Seth’s Blog to Mine

As I was reading through Seth’s Blog, I came across a short post that made a big impact on me.

Something as simple as a couple words about a comfort zone made me stop and really think.

We are always saying “leadership is stepping out of your comfort zone”. I thought to myself, do I really challenge myself to do that every day like I should? Not just getting a different bagel at Einstein Bros Bagle’s every Tuesday and Thursday after GEO 105 with a friend or talking to different people more often, but really challenging myself.

So I thought more about how I can push myself out of my comfort zone every day.

I am starting a new goal to be better every day and it’s to do at least one thing out of my comfort zone every day. I don’t know what I am going to do each day, but I hope it pushes me to be a better person and make gain more experiences.

Does leadership start with a “yes”? Or a “no”?

When I think about what inspired me to expand my leadership roles and experiences, I often think positive. Every experience I have had has left a positive vibe in my mind because I learned and grew from them. But thinking back to when I started, it started with a no. When someone told me “no, I don’t believe in you” it made me want to try even harder to accomplish my goal.

For some reason, when someone doesn’t believe in me, I try my hardest to prove that I can. Once a teacher told me that she could never see me as a leader in the high school I attended. She said it was because I was too quiet. What she didn’t realize was that I was quiet because I was insecure about myself and my abilities. From then on, I went to leadership trainings and pushed myself very far out of my comfort zone. I tried to improve myself to be more confident. I didn’t want to be viewed as someone who could never lead a group.

I came to the realization that I didn’t have to be the loudest person in the room to be a leader. I could be a leader by being myself. So what if I was the quiet person in the room sometimes. It gave someone else the chance to step-up and showcase their skills, which some say is the hardest part to be a leader. Since then I have grown to be more confident and more outspoken, but I learned how to let others step-up when they can grow. When facilitating a group, I want the others to grow as a leader and feel comfortable taking over sometimes.

That “no” made me realize that I didn’t have to be the “ideal” leader that matches that teacher’s wants. That “no” made me realize how to grow as a leader and find the style that I feel is best for me.

Class Protocol Reflection

Through our psychology course (PSY 100L) I learned that how we are leaders is all in our brains. That can be from being born with traits, learning them on the way, or a mixture of both. There is different stages in our lives where we develop different parts in our brains that makes us the leaders we are today. Outside the course material in the class, my cohort learned how to study as a class a make lectures more enjoyable. If it wasn’t for random dancing and singing before tests, then I think the stress would have overcome me.

In our debate course (COM 267L) I learned a lot about how to make people think a certain way and how to express why the way I believe is the correct way actually is. I also learned how different methods of argumentation are used to make the other person look bad instead of supporting my case. Over all, I learned that I need to be able to back up my side with facts and show the other side why my side may be the better option. We debate in our everyday lives and I feel as this is a very valuable class to have. We got to debate against other students in our cohort which got really interesting. We laughed and gasped at each others’ debates but over all bonded while doing it. We could not get that from just a normal debate class.

Overall, I am glad that we got to take these courses as a cohort. We learned that we can’t always have each other there in every class, but for the classes that we do we have valuable resources. I hope to make even a small portion of the connections in my other class as I do these leadership offerings.

First Semester Volunteer Experience

Packing food with Leadership Safari

During my Leadership Safari experience, my group got to package non perishable food to send to a food bank. It was fun to have our group work together for a great cause.

Orientation Volunteer

During Safari, I got the chance to volunteer to swipe cards and guide traffic into the Freshmen Orientation pt 2. It was cool that I got that opportunity right from Safari and as a bonus I got a free t-shirt!

Crop Walk

As a part of Barnes and Robbinson Hall Council, I got to go door to door in each dorm collecting money to donate to Isabella County’s Crop Walk. I didn’t raise a ton because I only had the chance to go to college residents, but it’s better than nothing! Plus, I got to meet many residents around the community.

Spooktacular

As a part of Resident Hall Assembly’s Sober in October events, I got to volunteer with the Spooktacular in Robbinson’s Residential Dining Hall. I managed games that were played to win prizes, helped decorate, and helped clean up after the event.

