LEADERSHIP

~Freshmen Year~ 1998-99

Since coming to "K" and the hectic days that have followed, leadership is a dimension of my life that has been overlooked. While creating a preliminary portfolio design, I see that this category ended up last. I must admit that I do not have any concrete activities to list as leadership positions. I do, however, believe I possess qualities of a good leader. I strive to be an individual, and do what I believe is right. Often in group situations I collaboratively use leadership skills. I have always been a creative problem solver, an organizer, and someone that people turn to for advice. Active listening is one of the leaderships skills I use most often. My goal is to take on volunteer positions where I can focus on leadership development.

~Junior Year~ 2000-01

Supplemental Instruction (SI)

I worked Winter and Spring quarter as an SI Leader for Physiological Ecology. (??What is an SI Leader??) It was (dare I say) fun. It took a few sessions for me to start feeling comfortable "in front of" the group, but I found that I do a fairly good job of guiding discussion. The majority of the time the students know the answers, but they can't quite articulate them. So, I found that preparing worksheets for each one-hour session is extremely beneficial. After they worked in small groups to answer the questions, then we would discuss the answers as a full group. SI is also a good review of basic ecology principles for me and helps to clarify important topics that I should be able to discuss as a biologist. The downside is that I need to find a way to cut down on the time spent developing the worksheets. I want to be prepared, but I am often in a time crunch. Next year I plan on being an SI Leader for Evolution. This will pose an extra challenge for me because I did not do as well in that class and may not be clear on some of the key topics.

Resident of The Wellness House

This year I lived in a "Living Learning" unit on campus-The Wellness House. It is a coed house of nine members. Our goal as a house is to encourage the campus community to learn about health related issues and to simply be active. Each resident of the house took on a leadership role because we organized nine programs throughout the year. Programs have included Spa night, Sledding Night (including a discussion about Seasonal Depression), a speaker and discussion about identifying signs of stress or suicide in friends, and a Quit Smoking Day (check out the results of our campus survey). Although I helped out with all of the events, I was fully responsible for organizing the Quit Smoking Day. I spoke to counselors about campus opinions on smoking, contacted the American Red Cross and campus Health Center for information to distribute, wrote and analyzed the surveys, and arranged to set-up a table in front of the cafeteria to display our message, distribute "Quite Kits," and post results of the survey. Unfortunately, we had low student participation at our programs. In the past we put up color posters and relied on word of mouth. A constant challenge is successful advertising.

I would like to continue living in the house and plan to petition to have the Wellness House next year.

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