Developer is one of my strengths, so I enjoy dedicating my time to help people better themselves. Developing others is something that I have enjoyed doing a lot in my role as an LC. When I first started the role in the Fall 2017, I was so excited to work with Nick for Active Leaders because I got so much out of the program myself. As the teaching assistant for the course, I was given many chances to facilitate activities that helped people grow. For instance, I facilitated a ‘Values Auction’ activity that forced participants to consider which values are more salient for them and it demonstrated the importance of living in line with your values. I liked this activity because it also helps participants confront the fact that other people value different things than them based on their own life experiences. While there are values that all societies share (e.g.education, family, respect, etc.), it is the way we choose to show these values that varies. For instance, Kofi Annan states in his speech on Universal Values that we can agree on the values of “non-violence and respect for life, and yet disagree about whether it is legitimate to take the lives of those who have themselves taken life, or to use violence to defend the innocent when violence is being used against them.” When I was facilitating for Active Leaders, I think I learned just as much as the participants learned.
Furthermore, I have worked to develop others as a mentor for the L-TEAM. When I’m facilitating an L-TEAM, I always try to impart knowledge that makes people more self-aware of their own actions and how to be a better leader. For instance, in an L-TEAM I facilitated with Jazyerra last Fall 2017 about Sustainable Service and Community Engagement, I talked about the significance between impact and intent. Using the example of the Starfish story (the same one used in Nick’s class) and the real life example of the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting, we discussed the importance of thinking critically before we commit our time/resources to service. During this L-TEAM, I introduced the term “helper’s high,” which is used to describe people who perform acts of kindness because it makes them feel good. In the case of the shooting, people with good intentions from around the nation sent thousands of donations and care packages to the town where the shooting occured. In total, 65,000 teddy bears were sent to a town of 27,000 people. Although the intent was positive, the overall impact was negative. Since the town received so many teddy bears, they had to rent a warehouse to hold all of the donations and each donation they received was a reminder of the incident, so it didn’t help the community grieve. By introducing the L-TEAMers to the idea of “helper’s high” and discussing impact vs. intent, I helped increase their depth of knowledge when it comes to sustainable service and thinking critically of their community engagement. Overall, I enjoyed helping to develop people’s emotional intelligence in order to create more critically engaged and aware leaders.
Hampton middle school incredible leadership Conference
SAIL Alternative Spring Break: Florida Ecosystem Restoration Trip
Student leadership: F1rst gen mason, Asian pacific American coalition
Establishing and Sustaining Relationships
