I've thought a lot about what to put on this page; it's hard for me to come up with many concrete, official examples of my actions as a leader in my college community. So here goes:
Sophomore Fall our fearless
Monkapult leader for that year, Paul Unwin, unexpectedly found a SIP (Senior
Individualized Project) opportunity in Washington, D.C. So my friends Megan
Martin and Simone Lutz became the leaders and myself and Steve King the
co-leaders. Steve and I team-taught a section of this improvisational comedy
troupe. We were in charge of teaching about 10 eager improvisors the skills
we had learned over the past year (I've participated in Monkapult for 7
quarters now). I also took on the Monkapult alias and got out the news
and information to over 30 members in almost-weekly updates.
Being a leader has its ups
and downs, as I came to realize. There's the exhilarating feeling of being
in charge, and there's that sinking feeling when you realize that there
is going to be at least one person who will resent that you are in charge.
There's the frustration when your apprentices just WON'T understand, and
there's the feeling of accomplishment after a successful performance before
the college community, when you finally know that you've made a concrete
difference in others' growth.
For my last quarter at K-College, I was accepted
into the Neighborhood Organizing Practicum, a class taught by Dr. Kim Cummings.
The Practicum works with Building Blocks, a community-enhancement program
run by various offices and organizations around Kalamazoo, principally
the Kalamazoo Neighborhood Housing Service (KNHS). KNHS gives grants to
neighbors who agree to help each other improve the exterior of their properties.
I was assigned, with two other K students, to a block of Adams Street (between
Parkview and Amherst) in Oakwood Neighborhood. We went around knocking
on doors to gain interest in the project, ran block meetings, arranged
for food and material donations, and helped organize work weekends. We
worked the first three weekends of May and finished a lot of projects on
8 properties. We also drummed up volunteers from the college to help us.
Boy, did we tie up a lot of brush! It was hard work, and we learned a lot
about leadership and getting things done.