This was my first time returning to the University of Maine since I graduated this past May, and things felt different. There were fresh, new faces that I didn’t recognize from my years in college, and my backpack was full of material from my job instead of binders full of homework and textbooks. I went into the presentation confident, coupled with a healthy dose of timidness. I had only ever presented in front of high school students and my peers in classes, but this time, at the age of 21, I was an alumna guest speaker presenting on behalf of NGPF.

As prepared as I was to lead this workshop, this was quite a learning experience for me. I was very close in age to the students in the class, and so it felt a bit different presenting the workshop in a non peer-to-peer format. I tried to format the workshop to one very similar that I helped present at a local high school in Palo Alto.

It was great to hear that the general consensus of the students was that the game was a nice break from their usual class time. I didn't explain how the game worked because I wanted the students to figure that out on their own—like the usual college process goes—and it was great to see smiles crack as the students were navigating their way through the 4 years of college that the game simulates. One particularly funny moment was when the students were figuring out how to register for classes in the game, and as soon as they did, they were frantically clicking their laptop touch pads as they rushed to get the classes they wanted (a universal process known all too well by college students nowadays). 

I felt as if the game PAYBACK was particularly appropriate for college freshmen because they’ve had just a taste of what to expect over the next 4 years of their lives. Their insight regarding the game was very helpful, as they’ve already had to deal with some of the situations presented in the game such as choosing classes, dealing with transportation, and learning to be mindful of their money when it came to what they could buy for their dorm rooms.

The feedback from the students, as well as from the professor, was very reassuring. Professor Joseph Clark said, “[Payback]...engaged the attention of my students, mostly college freshmen, and I believe that it stimulated a lot of thinking about the relatedness of all the decisions they make in managing their college career.” Overall, it was great to learn how to lead a workshop from a new perspective, and I hope to continue to get more workshops under my belt so I can better serve teachers and students alike!

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NGPF: Be sure to check out the game, Payback, for yourself to see what all the hype is about! In addition, we created a worksheet, Roleplay: Playback, so your students can keep track of your progress as you play the game, and it even has some reflection questions that will lead to great classroom discussions. We’ve already had over 50,000 people play the game to date!

picture credit: https://umaine.edu/ 

About the Author

Danielle Bautista

Danielle is a native of Southern California and a recent graduate from the University of Maine, where she braved the frigid winters—a feat in and of itself—and earned her Bachelor's degree in International Affairs. She has a passion for working with non-profit organizations and serving populations in underprivileged communities. When Danielle isn't writing NGPF blog posts, spearheading various outreach projects, or managing contests and flash surveys, you can find her doing some sort of outdoor activity, learning a new hobby, or cracking what she thinks are witty puns!