Leaders Are Made, Not Born
One of my most memorable memories and experiences of my first year here was as a leader in the UW Leaders program through the Associated Students of University of Washington (ASUW). UW Leaders (UWL) is a leadership development program that mentors freshman, sophomores, and transfer juniors in honing in their own unique leadership styles and capabilities through professional and personal development workshops throughout the course of Winter and Spring Quarter. It was through this program that I found my first community on campus and was also matched with a mentor, Ali Cho, who would end up teaching me more about myself than I could have ever imagined. Reflecting back on it now, this program, and the people I met through this organization helped to pave the path that led to finding my first community, as well as gathering the courage to go out and apply for other opportunities and experiences both on and off of campus that would help to shape my UW experience.
UW Leaders was the first step into finding my voice at the University of Washington. UWL is more than just a program, but a family that looks out for one another. As a transfer student who came into the university with a quieter voice, this allowed for me to find my first community within a much larger setting. Being in a community that empowered students to find their voice and recognize their own unique skills as leader was transformative for me. Through the mentorship of my mentor and the guidance of my peers, I was able to discover the true value of community building and peer mentorship, which played a pivotal role in my personal and professional growth.
Tasks Accomplished
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Attended weekly workshops Winter and Spring quarter that focused on leadership development with the focus of professional and personal growth
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Collaborated with other leaders on their leadership practice projects
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Presented at the Spring Celebration of Service and Leadership
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Met weekly one on one with my mentor to discuss goal setting, personal growth, and leadership practice preparation
Leadership Skills
Service
Growing up I always loved volunteering and doing community service - part of my “why” was finding ways to give back to a community that had given so much to me. In high school I was involved in Key Club and had the opportunity to immerse myself in a wide variety of various volunteer work. Since then, I have found a growing passion for volunteering. When I found out that I had the opportunity to give back to such an incredible community through UWL, you can imagine just how excited I was! Volunteering with UWL helped me to grow in the leadership competency of service while getting to work alongside a group of incredible individuals. Some of my favorite events included fundraising for Seattle Children’s Hospital through Dance Marathon at UW (DMUW), community park clean ups, working with middle schoolers within the greater Seattle area, and volunteering at Relay for Life at UW.
Reflection & Application
One of my favorite things about UWL were the weekly workshops that were hosted by the team of mentors. While some of the workshops reinforced ideas that were important to me, others allowed for me to step into new areas of growth by learning more about topics such as resiliency or adaptability. Through the leadership competency of reflection and application, I was able to take the lessons that I learned from the weekly workshops and apply it into other facets of my life. Transitioning from a community college to a university setting, time management was something that I had to adapt to by finding new ways to organize myself and stay on top of the curriculum. Our workshop on time management allowed me to do just that, by pinpointing resources that I could use to help keep track of the day to day such as scheduling apps like Google Calendar. Another example came through the workshop of resiliency and learning more about what that looks like in both an academic and a holistic setting and became one of my favorite workshops that I believe also ties in well with the idea of reflection and application. Learning from failures and setbacks and finding ways to bounce back and address times of challenge and adversity in the future.
Other's Perspective
UW Leaders is a community-based leadership development program that brought together a unique cohort of individuals with varied interests, majors, and experiences that helped me to explore different types of relationships with others. Some of the most meaningful relationships that I’ve created in college have been through peer mentorship in both the role of a mentor, and a mentee. I believe that it’s important to learn from others’ perspectives and hear various stories beyond just having conversations with people. Whether that’s having someone to give you guidance and advice, or supporting each other through moments of hardship and struggle, to celebrating the times of success, learning from each other, and fostering a mindset of growth and exploration is something that I consider to be incredibly valuable.
Helping Others
Along with the new skills and competencies I gained from this experience, I was also able to grow in terms of my mindset and personal beliefs. Growing up, I had a lot of selfless role models who always gave a helping hand to those around them. Thanks to them, I was taught at a young age the value of fostering an environment that encouraged people to help each other. An experience I reflect back on ties into our leadership practice for the program, which is a passion project on a topic, whether that involves trying something new, exploring something that you are passionate about, or working with a community organization, the possibilities for this project were endless. During this time, one of our co-leaders was interested in starting up a YouTube channel and wanted to learn more about video production and asked me if I would help teach her some of the skills that I had learned. Through this, I was able to use the skills that I had learned from hours of practice and mentoring from others, to help her get started with producing and editing her first few videos. This was exciting for me because I got to teach someone on a topic that I was personally passionate with, and it helped to take a load of stress of from having to learn it all on her own.
Listening
As I mentioned before, UWL was my first community here on campus. Throughout the year, I had multiple opportunities to connect with both mentors and leaders from the program, getting to know more about who they are, and what their story is. Through the one-on-ones that I had, I was able to develop the leadership competency of listening. Getting to hear other people’s stories and experiences was humbling in itself because like understanding other perspectives, I was able to see where they were coming from, why they’re doing the things they’re doing and what drives them to “Follow Your Stoke”.
Lessons Learned
Being a part of UW Leaders is always going to have a special place in my heart – UWL was my first community here on campus and was the stepping stone to branching out and immersing myself in various areas of student life throughout campus. Being a leader in the program furthered my passion for leadership, and it also gave me more experience in mentorship both from my own mentor, and from those that I got to work alongside throughout the year. I hope to take the competencies that I’ve learned from UWL and apply them in various parts of my life as I believe that leadership can manifest in all areas of life.