As some of you may or may not have noticed, I studied abroad last semester as a sophomore. Every time that fact was brought up to me, I had to go through and explain why because everyone seemed to find it odd. First of all, I don't think it was odd because I met people in Rome studying abroad as first semester freshman or final semester seniors, regardless of your grade, you can and will learn a lot from studying abroad. Doing it at different times of course comes with different advantages. Studying abroad in your final semester of college would be a great way to treat yourself for seven semesters of hard work then using that final one to enjoy college one last time in a different setting with unlimited opportunities. On the other hand, because of so much I learned in the classroom, about myself, about the world, about time management and Italian culture I wish I would have considered studying abroad freshman year first semester. The amount of maturity you undergo while abroad would have been a great way for me to start off my undergraduate career.
Enough about that, what you want to know is why I chose second semester sophomore year to do it. It is all because of the College Park Scholars Public Leadership Program. Upon acceptance to UMD, I was also extended the honorable opportunity to join the Public Leadership Program. Apart from how much I learned and experienced as a direct result of being in the program at College Park (you can read about that below), it is also the reason I went to Rome. To obtain your citation, you must complete a capstone project. One day back in the spring of 2010, my professor, Stacy Kosko, suggested to me that I study abroad and in the process forever changed my life for the better. As a two year program, I had to complete my capstone by the end of sophomore year, which meant, if I chose the study abroad option (among other options available), I would have to do it sometime during my sophomore year.
Would I have ever chosen to study abroad had I not been asked to join the Public Leadership program, or more specifically would I have done it spring semester of sophomore year? Would I even have considered studying abroad as a capstone project if Stacy had not brought it up to me? Would I be who I am today without these great experiences in PL and Rome? Would I, at any other point in my life, gone to the amazing places I saw or met the incredible people I met? Obviously, I, nor anyone else, will ever be able to answer those "what if" questions about how an alternate past would have played out. But I can tell you this, blogosphere; I love who I am today, I love the things I did and the people I met, and most importantly I loved those experiences in PL and Rome that made me who I am today so I find it painful to even imagine those "what if" situations.
Below is my final reflection on my time in the Public Leadership Program, ranging from my first day when I was a muddy mess cleaning the swamps of the Anacostia River in the rain all the way to my final reflections as I was on the plane home from Rome in late May. I learned a lot and I hope you do too. Enjoy.
America to Italy: My Public Leadership Journey Across the Globe
Upon entering the University of Maryland, I was under the impression that I would learn an extensive amount of material from books, lectures and professors. Never did the thought cross my mind that I would learn just as much, if not more, about myself. For me, being in the Public Leadership Program was the epitome example of this double learning effect. I learned valuable lessons on what it means to be a leader, how to be a good leader with positive effects on society and most importantly knowing when to be a leader. I used this newfound knowledge from public leadership courses and my capstone project by applying it to experiences both inside and outside the classroom over the past four semesters. In the process, I developed my own unique style of leadership that helped me through my experiences thus far in college. This type of leadership that I have been consistently building on is what will enable me to be a good leader in my future endeavors.
A key aspect to my public leadership studies that has had an effect on every part of my life is context. The importance of context in any situation is something I never deeply reflected on until fall semester of freshman year. In the lecture taught by Dr. Crocker, I started to realize that every discussion we had about leadership, or anything else for that matter, related back to context. What does the context of this situation call for and are you able to distinguish this contextual importance? To me, that was the biggest aspect to my realizations of my abilities as a leader. I know having charisma is important along with balancing hard and soft power, but if you do not have the awareness and intelligence to know which type of power a situation calls for, then in my mind, you are not a good leader. Understanding context, to me, is what separates the true enlightened despot leaders from the rest. If you do not make your decisions and actions (or lack of) as a leader at the appropriate time, than you could be having a negative effect on those you have a duty to; whether it be political constituents, employees or classmates.
This understanding of context will be one of my best leadership traits in my future experiences. Already, my understanding of context has reaped benefits for me twice in this short time since I started fully understanding its importance. First, in applying to become a terrorism studies minor at University of Maryland, one of my main points on my application was how well the Public Leadership Program prepared me for the issues I will face in it, especially in terms of dealing with each situation contextually and subjectively. Just like in leadership, when analyzing terrorism issues, it is important to notice how each situation has a different context that calls for a particular response.
