Over the weekend of May 17th-May 19th, I had the opportunity to attend (and steer) my first spring convention and got to create core memories with my new best friends. After many steering meetings and countdown posts on social media, spring convention and the awaiting of spring convention is sadly over. Here is my recap:

Day 1—Friday, May 17

Once we arrived at convention, after quickly changing into Shabbat attire and saying a quick “hello” to friends in other regions (BAR and HVR), I got to run my icebreaker and participate in opening ceremonies kicking off a great weekend for everyone. During icebreakers all of Manhattan region was introduced to one another and I was able to observe many new connections being created. 

That night was the third annual MHR spirit competition, for which I helped choreograph a dance for my chapter, L’dor Vador BBG. We were awarded as runner ups and had the BEST time on stage! Later we had both separates and good & welfare, with a brief intermission to make smores, during that night I was able to bond with other BBG’s and share spooey!

Day 2—Saturday, May 18

The next morning we had a meaningful Shabbat service then went on to the thrilling programming of the day. First I went to arts and crafts where we were assigned teams for the next event, capture the flag. Capture the flag, however, had a twist in which we had paint and got to play capture the flag but with paint! We washed up afterwards and headed to lunch concluding our morning. 

That afternoon we got to hear from our keynote speaker, Andrew Moses from podcast Everybody Pulls The Tarp and learned how to be more of a team player by “pulling the tarp”. That led to some super creative programming where we presented to sharks on “shark tank” (my team won with our bug protector) and got to create skits with  at the next programming spot. The last event of the afternoon was a hypnotist show where all the audience members got a huge laugh out of those participants. 

We closed out Shabbat with a Havdalah service where we reflected on our favorite moments so far of the weekend. Afterwards we got to see the Court Jesters play basketball and dance with them. We then had the Mamma Mia dance and then senior lives, where we collected merch and heard meaningful stories and ways to have the best experience possible throughout our BBYO journeys.

Day 3—Sunday, May 19

On our final day I got to experience my first regional elections and got to vote on the future of our region. Lastly we loaded up the buses and drove home, recounting memories from the weekend. 

Overall I had an amazing weekend and the best advice I can give is to disconnect and leave your phone for activities as that made my experience so much better and I was able to bond with friends in a much deeper way than before.