Summary:
This school year (2020-21), I took the class, Leadership Development 200, also known as LDR 200. LDR is a part of Agnes Scott’s SUMMIT curriculum. LDR’s purpose is to further develop leadership traits of Agnes students, but specifically in the context of teamwork. Every year, LDR has a different theme. The theme for this year was, “How to make Agnes Scott more inclusive?”. To further elaborate on the course, as stated in the syllabus, “in this course, students will draw upon their liberal arts education to design, develop, and present a team project that addresses a key challenge to the Agnes Scott community. A review panel will offer award startup funds to launch one of the projects. During the semester, students will conduct their own research on campus as well as gather and analyze data. They will explore team-work strategies, such as conflict resolution, decision-making, and communication.” My team’s proposal was to revise Agnes Scott College’s current student emergency mutual aid fund in order to be more community involved and student driven. In the title header, you will see an example flyer I’ve created for our proposal. One of our goals were to increase social media presence for the Fund, so this flyer is one example of that. (Please note, the website link on the flyer is not a real website at the moment).
End of Year Reflection
This was a very fun and interactive course. Although the course took place in the midst of COVID-19 and in an all-virtual classroom, I think my team did a great job despite the circumstance. Some central themes that arose for me throughout the year were: communication, time management, organization, and respect. Because my team was virtual, it was critical for us to manage our different time zones, work schedules, and other factors in order for us all to meet and have productive meetings. It was very important that we stayed in constant communication in order to schedule team meetings so that we could work on our proposal. After this experience, I learned to be more patient while waiting for a response. I usually plan my day around pre-scheduled events, but in a time like COVID, it was very important for me to be flexible and not rush those with whom I was waiting a response back from. Everyone has different lives, so I must respect their time as well. I also appreciated my leadership skills of organization. I was responsible for keeping track of all of our documents, flyers, resources, etc. And finally, I valued this class because it reminded me that everyone has a voice and wants to share. I intentionally created space for my team members to express their opinions, concerns, or suggestions. I really wanted to make sure everyone felt appreciated, valued, and had a say in the contribution to this project. I think this was well received because we had great conversations!
Overall, this was a very excellent addition to the SUMMIT program. And I appreciate the theme for this year. As the world becomes more and more diverse and globalized, inclusivity and diversity is key for many places, especially for schools. By Agnes adopting this theme, it is a reminder of their mission of inclusivity on campus, as well as molding future leaders to think of creative ways to solve global issues. It is even a bonus that winning LDR teams are able to receive award money to implement their proposals. I would recommend that every college should implement a similar program, for this not only embraces the importance of teamwork, but encourages creativity and critical problem solving for our generation.
