Have you ever felt like you were unprepared, un-informed with little to no background on what to do at least once in your life? I believe the cliché used is “fed to the wolves”.

Not that Dr. Larry Peppers was not informative and clear with his direction. He was. It’s just that my classmates and I were displaying signs of a classic “deer in the headlights look”.  SIMSOC is short for simulated society and is an exercise that was developed to make the students of Leadership Seminole Class #19 more clear on the dynamics of social science. Leadership Seminole Class #19 was divided into four social groups on Friday morning at the wonderful Holy Cross Lutheran Church, and perhaps some of us were not fully aware of the differences within these social groups until we entered each room within the church facility. Surprise! The Red, Blue, Yellow and Green group were instantly tied to the society and environment that they were each given. And may I say each group’s environment was similar but one group in particular was at the lower end of the food chain. The SIMSOC exercise was an experience that I will remember for the rest of my life, and not just because of the relationship built with my team in the “Yellow Group”.  This wonderful group of team mates included Katrina Powell, James Rivera, Evie Lowe, Robbie Jones, Rob Dominica and Christina Crowley.

Each team has their own interpretation of the whole SIMSOC experience, from the room’s atmosphere, lunch provided and certainly the seating accommodations, let’s just say some had a nice day and others, well not so relaxed. Perhaps stress would be a more accurate depiction of the day for some groups. Yet from what I saw, each group had gained something more important than food and atmosphere. Each group gained a bond with each other that grew.

This common group bond was interesting because it grew quickly and each group appeared to only trust those within the original group. Each new traveling spokesman or spokeswoman had to work real hard for their cause, yet at least in the “yellow group” I can say we were apprehensive on who to believe and not necessarily open to believing in what message is being delivered to us as a group.  On Friday night over dinner my family and I had a discussion on how our day was. I found myself delicately attempting to explain SIMSOC to my wife and children and rationalize why each group tightened its own security and became tighter lipped about the future plans for each of our group’s growth and betterment.  The interesting way I found to explain the SIMSOC experience in a nut shell was to use the real outside world experiences in how countries attempt communication with other countries and how the communication breaks down, or revolting started by the masses in order to obtain equality (riots). But the truth of the matter is, not all of us in our Country enjoy or reap benefits that others do because through the circumstances of life itself we come from different back rounds.

The “yellow group” was given some nice advantages from the very beginning, so we excelled in a few areas of the exercise ahead of some of the other groups; however, it was our group’s decision to invest in each other and take on responsibility collectively so each team member can have a say and feel part of an organization. I also learned it’s not always easy to breakdown barriers once the wall of no trust is constructed high and wide, and I learned that it is difficult to sit down at a fancy table and eat chicken cutlets and dessert when others are only dining on cheese and bread. The SIMSOC experience also taught the we have to leave our comfort zone to really visualize what others around us are truly experiencing.