{"id":47208,"date":"2017-06-01T11:29:37","date_gmt":"2017-06-01T15:29:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=47208"},"modified":"2017-06-01T11:29:37","modified_gmt":"2017-06-01T15:29:37","slug":"cdn-retreat-2017-by-the-numbers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=47208","title":{"rendered":"CDN Retreat 2017: By the Numbers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I attended the<strong> <em>4th<\/em><\/strong> annual College Diabetes Network (CDN) Retreat this past week. It was my<em> <strong>3rd<\/strong> <\/em>time going, and I\u2019m pleased to report that my <strong><em>2nd<\/em> <\/strong>time going as a volunteer was incredibly rewarding.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s never easy to walk into a room filled with <strong><em>26 <\/em><\/strong>people you\u2019ve never met before. It helps that there were <strong><em>8 <\/em><\/strong>other people present that I knew previously to varying degrees. That fact, combined with the knowledge that we all had type <strong><em>1<\/em><\/strong> diabetes in common, helped me feel comfortable enough to get to know the strangers that sat before me.<\/p>\n<p>Over the next <strong><em>5 <\/em><\/strong>days and <strong><em>4 <\/em><\/strong>nights, these individuals became my family. Whether we were bonding over boluses or sharing misery in the vicious mosquitoes of Maine, we were doing so with humor, respect, empathy, and empowerment. Here\u2019s what we were up to during that whirlwind week, by the numbers:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>On Tuesday, the students spent time in <strong><em>3 <\/em><\/strong>different breakout sessions about chapter start-up, leadership transitions, and social media.<\/li>\n<li>Lunch was made and served\u2014sandwiches for <strong><em>30-plus <\/em><\/strong>people! In addition, we had about <strong><em>50 <\/em><\/strong>bags worth of KNOW food products to snack on. These foods are free of gluten, peanuts, yeast, grains, dairy, wheat, and soy, and are made with \u201csuperfoods\u201d including chia seeds, flax seeds, coconuts, almonds, and egg whites. Needless to say, we all enjoyed sampling their offerings, with their fluffy vegan chocolate chip waffles being the big hit of the week.<\/li>\n<li>After the <strong><em>1st <\/em><\/strong>strategic planning session and an information session on surveys and data collection, it was Taco Tuesday! My fellow volunteers and I must have cooked at least <strong><em>10 <\/em><\/strong>pounds of ground beef.<\/li>\n<li>The fabulous Christel lead a terrific session on political advocacy later that evening, during which students came up with a list about what makes them angry that was at least <strong><em>2 dozen <\/em><\/strong>items long, and may or may not have included a certain Cheeto-hued president.<\/li>\n<li>Wednesday entailed a <strong><em>2nd <\/em><\/strong>set of breakout sessions and a focus group on Afrezza, the <strong><em>1<\/em><\/strong>\u00ad-of-a-kind inhaled insulin.<\/li>\n<li>Students also had their public speaking skills put to the test on Wednesday. We heard <strong><em>6 <\/em><\/strong>different pairs of students introduce one another to the group, and an additional <strong><em>14 <\/em><\/strong>told both real and completely made-up stories to the audience. Everyone did a stellar job and learned their strengths and weaknesses as public speakers.<\/li>\n<li>Food for Wednesday involved the creation of <strong><em>2 <\/em><\/strong>full pots of chili (plus a vegetarian option), and pounds of pasta for spaghetti and meatballs. According to the shopping list, we had <strong><em>400 <\/em><\/strong>meatballs at our disposal: Approximately <strong><em>10 <\/em><\/strong>meatballs per person!<\/li>\n<li>Thursday was jam-packed with student presentations, guest introductions, and networking opportunities. The student presentations were a culmination of group product pitches that <strong><em>6 <\/em><\/strong>teams of students brainstormed. Their ideas were incredible, from a T1D Food Key to a Stick it to Stigma campaign. I felt super proud of each group, as I\u2019m sure it was far from easy to get up in front of so many people to pitch their ideas!<\/li>\n<li>Between <strong><em>6 <\/em><\/strong>CDN staff members, <strong><em>3 <\/em><\/strong>volunteers, <strong><em>2 <\/em><\/strong>board members, <strong><em>13 <\/em><\/strong>special guests, <strong><em>26 <\/em><\/strong>students, <strong><em>1 <\/em><\/strong>dog (Arya), and <strong><em>1 <\/em><\/strong>baby (Michael), the week was chock full of faces, stories, and connections that I won\u2019t soon forget. And perhaps one of the more monumental numbers of the week? The number of mosquitoes killed by the students, staff, and volunteers: The final count was <strong><em>302<\/em><\/strong>! I bet that sounds like a lot, but trust me, that\u2019s nothing compared to the amount we were swarmed by when we took our group photo on the dock.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The memories I made this week are <strong><em>countless<\/em><\/strong>. But I do know <strong><em>1 <\/em><\/strong>thing for sure: The individuals I met throughout the retreat are amazing advocates, strong leaders, WICKED smart, endearingly charismatic, and true inspirations. I\u2019m sincerely excited to see how each student continues to thrive not just with diabetes, but also with their individual CDN chapters and college careers. Thank you to each one of you for a magical week, and a special thank you to Tina, Emily, Mindy, Sarah, Dan, and Katie for allowing me to return as a volunteer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":47209,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1501],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v22.9 (Yoast SEO v22.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>CDN Retreat 2017: By the Numbers<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I attended the 4th annual CDN Retreat this past week as a volunteer and it was incredibly rewarding.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=47208\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Molly Johannes\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=47208\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=47208\",\"name\":\"CDN Retreat 2017: By the Numbers\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=47208#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=47208#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/cdn-retreat-2017-by-the-numbers.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-06-01T15:29:37+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-06-01T15:29:37+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/#\/schema\/person\/623ae95e59042a0181d7249ae80f9e18\"},\"description\":\"I attended the 4th annual CDN Retreat this past week as a volunteer and it was incredibly rewarding.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=47208#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=47208\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=47208#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/cdn-retreat-2017-by-the-numbers.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/cdn-retreat-2017-by-the-numbers.jpg\",\"width\":640,\"height\":480,\"caption\":\"CDN Retreat 2017: By the Numbers\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=47208#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"CDN Retreat 2017: By the Numbers\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/\",\"name\":\"ASweetLife\",\"description\":\"The Diabetes Magazine\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/#\/schema\/person\/623ae95e59042a0181d7249ae80f9e18\",\"name\":\"Molly Johannes\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f996a9325de8e57234e2c6d9727bd93d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f996a9325de8e57234e2c6d9727bd93d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Molly Johannes\"},\"description\":\"Molly Johannes was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in 1997 at the age of four. 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