Surprises - by Barbara Whidden, Class of 2010

Most people like surprises in their lives, I know that I do.  Emerge Maine has provided a few surprises to me thus far. These surprises are a benefit of this amazing program that I never considered when I applied to take part and I am most grateful for them.

I have met some amazing women while being involved with Emerge but I have also uncovered some things about myself that I didn’t realize existed, a nice surprise! 

At our first session we worked with Allegory on public speaking, something that I found terrifying at best.  I figured that I would live through the day working on our exercises there but that I would never have the ability to carry them forward.    As the Development Director for a not for profit theatre I often meet with folks to discuss our organization, the face to face interactions have always made me a bit nervous.  A few weeks ago I was having a wonderful conversation with a potential sponsor and was surprised about how well I was speaking and that I wasn’t uneasy at all. 

When I was asked to consider running for office I could not imagine that I had the knowledge necessary to represent anyone.  Thanks to Emerge I have learned that you don’t need to have all of the answers to be in office. What you need is to care about the people that you are serving and if you don’t know the answers just say so and get back to them with the answer, yet another surprise. 

I can’t wait to see what other surprises will unfold as I continue along with Emerge Maine!

Barbara Whidden, Emerge Maine 2010