Honors Seminar: Exploring Personal Leadership Through Social Change
Our culture and society makes leadership a feat in which you must be president of every club and organization, you must have a set of innate leadership skills, and your leadership is only based upon a few great projects that you can write about in your resume. The class “Exploring Personal Leadership through Social Change,” these ideas are destroyed in favor of an approach to leadership that gives everyone value as a leader and follower. I have learned about how to apply my leadership skills and philosophies. This class focuses on the Social Change Model of Leadership and creating positive changes in communities. We learned through exploring issues in our community, writing reflections, studying literature, and learning how to apply it.
In this class, I have critiqued styles of leadership, as well as learned about how I will use the Social Change Model. Through study of literature and real-life contexts, I have created my philosophy on leadership, and I have applied those philosophies through a community issue research project on play-based education. Part of the Social Change Model of Leadership is learning how to work with one’s community to make a positive social change. I have used what I have learned in class to lead a more effective Bible Study as a Newman Center Student Leader and student clinician in my clinical practicum. The real challenge is identifying how to be a leader in every situation that I encounter.
Through this class, I have become more informed on social justice issues, and how I can lead through action and solidarity. I have gained increased self-awareness and commitment to serving others in the community. Leadership is less of a hurdle to overcome and rather a fire to kindle throughout my life.