Emerging Leaders and Me

So the post below was written mid Oct. after a couple Emerging Leaders courses centering around the ideas of “Consciousness of Self” and “Consciousness of Others” found in Emotionally Intelligent Leadership: A Guide for College Students.

Recently I have been thinking a lot about my development and socialization and how I have changed in my last four years of school.  I see so much of myself in the students I teach who are just four years behind me; freshmen, at a new place, with new independence and a clean slate ahead of them.  I held similar views about leadership and told similar examples of teamwork, flexibility, initiative, and achievement in high school clubs, ASB, class, and sports teams.   Because of the Emerging Leaders class I appreciate so much more the experiences and growth I have gone through.  I sometimes wish I could just give the students my brain with all the experiences and lessons I have learned over my few short years of college to make their lives easier.  They have a lot to look forward to.  I had no idea I would learn so much in a course that I was teaching.

These recent classes have also allowed me to reflect on the personal values and beliefs that shape who I am.  I am slowly starting to understand the conflicts and challenges I will have that question some of the lessons and social beliefs and values I have been taught my entire life.  My upbringing has shaped in a wonderful way the person I am today and I am so grateful for it, but it is apparent that my conservative childhood will be challenged by many practices and philosophies of higher education.  I am not sure how this will play out, and continue to be open and available to new ideas, however I am scared of losing myself in the many messages being presented to me. 

This is a picture of my Emerging Leaders class struggling with the "Habitat House" activity. 

It took a while but in the end they made it!

Intention

The first couple weeks of this semester stood out to me because of the focus on intention, identity and purpose.  These words shaped not only the themes of my classroom but also spread and influenced my work and personal life.  These seemingly simply words were hard for me to understand.  I struggled initially defining what they meant and why they mattered, but also how to incorporate and use them to push me forward.  I have always been able to get my work done and get by or succeed in one-way or another so why did I have to bother?

Putting my doubts aside I set some personal intentions for the semester in the different areas of my life.  In school I wanted to not only succeed, but immerse myself in the readings, topics and discussion.  I wanted to learn and be able to apply all that I was coming to understand to my everyday and future life.  For the first time ever I am studying a field that I truly love, and am excited about.  This is an opportunity I haven’t had before and that probably wont last forever. 

Personally, I wanted to find balance.  Keeping up with friends from high school and undergrad, focusing on school, working hard, staying healthy, supporting my boyfriend of a few years that was testing and applying for law school, and attending to my wonderful parents and family that is now spread across the country would prove, and still proves a constant challenge.

And finally, in my Grad Assistant position I wanted to build and continue to strengthen the USD community that came to be a huge influence on my undergraduate experience.  I wanted to serve students and help them grow in leadership and development through organizations, and faith and trust in one another.  I wanted to learn from them and help them through the ever-present struggles that college students face whether those be time management, relationships, faith, school or any of the other countless obstacles there may be.

Now, a few months into school, and I am happy to say that those intentions provided great direction and purpose for all that I was learning and undertaking.  Although I think in the future I would like to be more specific and less abstract about what I would like to accomplish, these intentions have been a guide to all that I have been through allowing for the semester to be meaningful.  In times of stress and the overwhelming sense of not being enough time, these intentions move me forward and provide great hope.

Getting Started...

So here we go...  This is my first ever “blogging” encounter and I have put together my thoughts from this semester on a number of different experiences that have shaped my recent life as a grad student working in student affairs at USD.  These postings will continue throughout the rest of time here but for now, these upcoming entries are what have been on my mind. 

I think some distinct categories have developed that my different experiences and thoughts fall under and so as my blogging expertise grows I will organize them into more formal groupings.  Thanks for being patient. 

Also, throughout this semester I have taken pictures of moments, situations and things that stand out to me whether those be in my Emerging Leader classroom, my walk to and from school, or out with a friend on the weekend.  I will incorporate these as time goes on and so look forward to viewing small glimpses of what I see on a daily basis.