Carlos S. Martinez Ms.

Aponte English Communications 11 20 September 2013 Death swamp expository

Once a man by the name of Henry Ford stated "coming together is a beginning, keeping together is a progress, working together is success". This quote relates to my team in a project to get across a "death swamp". The objective was to get across the swamp with every team member and not to touch the water, using different skills. The objective was using a couple of objects to get across the swamp including 7 cinder block's that were set up as base's, also 5 wooden 24's that we could use walking board's and a length of rope. At first the group Devin, Tyreal, Monique, Karla and I observed the other group's go first so we could learn and brain storm a strategy. After the other group's went, we started by placing a small 24 on two cinder blocks that were placed vertically on the floor. Tyreal then placed the longest 24 in the middle of the first one horizontally to connect with another cinder block. Tyreal then crossed to the second base while Devin and I passed Tyreal another 24. After placing the rest of the 2x4's we were one short. Everyone was now on a base, Devin then had to walk back and pick up the second 2x4 Tyreal placed which was the longest one because the others were too short. After Devin lifted it he passed it on to the next person to pass it

down until it reached Tyreal which was at the second to last base. Finally the last 2x4 was placed and Tyreal crossed, after him was Karla, then Monique, myself and Devin. The rope was never used, it was just a trap to make us fail. I had many different ways to participate in this group exercise. One of the way's was observing the other groups and giving my opinion on what we should do to get across. Another way that I helped my team was by passing the 24's to Devin so that he could pass them on to Tyreal. My last way of participating was helping Monique regain her balance and cross the board without her touching the floor which was supposed to be the swamp. As Henry Ford stated "coming together is a beginning, keeping together is a progress, working together is success". My team stayed dedicated and worked together to complete/reach the objective by bringing various options and thoughts together. As a result to our team work we reached the goal with the fastest time from any other team and that made us feel more successful.