January’s ACTeam meeting at the Old Ranch Country Club in Seal Beach featured such a large contingent from across our branches that we had to add more tables to the setup we used last time we were there. In addition to hearing many informative presentations and catching up with each other over lunch, a real highlight was a team-building game called The Marshmallow Challenge, in which teams are given 20 sticks of spaghetti, one yard of tape, a yard of string and one marshmallow. The team that builds the tallest structure – with the marshmallow, intact, at the top of it – wins. While there were some humorous moments of frustration (the structures always seemed to collapse just as the teams thought they had “cracked the code”), the game taught some great lessons in collaboration, creativity, innovation and perseverance. Per the expert measurements taken by ACT’s President, Walter H. Singer, using a piece of paper and his finger, Jason Catalano, Michael Coomer, Bill Coleman and Russ Cowperthwaite were crowned champions. Congrats to them, and thanks to everyone who participated for being such good sports! 
