Being part of the Leadership San Ramon Valley Class of 2011, we were told that the October retreat was a must-attend event. Having learned more about interacting with different personalities in our September session, we moved along to getting to know each other better.

We knew the day would include team-building activities, like the dreaded trust fall. Turns out, it wasn't so bad, even though I did step back instead of fully rolling on my heels and allowing myself to be caught by my partner. Good thing the "fall" was only a few inches.

Then they pulled out the chairs for the extreme trust fall. It was similar to the scene from the movie "Mean Girls" except with adults and no one was dropped. (Sidenote: I think these LSRV recap blogs are showing my unrefined taste in entertainment. Like my love of reality TV.)

The trust falls and other activities really challenged the group to learn to communicate well despite limitations and to take risks to get out of your comfort zone. This was perhaps the best take-away of all: pushing yourself to take a risk in order to grow. As this program molds the class into future leaders, these lessons will help us truly impact the community.

My favorite part of the day, however, was learning more about my classmates. We were each instructed to bring in a personal artifact that holds special value. Mine was a blue, sparkly Frisbee that was our wedding favor. The 175-gram disc is used to play Ultimate Frisbee, which is a sport that my husband and I play. In fact, both of our coed teams qualified for the national tournament in Florida. It's interesting how an everyday item can help tell someone's story. What about you -- do you have a personal artifact that you'd like to virtually share? Let me know in the comments!

As the editor of DanvilleExpress.com and SanRamonExpress.com, I was accepted into Leadership San Ramon Valley. The group meets once a month from September through June. Having received a scholarship to the program, I will blog about my experiences.