In addition to my excitement over to meeting new friends, I was thrilled to meet my instructor who would work closely with me.

When community associate Elise Butler told me my instructor would be Stacey Wilkins, my memory flashed back to reading the article from the Cherub Website where I learned about Stacey’s competitiveness.

In the article, head instructor Mary Lou Song said she bribed her team with a lobster dinner party to beat Stacey’s team in the Junior Junior Olympics, which involves various activities such as tug-of-war, an eating contest and water balloon toss.

As expected, when I first met Stacey, she told me that she was a very competitive person.

“Mary Lou is my natural rival,” she said. Stacey also said any member who couldn’t keep up would be left behind. I didn’t know it was a joke then.

Although Stacey’s team performed poorly in the first few competitions, Stacey endlessly motivated and encouraged us. We started to see each team member as a friendly cherub and no longer as a stranger from the other side of the country.

We frequently had team meetings to plan ahead. When we didn’t do well on a current events quiz, we posted news on a Facebook group I created, rather than blaming others. When our team began to climb in the rankings we celebrated with a dinner at Lou Malnati’s, an amazing pizza restaurant. Then when we had our karaoke competition, we met again for a meal in Hinman to psych ourselves for the night that lay ahead. We began to listen to one another. We grew, danced and laughed together.

Many cherubs believe that Stacey’s team is in the lead simply because we are competitive, but this is not true. Our drive to victory surely helps us, but that is not the main ingredient to our team’s success.

We communicate and are willing to help each other. We work as a team and listen to what everyone can bring to the table. Together Everyone Achieves More and this belief is what guided our team.