Spring 2021

10 Minutes Read

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During my senior year of college, I was able to apply and got approved to participate in the Student Leadership Academy (Levels One and Two) held by the Associated Students Office at Chico State in Spring 2021. I saw this opportunity being advertised in the weekly announcements email we would get from Chico State and once I saw this, I knew I wanted to be part of it. The application process wasn’t difficult as it only require us to complete some questionnaires. I wanted to continue to experience new things and be active in my learning process of developing and improving my leadership skills even during an online academic year. I was surprised by myself in finding the time and actually getting through this because, on top of SLA, I had picked up a second job on campus pushing my work hours per week from 15 -> 20, balancing school, and so much more on the side. But, I think something I’ve come to understand about myself is that, no matter where I am, I will continue to push myself to my limit and capacity for the things I want to be a part of and experience. Each SLA level was a four-week-long commitment and since I was in both levels One and Two, I was doing this for half of the semester.

I’ve attached most of the things I wrote or did for SLA levels One and Two on the side here so feel free to look through them if you’re interested in finding out on what I learned. This includes the syllabuses, my notes, my presentations, screenshots of the 16Personalities test, the True Colors test, and our goodbye cohort photos at the end of each level completion. Just like most of my other experiences I have had, there is just so much that I learned and it is difficult to remember it all. But, there are some specific ones I want to highlight from each level that I enjoyed the most.

From my SLA level One, I really enjoyed the CliftonStrengths test. Even though I had previously completed one already back in 2018 for my Student Mentor job for ETS. Over time, we grow, learn, and change so it is not guaranteed that we will get the same strengths again as new strengths will become more of a priority and usage based on our situation. I am happy to same that I am a pretty consistent person as three out of the five strengths this time are the same as my last attempt. However, they are all in a different order now. Something to note is that just because the same strengths I had previously do not show up this time, it does not mean that I lost those strengths, instead, they are just lower now on my priority and usage. Context moved from one -> four, Restorative moved from three -> one, and Learner moved from two -> five! That’s some pretty far moves in my opinion. My new strengths that showed up are Realtor (two) and Individualization (three). It was very interesting reading up more on Realtor and Individualization but I soon understood why these two strengths appeared. It was because of my job working as an EOP Paraprofessional. I was very focused on helping each student succeed and I made sure to know the uniqueness of each student I had to better connect and understand their needs to support them even more. Comparing it to my 2018 results, I’m happy to see I am still the same but at the same time, I’m improving and using new skills and strengths.

Another part of SLA level One was the keynote speaker we had on the fourth and last week. Jennifer Keith, what an amazing woman. She shared this one particular quote by Nelson Mandela “It is better to lead from behind and put others in front, especially when you celebrate victory when nice things occur. You take the front line when there is danger. Then, people will appreciate your leadership.” I still think about this quote a lot because I always see people act big and lead strong when things are going well but crumple and act with a small heart when the going gets tough. Nowadays, I try to step up more in situations when the going get’s tough because that is when someone’s best leadership qualities are shown.

Before I move on further, I want to say that I greatly loved meeting the people in both SLA level One and SLA level Two because each person was bringing something new to the table (or more like Zoom lol) and it was very refreshing having some entertaining and interesting conversations with these people. After SLA level One, we were given an opportunity to apply for SLA level Two, so naturally, I applied. I am super grateful and happy that I was able to be accepted into SLA level Two. It was even more enjoyable than SLA level One which I was not expecting. SLA level Two was somewhat similar to SLA level One but it had components that expanded on what we learned previously and explored new ideas and topics.

My favorite thing from SLA level Two was taking a Meyers-Briggs personality test using the 16Personalities website. It turns out that I am an ENFJ-A. Which is dubbed “The Protagonist”, basically “Protagonists (ENFJs) feel called to serve a greater purpose in life. Thoughtful and idealistic, these personality types strive to have a positive impact on other people and the world around them. They rarely shy away from an opportunity to do the right thing, even when doing so is far from easy.” And reading all of the other information displayed on the website and how ENFJ’s thinking process works and how we interact with the world. It was like reading about myself, which sounds super conceited but I think if anyone took this test and answered the questions to their correct preferences, then you would feel the same reading about yourself too. After taking this test, it really helped explain so much about myself and I feel even more confident in understanding myself and why I conduct myself in such manners. If you have gotten this far, I would highly recommend that you go and take the 16Personalities test as well to learn more about yourself and who you are.

Very similar to SLA level One, for the last week of SLA level Two we also had a keynote speaker come talk to us, however, this time it was a different person. And boy, she was even better than Jennifer. No shade towards Jennifer, I just personally felt like I was able to resonate more with the ideas and advice that Lori Hart bestowed upon us. Lori Hart’s messages to us were not about leadership, but more like practical life reminders that we tend to forget as young adults and the importance of taking care of yourself in order to take care of others. She mentioned one thing I was severely lacking throughout 2021, which was sleep. The most important thing we could do for ourselves and having better health, mood, and mindset throughout the week is to have enough sleep. Even though I have been neglecting this throughout 2021, I have tried to improve upon this and make myself have at least two-three nights of having at least seven-eight hours of sleep. I’m pretty sure that the average amount of sleep I have in 2021 is five-six hours and on many weeks, I would have two-three nights where I only get four hours of sleep. I’m just so busy with my life and all the things I’m doing that I chose to sacrifice sleep in order to complete everything that I need. I will work on improving this in 2022.

My great experience in SLA levels One and Two would not have been possible without our head coordinator and workshop leader Kaylee McAllister. If I ever get another student job on campus, Kaylee would be one of those bosses and individuals I would want to work for. She’s just awesome and has that energy and drive to motivate people to feel the want to improve. Kaylee was always super fun to talk to and always offer great words of advice throughout my SLA experience. Thank you, Kaylee, Anabelle, and Katelyn for being such great workshop leaders and facilitating such warm and positive workshop spaces on Zoom. It would not have been the same without y’alls.

Overall, this SLA experience was much needed in Spring 2021. I learned so so much about myself and even more about my leadership skills and how to be a better leader. I wish Mr. Wahl and Mr. Simmons can see how far I’ve come in my development on being a leader and the improvement of my leadership skills. I would highly recommend anyone who wants to improve on their leadership skills and learn more about themselves to apply and experience SLA. And if you do, I hope you go in with an open mind and open heart, and allow yourself to learn to get the full experience. Thank you, SLA for giving and allowing me to have experienced something so needed in my life after many difficult moments in both 2019 and 2020.

Leadership Academy Syllabuses and My Presentions + Notes