UIL Members Affirm Each Other

Photo by Yanna Hinojos

Spreading Comforting Words: All UIL Cadre members sit in a circle getting ready to participate in the exchange of affirmation notecards. If a person wanted to read the affirmation notecard out loud that they had handwritten, they would stand in the middle of the circle, read their notecard, then gives it to the person they directed the words too. After this activity, Jason Quach stated, “I was feeling so humble and loved by all of the kind words that the students said to me and to each other with this exercise. It felt so good to see each student lift each other up and make those connections with each other.”

With the exchange of affirmation notecards, UIL begins week 3. On February 6, while seated in a circle, each participant was given a random notecard with encouraging writing from the other participants. Directors Julie Ryan and Jason Quach had a routine where they would call out the name of the person on the card and inquire as to whether the person who wrote it would want to read it out loud. If no one spoke forward, the person’s identity was kept secret, and Ryan or Quach would read it instead. Everyone moves on from this activity to the play’s remaining blocking process with a boost of self-confidence they had hopefully received from the notecards. With only a few tweaks left for the props, the play is also closer to finishing its third phase of blocking which is the main focus for the rest of the week.