Reflection on leadership April 8, 2014 I have had a more successful club this semester then ever before. Right at the end of the Spring 2013 semester, the club was officiated, and in the fall of 2013, my second semester of SCI, I had no real direction or plans for how to make something like a club of this manner run smoothly. I tried to hold club gatherings, just a few times. Such as when I tried to hold a discussion on the "hollow" event, that failed. But one positive note to that meeting was that I was able to secure a VP for my club when Jesse, my current club VP, turned in his application for office. Not many others showed up though, except also this guy Will Dowd, who began to tell me and Dr. Webster-Garrett about his vision of a student and community garden at some place I had never really heard of called "Selu". And this semester, we were fortunate enough to fund this project of Will's and going out to Selu I was really able to see first hand how someone's goals were coming to life. I have had about 5 different interactions with Will since that meeting about the Selu project and despite trying to convince him to apply for funding for a certain award, he was too late but I still think that I helped him realize how he could get funding in the first place from things like SCI and CPC. I feel like I am a great resource for students and I try to convey this, but one thing I thinkI have really gained from having so many responsibilities as the SCI club president, the Women's Studies Club club president, being on the CPC (Clubs Programming Committee, and working for SCI, is the experience of having to schedule meetings, fill out applications, look to the different departments and resources on campus for support, and essentially how to operationalize events and programming for hundreds of people. I also feel lucky that my boss is an English person, I feel like working with her has taught me how to write professionally. I have had to learn how to approach different people, in different situations, and in different ways. And I have had to learn how to be open and friendly and force interaction even when I don't want to. But sometimes I feel so big, so strong in my efforts, but then when I think about how much there is still left to do, I easily become overwhelmed and shrivel. I don't know exactly how to run my club, but I am finally holding weekly meetings this semester. Last meeting I handed out information about the ePortfolios that they need to make for their SCI requirements, as well as a copy of what the advising sheet looks like. We talked about upcoming service projects SCI and then I showed a Tedx talk. I don't know how this went, and people are not as open to talking as I'd like. I really need a secretary and a binder to hold all of my agendas and to keep minutes in. I think what I am starting to realize is how much I need to organize my entire life. I have papers from every class, every event I've worked at or been to, every meeting, everything...all thrown about, all mixed together and my life is becoming a huge mess. I want to be able to focus on research and school or at least some type of project that I actually am interested in doing. I spend a lot of time trying to continue my responsibilities, and work hard for others, to make others visions become reality. I want to work on something that is meaningful to me as well, and have others work hard for my vision. I feel like because of what I have to do, it deters me so much because I don't look deeper inside myself to see what it truly is that I want. From the beginning I have envisioned developing a community of speakers, something like Ted Talks but SCI talks, or even getting RU to be a Tedx place. But have I done that yet? No. It is not SCI's fault, because they provide such a great structure, but it is my fault for my lack of organization and time management. I need to figure out how to make my club work. I need to have structure and I need to do things more
consistently so I can actually be a leader for my club members. So I can actually have things available at their needs.