Grace's Leadership Experience

“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams” Eleanor Roosevelt. This has been my favorite quote since 6^th grade. What I believe is that one must be passionate about what they do if they want to achieve their goals and shape their own future. The reason I think this has a lot to do with leadership is that I believe almost every good leader must be passionate about what they do. If they are not, then how would they inspire others to follow them, or help them in attaining what it is they set out to attain? If one believes in the beauty of their dreams, visions, or goals, then that person can inspire others to believe in it as well, and help them to achieve this.

 

Leadership aside, one task that I did individually for our Summit group this semester was design the “stage” (platforms) in Google Sketch-up. We met as a group with our advisor to figure out the requirements of the platforms; however we needed a more solid version of the plan so we could work out details that might go wrong. That is why I put the design into Sketch-up. This way we could avoid a few complications. Of course, we were not able to avoid all complications, but I believe this step helped us to solidify our design so we all knew what we were building. In a situation like this, individual work is just as important as team work and leadership.

Rachel's Leadership Experience

"Lead me, Follow me, or get out of my way" is my favorite quote. I love this because I am a natural leader, so if nobody is taking charge I will. I have no problem with following, but I don’t like it when nobody can make decisions.

 

For this project, we are working with high school students to develop a stage that will meet their needs the best. I made sure that the students were engaged and excited about this opportunity. We built stages with marshmallows and toothpicks, which they loved. I also tried to help them feel involved in the stage as much as the process. There are restrictions to what they can help with, but it was also my idea to have them help paint so that they can have more ownership of the project. Generally I was the connection between the high schoolers and my team.

Sarah's Leadership Experience

My favorite leadership quote is, “Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.” – John F. Kennedy

There are many important aspects of leadership, but one is never finished learning, and it is impossible to be a good leader if you do not know what you are doing. Leadership is a learning experience, and each time you take any sort of leadership position you should grow from the experience.

This semester, I led a meeting between myself, one of my group members, and our faculty advisor. Only half of our team was able to be present at this particular meeting, and the goal of the meeting was to determine whether our stage project was on track to be built to code. The International Building Code uses a lot of jargon that makes it somewhat difficult to understand without construction experience of some kind. Since the other group member present has had less experience than me in this area, I took charge of the meeting and ensured that all of the necessary topics outlined in our plan were addressed. After extensive consultation of the faculty advisor’s copy of the IBC regarding such topics as fire codes, we successfully concluded that our stage was on track to be up to the standards set for the project.

Haley's leadership experience

“Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.” – John F. Kennedy

            This quote sums up my ideals about leadership. In order to be a good and effective leader, you have to constantly be learning. On the flip side, in order to be the best learner one can, one must be a leader and take charge.

            This semester I was in charge of budgeting. I personally kept track of the group’s expenses and made sure we stayed on budget while building the stage platforms.

Rachel's October Blog

I am a collaborator, which is great when the group is working together to solve problems. The weakness is that if other people don't want to collaborate, it frustrates me. With my style I can be a better leader, and communicate better if I start thinking of problems before they arise. That way I can help the group solve problems together, before everyone gets upset.

Sarah's October Blog

The presentation on communication and conflict resolution was very insightful. Pointing out that conflict itself is not necessarily a bad thing is extremely important. Conflicts are going to arise in many situations. The important thing to think about is how you handle them. One of my greatest strengths when it comes to communication is that I am always ready and willing to discuss any problems that arise. My weakness, however, is that I tend to give in to the other person’s side of the discussion in order to alleviate the conflict.  This forces me to sacrifice my opinion in order to reach an agreement. By voicing my opinions more often, and taking a more active role in discussions, I can improve my communication with the members of my Summit team. In order to improve the way I handle conflicts, I need to focus more on compromises that incorporate everyone’s ideas rather than simply giving in and letting everyone else make the decisions. Putting forth my voice and opinions will help me to become a better leader and communicator.