LAS in The D: Pre-Service Reflection

I am so excited because tomorrow at 8:30 am I will be boarding a bus with 48 other Leader Advancement Scholars to spend just over 24 hours giving back to the city of Detroit. Countless people have told me that the LAS in the D trip was one of their favorite memories of their freshman year and that the bonding and personal growth that happens on this trip is unlike any other LAS event.

I have been to Detroit numerous times and I’d like to think that I’m fairly aware of the social issues that surround the city such as poverty, crime, and homelessness. A few years ago, I had the opportunity to volunteer with my church in Detroit working at a soup kitchen and helping at a neighborhood garden. After that experience, I feel that seeing poverty with my own eyes made me realize how real these issues are and how they impact the people of Detroit every day. Also, at home my family watches the Detroit news so a lot of my knowledge about Detroit’s social issues comes from the news.

As we head to Detroit tomorrow, there are many ways that this service learning experience relates to the purpose and mission of the leadership institute. The purpose of the Leadership Institute is to prepare Michigan’s students and citizens for leadership roles in an increasingly complex and challenging society. I feel that the LAS in the D trip relates to the  LI’s purpose because on this trip, we will become more aware of the complex issues that surround the city and how as leaders, we can adapt to lead in these circumstances. The vision of the Leadership Institute is to prepare the next generation of individuals who will act responsibly to improve the quality of life, state of the economy, and communities in which they live and work. As we embark on this service trip, we truly are living out the vision of the LI; our service in Detroit will help to improve the quality of life to the students we work with and the community we will work with on Saturday morning.

I am so excited to see the personal growth I gain from going on this trip. I hope that being in the heart of Detroit will allow me to be exposed to more social issues that surround the city and seeing how I can make a difference against them. Additionally, I hope that I will even create closer bonds with people in my cohort and that we will come together as one big LAS family.

LDR 200L: Introduction to Leadership

When I found out part of LAS Protocol was to take a three credit leadership course with my fellow LAS-ers, I couldn’t have been more excited. Although I had taken Student Leadership classes throughout high school and have been to countless camps, trainings, and workshops, I was excited to gain new college-level perspectives on leadership.

One of my favorite parts of this course, besides bonding over weekly snacks and Wednesday night dinners at the Robinson cafeteria after class, was learning more in depth about what researchers say leadership is.

Though learning about theories for three hours straight may sound boring, the way the material was presented in this course was a breath of fresh air; we were put into groups and were assigned to create an interactive workshop about the theory and how it is relevant to our lives as college students. By learning through this format, it was easy to understand complex theories and apply them to our everyday lives.

Also, there are some pretty neat aspects of this course that are unlike any other college class I’ve ever taken that I will apply to my future classroom one day:

• A warm, welcoming classroom environment
• Powerpoint presentations that don’t have 8,233,936 words on one slide
• Funny, but relevant, videos
• A genuine care for the success of all students
• Lively, engaging lectures and activities
• Self-reflection
• and so much more

I still have about a month left in LDR 200L, thankfully. In this last month I’m excited to:

• Receive my own mentee ❤
• Present my workshop on The Social Change Model
• Travel to Detroit, Michigan and volunteer with my cohort
• Continue to develop as a leader and learn more about how others perceive leadership

 

Lead Team: Competition Day

This school year I had the opportunity to serve on the Lead Team for Competition Day. Every year, this Lead Team is made up of Leader Advancement Scholars who have completely plan every aspect of Competition Day for incoming freshmen from the moment the finalists arrive on campus to the moment they leave.

When I first found out I was chosen to be part of this Lead Team, I was ecstatic, after all, this was my first choice. I really felt that some of my strengths such as being organized and good at planning would be well utilized. Also, I thought it would be cool to plan Competition Day, a day that helped me fall in love with CMU and the Leadership Institute just one short year ago. 

I enjoyed being part of this lead team, I really did. However, I didn’t feel like I was able to contribute as much as I would’ve liked to. We only had one meeting and at that meeting every detail of Competition Day had already been planned by the chairs. The only contribution I felt I made was just a small task of letting potential LAS-ers see my room.

Even though I wasn’t able to contribute a whole lot to my lead team, I was very grateful for the opportunity to serve on a Lead Team and I can’t wait to serve on another lead team in the future.

 

 

HST 110L WI: The American Experience

Before going into HST 110L WI, I heard many different opinions from upperclassmen about this course:

“Get ready to read 200 pages a week”
“She doesn’t like to give “A’s” very often so if you care about your GPA, Take it credit/no credit”
“Good luck..”

After hearing these comments, I was a little scared for this course.

Over the past 10 weeks, I’ve come to realize HST 110L WI has been one of the most challenging courses I’ve had to take this far. With 150+ pages of reading a week, multiple choice exams every other week, 5-8 page papers, and essay exams, let’s just say I became a frequent Starbucks customer.

Though this course has certainly been challenging, I have enjoyed getting to learn more about leadership in the government over the past couple hundred years. It has been intriguing to learn about renown leaders such as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Teddy Roosevelt and how each of their leadership styles created different changes that affected America forever.

Though there are still 6 weeks left in HST 110L WI, I’m hoping that I will be able to further my understanding of influential leaders in American history.