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, Diversity, Entrepreneurship, and Research have supported my personal and professional development.
When I found out that this program existed, it was in Fall 2022 by a friend who was going through the same process that I am doing today. However, my motivation was to be distinguished among other people, to show the skills that I had learned, and to have each area to get a better perspective of being a leaderis. Also, it was a personal challenge since it seeks me to set goals that I often feel impossible. To this day, I do not regret being able to apply.
During this experience, I was able to experience challenges that surprised me, for which there were three that I learned something positive, and that made me reflect:
- Working with a multicultural team because when everyone has a different perspective on what it means, what goes into a strategic report or another technique to make leadership “easier” becomes a challenge.
- Search for the best solution because when you find the problem and your knowledge shows thousands of solutions but you have limited time, that’s where the challenge is. How to know and plan according to what the company needs.
- Analyze quantitative data because depending on what angle you are looking at and how these formulas are applied to the problem and if no one can explain it to you, it becomes a challenge that is often difficult to overcome
Despite these challenges, the best part is when we, as future leader, knows how to achieve and overcome them. For me, the best way to do it is to be patient, maintain constant communication with your team, be honest when it is not working, listen to the opinions of others, and pause before making any important decisions. Although it is easy for me to recognize what to do if courses and experience have the same challenges, but you have to make mistakes to realize where and figure out how to solve them.
After the challenges come to the success of what you did for the community and personal growth, the first is to acquire all the knowledge possible to identify the problems and try to overcome them. If I had not had that knowledge, there would have been more failures than victories. The second is to experience the situation and analyze cases related to real life because I learned a lot about implementing solutions, looking for the correct data, and making a report to present it. The third knew that the project I did at the internship was a success. The fourth was being a leader in projects and assignments and even improving my skills. Fifth, all the recognition they gave me during these four years reflects my effort and dedication to my study. Therefore, all this success that I have could not have been achieved without the help of my teachers, who have taught me everything, and I continue to learn how to overcome challenges to be successful.
When making this e-Portfolio, I realized the knowledge I had acquired and how it reflected each other in various scenarios. For example, in my internship with Walmart, I experienced each of the areas I completed, and I needed the knowledge I learned to succeed. Also, when we talk about the research area, it falls into the category of leadership and diversity, and the experience was from a classroom. Identifying that everything is connected is when you realize that you have grown professionally and your skills exceed your expectations. Of course, I know that more challenges are coming, but I already have the bases.
