students to the Headlands Institute in Marin (http://www.yni.org/hi/), a beautiful environmental beach learning institute known for its leadership programs, kids’ camps and conference groups. It’s about 20 minutes north of San Francisco.

We carpooled from Davis about 2 hours to arrive Friday evening and dined on organic gourmet food in the dining hall. After dinner, Cleveland Justis (GSM ‘04 and Net Impact board member) gave an inspiring talk on opportunities at the GSM and through Net Impact. After a very brief introduction to Davis Net Impact and introduction of an “issue interest survey”, we kicked off a campfire followed by late night socializing in a conference hall reserved for us for the stay. Sleeping arrangements were in two large dorm-style rooms, with separate rooms available for couples for an additional fee.

On Saturday, we had variety of activity options planned: Hikes of various lengths, lounging by the beach and exploring tide pools, and an ad hoc excursion into San Francisco. After enjoying the sunset on the beach that evening, there was more eating, with some beverages, and various games and merry-making in the conference hall. Sunday we had a brief breakfast, a clean-up session, and people departed at about 10am.

By integrating this event into the overall GSM Orientation, we quickly introduce the incoming students to Net Impact in a very low-key, mission-symbolic, and – most importantly – relaxed and fun atmosphere! Holding our official kick-off meeting two weeks later, potential members already had gained a bit of familiarity about us. These retreats have an impact as 2007 continues our tradition of over 50% membership, very motivated members, and a large number of conference attendees: 20 students (out of 110 total) are heading to Nashville!

Our retreat was recently filed as a Net Impact "Best Practice!" For pictures, please click here...