K-12 Facilitation

This has been by far my most favorite volunteer experience that I have ever done. Two different times, I got to connect with students from high school’s around Michigan and facilitate leadership challenge activities. I got to watch the students grow from not communicating to laughing and having inside jokes. It was such an amazing experience to watch and be apart of. These students inspire me to be better everyday.

Tutoring

A lot of people don’t like algebra but I have a love for it…what else can I say? I have had the chance to get to know friends of friends who have needed extra one-on-one help with their MTH 105 and MTH 107 classes. Not only did I get to help them, it reinforced the basic algebra skills in my head so I could apply them more often in my calculus class.

Connections Conference

Being a Leadership Advancement Scholar, I got the opportunity to travel to Great Wolf Lodge in Traverse City, MI during my first semester. This was my first formal conference I have ever attended. In the past I have been to conferences where we got to dress in crazy costumes or all out in school spirit. Here I got to dress up and learn how to present myself professionally. I went to sessions that I felt I needed to improve my leadership style the most. I attended a session that was about how to manage time and add more to my plate effectively, how to include people in the group once I’m in it, and how to perform well in a job interview. Over all the point of the conference was to make connections with people around campus. I got the chance to meet people and see mutual friends! It was very interesting to see how everyone is connected in some way.

One of my roommates and I at the Connection Dinner.

Two of my Alpha Sigma Tau sorority sisters and I.

A friend and fellow Leadership Advancement Scholar from high school and I.

In addition to going to sessions to improve personal development, my LAS cohort had the chance to bond in our own sessions, rooming with one another, and going to the waterpark. We know that we are far from perfect, but we also know that each one of us will put in the effort to improve and become the best that we can be. We see room for improvement instead of the bad and we see inspiring in the good. I couldn’t imagine sharing this experience with a different group of individuals. (Side note, I won the Connections Instagram Challenge and got a Leadership Institute cup. I couldn’t be more excited).

My Leadership Advancement Cohort!

Mentor/Mentee Retreat 2014

Fall 2014 I got the opportunity to go on a retreat to Eagle Village with my cohort, my mentor, and her cohort. For one weekend, we got to leave campus and stay overnight. We got to do a high ropes course, positive/negative reinforcement activities, fun games with everyone, sit around a campfire and share personal stories, and bond as a group of 80+ CMU student leader and Leadership Advancement Scholars.

My roommates and I feat. Dan Gaken.

My MASC/MAHS Leadership Camp friends.

My favorite part about the weekend was that I got to spend time with my mentor, Kim, and really get to know her. I look up to her so much with everything she has been through and what she has done to contribute to the campus. I couldn’t have asked for a better mentor!

My mentor Kim and I!

Kim and I with the Leadership Institute sign.

I do not only look up to Kim though, I realized that I have a group of leaders surrounding me who have all accomplished so much and have great futures ahead. There is something that I can learn from each one of them and I can’t wait to get to know everyone a lot better. I can honestly say that choosing to go to Central Michigan University and accepting the Leadership Advancement Scholarship is one of the best choices I have ever made. It brought be to a group of amazing, inspirational people who I get to be surrounded around everyday.

The 2013 and 2014 Leadership Advancement Scholar Cohorts.

The Alpha Leadership Experience

One of the first things I signed up for on campus was for Alpha Lead. I wanted to meet more students around campus that cared about growing and learning to be a student leader. I randomly got placed in the most amazing group with the best facilitators. From the first day, we learned everyone’s names, worked together, and laughed as a group. I don’t know what exactly made our group click so easily, but it made me very excited to come back each Thursday for five weeks. It was a great transition in the beginning of the year from Leadership Safari to real classes and coursework. Being on the Green Machine Alpha Team gave me the chance to become closer with one of my roommates, a couple of girls in my cohort, and students I got to meet from around campus. I really liked that it was a mixture of student leaders from around campus because I got to find connections that I wouldn’t have without it. Also, I enjoyed that we got to meet once a week for five weeks so we had time to reflect on what we learned and it wasn’t all crammed into a consecutive session. I saw my group connect and work together most when we had to use ropes to bring a ball from one side of the room to another. It challenged us to all play a role in the process instead of one person doing it alone because we all had to participate at the same time. I am very glad that I got the opportunity to be a participant in the Alpha Leadership Experience.

The Green Machines doing a leadership challenge activity