Coursework

The first class that I took that was apart of the Leadership and Social Change minor was Principles of Peer Leadership. I took this class as a requirement for becoming a Residential Advisor and realize that this class gives me the objective learning that I need to interact with others and try to empathize what others may be going through. We discussed different topics like our strengths, teamwork, and, of course, concepts on how to become a better leader. One of the key concepts that we learned about was the aspirations that the university lives by. The five aspirations are Unwavering Curiosity, Civility, Self-Understanding and Integrity, Courageous Leadership, and Ut Prosim. As an Orientation Leader, I had to educate new students on the aspirations and what that means in our everyday life. As we dove deeper into the different meanings in the class, I was able to see how the aspirations affect my daily life and how I can use this to propel me further. Using civility to know what is going on around me and making sure that I am doing my part within the community. Being a leader within that same community or a different one and helping others in whatever capacity I can. Community is a word that I find is not valued enough and we may take for granted sometimes. I am a part of a lot of communities on campus and these communities make up a big part of who I am. Understanding who I am and my strengths and weaknesses so that I have self-awareness is crucial to me. I have learned so much about myself since being in college that I find it extremely valuable to know what I am constantly interested in or different goals that I want to pursue. This helps me to communicate better with others and have intellectual conversations. Not just talking about doing but showing what it means to be a servant leader and going out of my way to help those in need. Lastly, showing curiosity in everything that I do so that I can keep growing and developing as an individual. These concepts will impact my outlook on the world around me and will keep me accountable for my actions so that I can impact change within the lives around me.

Another class that I have taken is Sociology of Race and Ethnicity which explains the social structure that we live in today and how that affects our leadership capabilities. This class helped me realize that I love to learn about what is going on around me to spark conversations that grow into ideas. I am an engineering major and it was nice to go from experimental and actual to theoretical and conceptual learning. We explored the clear-cut definition of race and ethnicity and the difference between both and how race is constructed in the U.S. The class was able to educate us on different historical measures that labeled people that were of different backgrounds and different skin tone. This helps students to know a little better on how to navigate spaces to step and be a leader anywhere. We discussed African Americans and how black people were looked down upon and American Indians and how they were relocated and were taken advantage of. We learned about art and culture and what took place back then to result in the ways of thinking now. We also studied literature about different concepts of the social impact and different stories of individuals experiences. One author by the name of Omi talked about the them vs. us mentality and how this is extremely apparent in almost every setting. It is natural to socialize with peers who have similarities as yourself which keeps the conversation constantly flowing. This means that most of the time ethical groups will gravitate towards their own people rather than talk with those that they have differences with. I have seen this multiple times within the school system. This encourages the them vs. us mentality which can hinder our outlook and our perspective on the world. When we are not asking questions from different groups of ethnic groups we do not tend to learn as individuals which can keep our pool of knowledge shallow. This has taught me to break out of this way of thinking and chase down answers and ask what other people may think on different matters. This helps me to become a better leader because this allows others to feel like they are being heard. This can also push and encourage others to continue to have ideas that will help them and the people around them.

Another class that has been essential in expanding my knowledge is Elements of Team Leadership. This class helped me realize how important teamwork is, whether that is in school or in a professional setting. We learned by the reading assignments that were given on a weekly basis with assessments and with a semester long learning service-learning project. We learned different concepts like the characteristics of the team, the teamwork process, issues the teams might face, and what a modern day team today looks like. I think that the biggest takeaway for me was learning more in depth about Emotional Intelligence. I think that I will be able to excel in any environment if I know how to be Emotionally Intelligent and how to practice that in different settings. My mother recently received her Doctorate in Emotional Intelligence and is now writing a book on it. We always have insightful conversations that I am constantly learning from. Emotional Intelligence is comprised of 4 main areas that include self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management.  Being self-aware means to have the ability to know yourself and understand your feelings, understanding your strengths and weaknesses and their effects, and having faith and confidence in yourself. I have found that taking that time to be independent and discovering who I am as a person is beneficial to my well being. Knowing how you feel can better help you assess how to react to the environment and how to interact with others. Self-management means knowing how to control your feelings and expressing them in a appropriate manner. This also means setting and working towards your goals and being able to motivate yourself despite setbacks.  This is an area that I must improve in, specifically knowing how to improve my time management skills. Another area is social awareness which means connecting with others and their emotions, being helpful and a great listener, and the sense of comprehension of your audience. Being able to read the room that we are in allows us better to understand and adjust what we need to say or do. Relationship management is defined as being an inspirational leader, an influence, and knowing how to resolve conflict. My top strength is being a relator which means that I value relationships, so this is huge for me and how I interact with others.

The last class is Exploring Citizen Leadership where I was put in a group right away and had to interact with four other individuals on a weekly basis to complete assignments. We worked through a service-learning project together and had weekly quizzes and discussions so that we could stay accountable. I learned so much from this class because I had an incentive to use what I learned in an organization that I am leading now. Throughout the semester, we read from the book ‘Introduction to Leadership: Concepts and Practices’ to learn more about the leaders that we are and how to improve. We learned different concepts like what it means to be a leader, the different kinds of leadership, conflict resolution, and how to encourage others to follow you as a leader. One of the concepts was the difference between a transactional leader and a transformational one. A transactional leader is one that needs to get things done. Their top strength would be execution because that is how they lead. They want others to know what to do and how to do it and to get the job done. A transformational leader is one that builds a relationship with others and makes sure that they come first. They make sure that they are encouraged to do their best and that when they talk, they are heard. Transformational leaders make it their mission to help others to accomplish their goals. I learned that with a top strength of relator that I am a transformational leader and how to navigate this. This can also be hard because I do want others to respect me as a leader and a friend but knowing the different between both. We learned about powerful leaders in our world like Oprah and how she was loved because she instilled hope and inspiration into her followers. We also read a letter from Martin Luther King while he was in jail during the civil rights movement and realized that people followed him because he instilled hope and inspiration as well. This is not the only trait that others followed, however, Hitler was an amazing leader because he had a huge following because he instilled fear into them. Knowing what makes a great leader is important because it helps me realize that kind of leader I want to be and what I need to do to get there.

My classes relate to the Social Change model because it exemplifies that leadership impacts change on behalf of others, leadership is value based, leadership is collaborative, and community is a powerful vehicle for leadership. I am excited to continue to use this to continue to grow and learn.