LeADERS program connects students to courses and real world experiences in the areas of: Leadership, Academic Internship, Diversity, Entrepreneurship, Research, or Service Learning. This LeADERS ePortfolio shares how my experiences in the areas of Leadership, Academic Internship, and Diversity have supported my personal and professional development. Attending an interest meeting for this program, I was informed the possible benefits but conversing with members of the program is what attracted me. They were genuinely informing me on how it positively affects them individually. Joining this program, as mentioned, was a huge benefit to my personal and professional development.
Leadership
The course that contributed to my leadership skills was organizational psychology. That is psychology in the work field, in which employers rate employees based on their behavior in the workplace. This was a subject that was a bit difficult for me because the lack of motivation I had. Because this was the first few years of my college career, I did not master completing work to the best of my ability without having any interest in it. This is something that I learned from this encounter. Even though I was not retaining the information as much as I wanted to, I studied as hard as I could and eventually received the desired grade. This is a situation in which I struggled with initially, but I eventually overcame it with hard work and dedication. It caused me to gain dedication skills that I could carry to future jobs.
Academic Internship
The course that contributed to academic internship experience was also a huge benefit to my personal and academic growth. This was my practicum course which was the course connected to completing my internship hours. Not only did it cause me to record the hours and react to them but also do practical assignments. As later mentioned, these assignments included ones that caused us to research, collect and analyze information on potential jobs and grad schools. It also caused me to plan, organize, and prioritize. This was because a hand full of assignments were given in close increments forcing me to prioritize, organize my day, and fit time in day to complete it. This is needed in almost every aspect of the adult life. The course along with the practicum prepared me for my post-graduation plans. Before this course, I had no idea what my post grad plans were, and I am thankful they prepared their students for life!
Diversity
The course that contributed to diversity was human service: diversity issues. Though I am an African American, this course taught me to become more aware and sensitive of different cultures and even my culture. It also caused me have more empathy for those in a different economic class that might cause difficulties. For example, one of the assignments done in this course was to do that was interview a social worker in Philadelphia, PA. She informed me about the great of youth that are homeless in the area. Because I am relatively young myself, it caused me to gain a sense of empathy for young people in this situation. It also caused me to be extremely thankful for the things that I am blessed with. Empathy and thankfulness is a trait I need for the field of work I am going to.
I am also thankful for this program because it ties together all the important skills needed to lead like leadership skills, experience in the field, diversity knowledge etc. These are skills that I did not know I possessed or learned during my college career. Recognizing the skills, analyzing them and reflecting on them helps me use them more often and more efficiently. These are skills that are great to have in my future field of work, which is psychology, specifically behavioral addictions. As mentioned, my career goal is to work with behavioral addictions patients. In order to do this, I would need to enroll in a master’s program which I plan to do. I want to gain more experience in that work field before enrolling in grad school. I believe that this program has given me more confidence in my abilities. This then gives me more confidence in the future when applying for grad school and related jobs giving me a better chance of getting it.