I do not consider myself a traditional student. My freshman year of college was at U of SC Upstate. There I was a part of student government, Campus Activities Board, and Black Student Leaders. I am 26 years old now, and I have faced adversity, and I have overcome adversity. I once was a traditional student, but life happened. Despite this, the desires that I had as a traditional student were still present when I returned to university life. But, I  knew that I couldn't take the pathway of a traditional student, so I must discover and create a path that fits me. Almost, everything I tried to get involved in was a time commitment that my adult life did not permit. I was disheartened wanting to tap into the leader whom I felt I was and longing to be seen.  No leadership path could fit me into it without interference.  I thought to myself and wondered how many people felt like me. How many great leaders were overlooked because space wasn't created for them to discover the type of leader that they were in traditional leadership forms at the university and life. Thankfully, through courses and interning with the City of Columbia I was allowed to speak my mind and understand my strengths and weaknesses, I was able to empower the leader in me and the leader in others.

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In my HSPM500: Introduction to Healthcare Management and Organization course, the first thing we discussed was leadership. There was a deepening of understanding of leadership theories and styles that allowed me to pick and choose the leader I wanted to be. One of these was the Style Approach Theory to Leadership, which is based on two types of behaviors completing tasks and creating good relationships. This approach can define degrees of concern over each of these behaviors, but best leaders will be full fully attentive to both. Getting the job done well is the goal and I had an understanding that this goal relied on creating good relationships. As we dived further into understanding leadership, I began to ask myself more questions to better understand myself. This caused me to be honest with myself and transparent about how I felt about certain actions and subjects. I was beginning to reflect in new ways that allowed me to gain insight that led to my leadership development. Article 1, is one of our first assignments in the course was completing the True Colors Assessment Activity, a leadership/personality assessment. Following the assessments, I completed an assignment based on my results regarding my strengths, weaknesses, things to avoid when working with these individuals, and recommendations for how to best deal with these individuals. The assignment gave me insight on how to better understand myself when developing relationships in a leadership role. It allowed me to be accountable and take responsibility for who I was and what I had to offer, I believe there is so much power in that.

 

 I was able to apply what I was learned to being the Program Coordinator for the Senior Wellness Network under the City of Columbia. I worked with SC Thrive and had to lead Mayor's Fellows in helping pull the program together. Later, I was introduced to the two U of SC interns that worked for SC Thrive. I remember the Senior Regional Manager asking me if they could join us in helping with the program. When she first asked me, I thought to myself, why are you asking me? That's when it hit me, I thought to myself I am currently a leader. This was definitely a defining moment in my process. This was my leadership fruition moment and this question allows me to choose the leader I want to become. I hesitated and thought maybe I should run it by my superior, but knew she trusted my decision. Nothing was stopping me from giving others the very opportunity to lead that I once craved. It was another full-circle experience that was so humbling and authentic. We meet every Wednesday, and now what started as just two individuals is a growing team.  I'm so blessed to have them, the job couldn't get done without them. A goal of mine is that I create a space where they are comfortable, but we know our priorities and have effective communication because everyone is comfortable being themselves. I've enjoyed watching us all grow as professionals and individuals. As mentioned in the Power of Collaboration Key Insight, I was a newbie. I realized that I had to conduct a training course for volunteers and had never trained anyone in my life. Article 2 is a screenshot of the training presentation. To lead the training, I had to be conscious and self-aware of my verbiage and tone. I was talking to youth volunteers made mostly of high schoolers. We did ice breakers, broke down the purpose of the program, and practiced script scenarios, overall it went really well. They are a great group and they provide great feedback as they make an impact on behalf of vulnerable seniors.

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I don't believe that I can express enough gratitude towards the COLA298: Community-Centered Leadership and Innovation course. This class was the first of its kind, but by the end of it, I thought everybody needs to take this course. A free class changing my life more than the classes I paid for, who would've thought. I felt so seen by myself and others, and Blake Weiss was an awesome teacher. I was allowed to explore my city and learn new things about it, even though I've lived here for the majority of my life. Utilizing the Social Change Model caused me to see my identity in each one of the seven C's presented. These include the consciousness of self, congruence, commitment, collaboration, common purpose, controversy with civility, citizenship all leading to another C-word, change. I worked to bring about change and I know everyone truly believed in our purpose to better Five Points. Individuals who were introverted in the course still felt confident enough to share their views which said a lot to me. I utilized this model in so many ways beyond the classroom. I started seeing how I could implement the seven C's in my everyday life including at work and home. We put a lot of effort into curating our innovative ideas to improve the relations and built environment in and with Five Points. This was around the time the city came out with the Five Points Ten Point Plan. We had our community partnership meetings and even presented our plans to President Caslen. As I'm writing, I know you know nothing about this. Because once we needed the collaboration the collective was not there. Community partners told us we had great ideas and gave them insight. They even agreed that they should strongly consider the implementation of the ideas we presented. But nothing proceeded this, no change and now when I hear of incidents in Five Points I sadly think, it could've been prevented. I thought leading towards change sometimes requires non-traditional thinking, and here were adults dousing out the innovative spark that comes with it. In all things, we must first look at the role that we as individuals play, a skill I strengthened through this course.

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I was sitting in on a City Council meeting that President Caslen was attending after an incident in Five Points. University students had gathered at Pavlov's and were not socially distancing or wearing masks, and later a bar fight. I felt bad that Caslen took the heat, but thought on his response to our presentation, which basically surrounded none of them succeeding. I felt as if my voice was being stripped away. In the meeting, I hear someone ask, "Well, what are the students saying?". My ears perked and knowing that they hadn't asked us or granted us the opportunity to answer yet. The university does send out surveys, but yet there wasn't anyone who could truly speak on the experiences that students were facing. They were missing an opportunity for innovation and leaders to be birthed. Overcoming rejection is hard, but necessary for growth. It was frustrating to watch, but if it had not happened I wouldn't have come up with the solution to my problem in the Leadership section. 

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Even more now I acknowledge that in life losing is a must because you have to know what not to do and you have to feel the emotions connected to the experience. I became more empathetic to individuals and more authentic. I decided that my life is on an impact purpose and I must empower others to feel the same. That is what non-traditional forms and pathways of leadership can lead to, an impactful cycle. A cycle of change that allows you to lead in your own creative and authentic way.