Similarly, during my capstone experience of studying abroad in Rome, I saw many of my public leadership traits evident. One major take away from my Public Leadership Program experience was the importance of open mindedness. Being open to the ideas and beliefs of others is essential to leadership because it makes those you are leading feel included in the decision making. After working in groups so many times in seminar with my PL peers, I learned what does and does not work in working with people you both know and do not know well. Realizing the importance of keeping an open mind helped me throughout my study abroad experience, whether it was making sure everyone got a say on what they wanted to see when we went touring, or keeping an open mind when dealing with Italians and their culture. When working in class groups, or when traveling, I found myself often taking the leadership role while keeping in mind many of the things I had learned about being a leader. Although traveling for a weekend in Florence with friends wasn’t exactly intense public leadership, I still had to use mediating, negotiating, organization skills and both hard and soft power throughout it when problems arose whether it was between my friends or due to travel issues.
In my Public Leadership Development Plans, I talked about wanting to be the more obvious and ‘out-loud’ type of leader because I felt that up to that point, I often took the backseat and only led when no one else would. I feel that I definitely changed that while in Rome. I confirmed what I had long thought about myself as a leader, that being that I tend to only take up the leadership role when I am certain of what I am getting into and confident I will do well. I was never the type of kid who rounded up his friends in elementary school to go on an impromptu adventure through the woods. I like to have my plan researched and feel comfortable when taking on a leadership role because it gives me confidence that I will be able to succeed (confidence was another of my PLDP action plans that I wanted to work on). Since I was the only one of my friends who spoke Italian well, I felt confident on my ability to take that leadership role when traveling around. Then when we would get lost, or things went wrong, I did a good job of maintaining strong leadership so not to worry anyone. This helped me feel substantial progress in my ability to lead effectively when thing do not go as scripted.
I am excited to see where I end up in my life as a future agent of change. I get very passionate about things that I invest time into and feel strongly about. After taking the philanthropy class with Dr. Grimm, I became really interested in that field as a potential way to use my leadership skills for the benefit of society. As I said, when I find something that I am passionate about, I have found that I work endlessly and enthusiastically for that cause. Pursuing a field related to my terrorism studies minor is also something that I would love to apply my public leadership skills to. I feel that I have developed a good balance and hard and soft power, and my understanding on contextual and situational importance would also assist me in that. Just like many of my Public Leadership peers, I also have dreams of leading a life as a public servant in a political office of some type. This is me, would be the best way I feel I could give back to a country that has given so much to me. This career, would of course utilize all the elements of public leadership that I studied and would be the ultimate test, in my mind, on how effective of a leader I actually am. As of now, I’m unsure what my future holds for me, but I know it will involve leadership in some capacity, which is something I am excited to be part of.
As I briefly mentioned before, I learned a lot about myself from doing the Public Leadership Development and Action Plans. They helped me realize what my weaknesses and strengths are. I feel that because of those assignments, I have put a focused effort on building upon my strengths and also improving my weaknesses into fortes. I enjoyed setting these as goals for myself because they are things that I am actually able to chart my progress in. I feel that everything I learned in Public Leadership, from day one cleaning the swamps of the Anacostia all the way to the incredible things I learned in my capstone in Rome, has benefited me in a positive way and helped mold me into a better leader. The thing about leadership, and learning in general, which I learned from all this was that I am never done learning. The great leaders and successful philanthropists that we studied all had times in their lives when they learned and adapted after they finished school. This, for me, will be a very important aspect to focus on. Although I am graduating two years from now, and have finished my Public Leadership Program, none of that means I am done learning or improving. I realize that constant reflection, revision and implementation will be necessary throughout my life to build upon my leadership abilities and I see this realization as another of the most important aspects I learned from Public Leadership that I can apply to anything in my life.
Two years after the commencement of my Public Leadership experience, I am a changed person for the better in so many ways as a direct result of it. I realized the importance of civic engagement through my time spent at the Anacostia, tutoring students in Columbia Heights for my Community Based Learning project and spending time getting to know local non-profits in philanthropy class. As a result of all these great experiences in the community, I found myself volunteering at the campus Help Center and doing additional tutoring at another school in Columbia Heights. I have also had conversations among friends about the topics we debated in class because of how interesting I found them, such as asking them their opinions on making community or military service mandatory. I have learned invaluable aspects to being a leader that I have been able to apply everywhere in my life, in the class room, at work, with friends and especially in my capstone. I had the best four months of my life studying abroad in Rome and if the Public Leadership Program had not motivated me to go there, I am not sure I would have gone. I truly believe I got more out of that experience than anyone else in the program because of how consciously aware and taking advantage of I was of everything around me. Learning how to appropriately and respectfully interact with foreign cultures will benefit me later in any career, especially leadership related. It was because I am in the Public Leadership Program that I actively sought out lessons like that outside of the classroom from my local friends so to maximize my experience. As I sit on this flight back to America, although I do not know what or where I will be in my future, I do know for certain that I will be applying what I learned and experienced in the Public Leadership Program on a consistent basis and will be there because of it.
