Photo gallery: 2014 First Year Leadership Experience

These photos were taken during the the Class of 2018’s First-year Leadership Experience event, held at Camp McConnell in Micanopy on Aug. 29. Incoming veterinary students participated in a variety of team-building exercises designed to enhance communication skills and an understanding of expectations, not just among classmates, but with faculty, staff and administrators. The full story about the Class of 2018’s FLE is here.

: Dr. Pam Ginn, associate dean for students and Instruction, acknowledges sponsors during the Class of 2018’s FLE.

: Students and faculty discussed expectations of one another and documented the responses to form a Mutual Contract of Expectations during the Class of 2018’s FLE.

: Members of the Class of 2018 assemble a puzzle depicting a class photo to represent their unique “piece of the puzzle” and the unity of their class as a whole during the FLE at Camp McConnell.

: Class of 2018 students complete the marble-pass challenge, passing a marble through five adjoining pieces of PVC pipe to demonstrate communication and teamwork.

: Participants in the Class of 2018’s FLE engage in fast-paced large-group field activities during the two-day retreat.

: A group of first-year veterinary students pose for a small group photo during the FLE.

: Close-up of the “Take a Seat, Make a Friend” ball pit activity at the Class of 2018’s FLE. Students were invited to join one another in a ball pit and share responses to ice-breaker questions like “who do you admire most?” and “what is your spirit animal?”

: Students, faculty and facilitators relax in the ball pit while participating in the “Take a Seat, Make a Friend” activity at the Class of 2018’s FLE.

: Students relax in the pool during their afternoon free time at the Class of 2018’s FLE at Camp McConnell.

: Students pose for an underwater photo during their free time poolside at Camp McConnell during the Class of 2018’s FLE.

: Class of 2017 student facilitator Ben Davids consults with Dr. Pamela Ginn, associate dean for students and instruction, about the agenda for the Class of 2018’s FLE.

: Members of the Class of 2018 pose for a photo during the FLE.

: Class of 2017 student facilitators Sarah Johnson, left, and Christin Landis, pose with signs they created to identify their small groups- the Party of Platypus and Zeal of Zebras- during the Class of 2018’s FLE.

: Participants in the Class of 2018’s FLE engage in a small-group communications exercise called Traffic Jam, in which they must face each other in two lines and travel from one end of the line to the other by jumping on paper plates.

: Members of the Class of 2018 participate in Raccoon Circle, an ice-breaker activity at the First-Year Leadership Experience at Camp McConnell. Students moved the rope in a circle and whoever touched the knot at the end would be invited to share a personal anecdote about their feelings related to entering veterinary school.

: Students from the Class of 2018 conquer the high-ropes challenge course at Camp McConnell during the FLE.

: Students were invited to participate in a tile painting activity during their free time each afternoon of the Class of 2018’s First-Year Leadership Experience. The students keep their tiles as a memento from the two-day retreat.

: The University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine’s Class of 2018 poses for a class photo during the FLE at Camp McConnell.