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Fall 2019 Leadership Scholar Portfolio

ON-CAMPUS INVOLVEMENT

One requirement of the Leadership Scholar Program is to be involved in at least one on-campus activity throughout the semester. My goal for this semester was to be involved in one activity that complemented my major and to be on track to have a position on the executive board of an organization next semester. 

COMMUNITY COUNCIL

I decided to join East Tower Community Council, an organization affiliated with the Residential Life office that works to foster community throughout the building by planning events for residents and working to make improvements in the residential experience. I'm my floor's representative, and I also hold an Executive Board position as the Advertising/Public Relations officer. I attend weekly E-Board meetings, design and create posters for events and bulletin boards, and conduct surveys to get input from the building residents. I'm very honored to have an E-Board position my first semester at IC. The biggest lessons I've learned through Community Council are to be open-minded to new ideas and not be afraid to speak up and share my opinion when decisions are being made.

PARK AdVENUE

One of my goals for this semester was to get involved in an extracurricular that furthered my academic studies and would give me opportunities for professional development. I chose to join Park AdVenue, Ithaca College's chapter of the American Advertising Federation (AAF). I attended meetings where we played advertising related games and Skyped with alumni and learned about their experiences beginning their careers. Additionally, through Park AdVenue, I had the opportunity to travel to New York City for a weekend in November to attend the Student Advertising Career Conference. The conference was an incredible opportunity to hear from prominent members of the industry and network with other students and professionals. It gave me a lot to think about in terms of my career and inspired me to create a plan for networking and professional development over the next three and a half years.

COMMUNITY SERVICE

Leadership Scholars are required to be involved with one community service project each semester. The service can be anything of the students' choosing, from a one-time event to a semester long project. My goal for Fall 2019 was to stay engaged in a semester long project.

IC STUDENTS CONSULTING FOR NON-PROFITS

This semester, I joined IC Students Consulting for Non-Profit Organizations (SCNO), a student-run organization that does pro bono consulting work for local non-profits. I was thrilled to find a community service opportunity that would allow me to make a difference in the community around me while also using skills related to my academic studies. SCNO is currently working with Hospicare, an organization that provides hospice and palliative care services to residents of Tompkins and Cortland counties. I'm Project Manager of the palliative care team. My team is responsible for providing Hospicare with a strategic plan to improve their palliative care outreach to meet their goal of expanding the program in 2020. This opportunity has been incredibly rewarding for me, both personally and professionally. I'm very honored to be able to contribute to an organization that does such impactful, meaningful work and to have the opportunity to further my strategic communications and leadership skills while doing so. 

LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT

One requirement of the Leadership Scholar Program is to attend three credits of Student Leadership Institute (SLI) workshops each semester. The SLI offers sessions on a variety of leadership-related topics, each in a particular track - Leading Self, Leading Others, Leading in a Diverse World, or Leading@IC. For my first semester in college, my goal was to focus on self-reflection and discovering who I am as a leader, so I decided to focus on SLI workshops in the Leading Self track.

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PASSIONS AND PURPOSE

In this SLI workshop, we engaged in several exercises focused on self-reflection to help us set goals and discover where our passions truly lie. We then watched a TED Talk given by career coach Emilie Wapnick about about "multipotentialities", people who have a variety of passions and interests throughout their life. Finally, we created plans to help us find success at the intersections of our passion areas and leadership/career development goals for the year. This SLI helped me to focus in on the things that I want to get out of this year. By making an action plan to achieve my goals, I feel confident that I am set up for a successful, productive year. 

PAPER SCRAPERS

Paper Scrapers is an SLI workshop centered around teamwork and collaboration. We learned about the Belbin team roles and all identified which of the 9 roles that we felt most closely resembled the roles we tend to play in group projects - I related the most to an Implementer or Completer-Finisher. We then split up into teams of three and were given bags of office supplies. We were tasked with constructing a product using only the supplies in the bag that would be judged on height, stability and originality. Our team identified roles and got to work, and ended up creating a bouquet of paper flowers - the perfect gift to congratulate a colleague on a promotion! This challenge helped me to identify the role I play on a team and gave me strategies on how to work with a team so that everyone is doing something that plays to their strengths, something that I have already used during group projects in classes.

CREATING AN IMPRESSIVE LEADERSHIP PORTFOLIO

Creating an Impressive Leadership Portfolio was one of the most helpful SLI workshops that I attended this semester! We split into groups based on where we were at in the portfolio creation process, and experienced Leadership Scholar took us through their portfolio and gave tips and recommendations on how we could improve ours. I was in a group with other students who had already structured their portfolios, but wanted guidance on improving them. I received some really great advice on the layout and structure of my portfolio, and was able to implement some changes that I'm really happy with. 

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