Program Reflection
Making Connections
The LeADERS program at Old Dominion University connects students to courses and real-world experiences in the areas of: Leadership, Academic Internship, Diversity, Entrepreneurship, Research, or Service Learning. The goal of this LeADERS ePortfolio is to share how my experiences in the areas of leadership, academic internship, and entrepreneurship have supported both my personal and professional development.
Reflecting Back
I joined LeADERS because I wanted something that would help set me apart from other graduates and being able to highlight the top skills that gained over my experience at Old Dominion University. Throughout my LeADERS courses, I dealt with many academic challenges, mostly surrounding my majors. I bounced between three different majors in my time as an undergraduate. Thankfully, I had help from my advisors in the Occupational and Technical Studies department to help steer me in the right direction without pushing my graduation date out any further.
The significant successes that I had during my LeADERS courses were finding a major that fit me, completing relevant assignments, and making dean’s list in my final semesters. I started as a marketing major in the Strome College of Business, but I decided early that marketing was not a good fit for me. I changed to marketing education because it was similar, yet different. I completed two rounds of practicums at two different schools and decided that teaching was not for me. The semester before I was supposed to graduate, I changed my major once again but I am extremely happy with my decision and I am product that I put my passion over rushing to graduate. As a result of taking this extra year, I was able to take courses that I genuinely feel like prepared me for the workforce. Almost all of the course that I have taken in this final semester have had assignments that directly correlate to the tasks that I will be expected to complete in my expected career. Lastly, I made dean’s list for the first time ever in my final semesters and I believe that is directly correlated to the final major change in my college career. For once, I actually enjoyed what I was learning and felt passionate about it. I also developed better organizational skills that helped me to be successful, such as keeping a planner and planning ahead for assignments.
Each of my LeADERS experiences are connected because they each taught me skills that will help me to be successful professionally. In my leadership course, I learned how to identify organizational issues and prescribe potential solutions at the management level. The academic internship course helped me to develop my leadership skills as well through being a part of a team who made decisions based on business metrics and trends.
Looking Forward
Professionally, I hope to gain more opportunities to grow into a human resource professional and gain specific knowledge into employee relations and compensation and benefits. Personally, I want to learn how to be my own advocate and push myself to come out of my shell in the workplace. Through my coursework, I have learned that I prefer to keep things to myself in order to not hinder the cohesiveness of the team. However, I want to grow into a point where I share my ideas and let the team decide if it is a good or bad idea versus deciding it is a bad idea myself. Academically, I would like to obtain my Master’s in Business Administration (MBA) at North Carolina A&T because they offer a Human Resource concentration which will afford me the opportunity to continue my professional development.