19_12_05_EDU_blue_hat

A total of 52 students belonging to different Degrees of the University of Navarra participated in the internship 'Blue Hat', accompanied by members of the Air Force: 12 hours in the Monegros desert with the goal to work on leadership and group management .

The bus with the Psychology students, Education, International OfficeADE, Governance and Journalism left from the university campus to the Zaragoza air base. There, members of the Air Force gave several talks and explained in detail what the internship was going to consist of, before leaving for the Monegros. Among the aspects covered were how to use a compass and know how to locate oneself on the map, how to encode messages to send by radio, how to handle cameras with night vision, or what to do in case a colleague suffers from hypothermia.

With a fictitious story about an armed conflict, the students were divided into six groups with different names: Alpha, Beta, Romeo,... etc. Each group consisted of nine people with a specific role. Each group had a leader and one or more sub-leaders, who in turn were responsible for leading the rest of the team members. Their goal was to reach three points on the map, "safe areas", where to establish contact with their allies to "be rescued", without being intercepted by enemy forces. Each group was accompanied throughout the journey by an Army professional to avoid and/or act in emergency situations.

This activity, organized by the School of Education and Psychology This activity, organized by the subject 'Leadership and management of teams' taught by Professor Luis Angel Diaz, is framed within the 'Leadership and of teams' taught by Professor Luis Angel Diaz. "The goal is that students exercise skills such as leadership, team management , communication and group decision making; and emotional support in group", says.

The students value the internship and plan to apply what they have learned in their future work. "I chose this subject because it seemed out of the ordinary and I wanted to propose a challenge", says Denise Abbud, a fourth-year student of Degree in attendance Management, who was the leader of her group. "I had to motivate the team, give them encouragement," she explains. "I learned to stay calm in stressful situations and to lean on group in moments of uncertainty. This can help me in the future, to know how to handle tasks on time and to organize myself."

His partner at group and student of Degree in Psychology, Nicolay Maldonado, says that "as a surveyor, I had to guide the team with the compass and the map, and try not to get lost". "I found that situations of fatigue and stress can greatly affect your performance and your ability to collaborate in the team. I think this will serve me well in my degree program as a psychologist," he concludes.