What We’re Learning: Formation Class
At Hildegard College this semester, we are continuing to learn and grow with the Formation Method. We studied the Formation Method in our first semester, which is a system curated by our Entrepreneurship professor and co-founder of Hildegard College, Jeff Tanner. This semester, Formation is led by Pastor Mike Rigdon from Redemption Church, who has done amazingly at cultivating a comfortable and positive environment for the class.
With the Formation Method, we learn how to celebrate each week, listen to our surroundings, identify challenges that arise, explore those challenges as a group and community, advise each other, experience epiphanies, and commit to solutions for the next week. Sometimes as we go through life, we recognize patterns and identify solutions, but oftentimes those solutions are never committed to and therefore never put into practice. In Formation class, we learn to solidify those commitments and hold ourselves accountable.
With the exploring phase of the method, we all learn to seek more information about each other and our challenges without giving our opinions or advice right away. Through these practices, we grow in our walk with God and in our relationships with those around us. We prepare to be leaders and coworkers.
In this particular class, we often joke that our homework is ourselves. This proves to be true as we come back each week to celebrate completing our commitments from the previous week. We are trying to build positive environments in which we can be open and honest. We do not return every week having successfully completed our commitments, but regardless, there is always room for celebrating something.
Our identified challenges are never exclusively work or school-related. We use the method to become well-rounded people in all aspects of our lives, whether that be personal, spiritual, or professional. In this way, it creates a unique bond between us classmates in which we can nourish healthy relationships inside and outside of the classroom.
