Making Connections

 

Old Dominion University’s 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, Diveristy, and Entrepreneurship have supported my personal and professional development.

I joined the LeADERS program because I thought it was an interesting concept to see how my course relate to each other and also, the opportunities that it came with such as participating in non-course activities to increase in knowledge.

The hardest thing during my course was working in groups. Group works are very hard most of the time given that people are different and it is even harder when you have to work with people from different countries and time zones. I had to tell myself that things cannot always go as I want them to and be able to adapt to different situations. My leadership course and Academic Internship taught me the importance of making connections with people, before becoming a leader on my own, I should be able to serve. 

Even though making connections was one of the hardest things, I learned how to seek help. Professors are always willing to help which I taught was not very common. Not only was I able to network with people within my age group, but I was also able to network with professors. 

All my courses related to each other in that I would always find similar topics within the different courses such as culture, law, and the importance of human resources. 

Looking Forward

After my graduation, I would like to work as a consultant for an international firm and even do rotational jobs so I can explore different segments of an organization. If it was not for LeADERS, I doubt that I would have thought of doing an academic internship. This helped me gain experience outside of the class environment and have an idea of what I want to do in the future.