Hello Detroit here we are!

Over the weekend, my LDR 200 class and I traveled to Detroit for a weekend full of service! It started on Friday afternoon with our first stop at Jalen Rose Leadership Academy.  Here, we worked with Jalen Rose students for a day of service.  We wrote letters to soldiers, made signs for Special Olympics, and got to socialize with the students.

On Saturday, we volunteered at Cass Community Services.  This was my favorite part of the  trip.  There were three different volunteer opportunities; working the soup kitchen, shredding paper, or making mats out of old tires.  My group was assigned making mats.  Cass hires people who are homeless to make the mats.  It was very inspirational and rewarding to talk with the workers and hear about their lives and how Cass has helped them.  This service trip was extremely beneficial for myself along with my cohort and I am very happy we had the opportunity to go on this trip.

LDR 200

It is always interesting when you put 50 leaders (who are all friends) in a room together for three hours and LDR 200 sure will support this.  I love having classes with my entire cohort but this one was especially interesting.  We were all together to learn different leadership theories however we were going to be teaching each other rather than having a professor teach us.  It was a very interesting dynamic learning from one another and teaching each other.  My cohort and I were challenged every week to stay engaged and respectful while our peers presented to us. It was a very unique learning atmosphere that our cohort was not ready for but benefited us greatly. Even though three hours on Wednesday nights can be rough, I can’t imagine being stuck in a room with anyone else but my LAS Cohort.

Lead Team

One of the protocol requirements for LAS is to be on a Lead Team.  A Lead Team is compiled of LAS students for all four grades that work together on topics such as Relay for Life, Competition Day, or Special Olympics.  I got put on Lead Letter, the Leadership Institutes magazine.  Since Lead Letter was my last ranked option, I decided “join” another Lead Team that I was more passionate about on my own.  I joined the Relay for Life Lead Team because I am extremely passionate about the work they do and I am already very invested in the organization.  As a team, we came up with fundraiser for prior to the event along with day of fundraisers.  I am happy to announce that I raised over $1,400 for our Relay for Life Team!

HST 110L WI

Taking History with my LAS cohort was a very unique experience.  Along with the curriculum, our cohort learned skills that will help us with the rest of our lives.  After the first class, we knew we were in for a treat.  Our first roadblock was being able to hear our professor.  Unless you were in the first row, there was no way you were going to be able to hear our soft-spoken professor.  This was no match for our cohort.  Everyone would take the notes on the board, however one of the girls who sat in the front would make a quizlet for every test on what our professor would say.  We learned how to work together in tough situations for the success of the class. Our next roadblock was with our writing intensive papers.  As a cohort, we peer reviewed our papers before we turned them in to guarantee that everyone would get the best possible grade.

LAS is Heading to Detroit

Every year the Leadership Institute takes the freshmen LAS cohort on a service trip to Detroit.  I am extremely passionate about the rebirth of Detroit so obviously I was ecstatic when I heard about the trip.  I am so blessed to have the resources to go down to Detroit for a weekend and work with children from a local school and doing service projects for the city.

It is a great time to be around Detroit.  After years of being the unsafest and poorest city in the country, Detroit is making a rebound.  With the construction of the new Red Wings arena, to more stores and business moving downtown, more and more jobs are heading to the area.  However, this rebirth doesn’t come without a price.  Many native Detroiters are being pushed out of the area to rebuild the city.  Even though many people are trying to turn the city around, they are leaving the residents behind.  I am very intrigued to see what the people of Detroit have to say about all of the changes that are occurring.

This trip relates directly the the Leadership Institute’s purpose and vision.  The LI is providing us with the opportunity to help the communities in Detroit while also growing as leaders ourselves.  I am very excited to see what our trip has in store.

 

DETROIT, MI – MAY 02: Graffiti decorates the ruins of the Packard Automotive Plant, a 35 acre site where luxury cars were manufactured until the 1950’s on May 2, 2013 in Detroit, Michigan. Sitting on the East side of Detroit, the former automotive plant is now a site for scavengers, urban explorers and graffiti artists. (Photo by Ann Hermes/The Christian Science Monitor via Getty Images

“People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it”

Who does love a good Ted Talk? Recently I watched a Ted Talk by Simon Sinek on how great leaders inspire action.  There was something about this specific ted talk that stuck with me.  In his ted talk, Sinek talks about why certain companies are more successful than others.  He uses Apple as his main example.  The reasaon why companies like Apple are so successful is because the customer is buying why Apple makes computers rather than because they make them.

This is true in leadership.  People follow a leader based on why they do something rather than what they do.  To be a successful leader you start with why you do something, then go to how you do it, and then finally what are you going to do.  If the order is backwards, people won’t have the motivation to follow you.  After all, people don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it.

 

No one wants a “Yes” man

When you think of leadership how many words come to mind? How many people come to mind when you hear the word leader? Truth is, leadership is different in everyones eyes and no one has the same definition of what a leadership is or what makes someone a leader.

Now picture a leader.  Does this person always agree with everything said or do they challenge the status quo?  To me, a leader is someone who goes against the norms to better themselves and society.  They fight for what they believe in even if that means going against what everyone else thinks.

Now, being a leader doesn’t always have to be someone going against the norm.  A leader also is someone who challenges you to think outside the box.  Anyone can say “yes” and agree with you, but a leader isn’t afraid to speak their mind and challenge you to see life from others perspective.

 

Love Your Melon

What is a leader? Dictionary.com defines a leader as a person who leads or commands a group, organization, or country.  How many people can you think of that fit that description? This doesn’t sound like a leader to me.  A leader in my mind is someone who puts others before themselves.  Someone who goes out of their way to make someones day better.  Someone who encourages others to be the best versions they can be. Now how many people can you think of?
Our world is lacking true, ethical leaders.  Zachary Quinn, however, fits my description of a leader. Who is Zachary Quinn you ask? He is the founder of Love Your Melon.  When he was a sophomore in college, he decided he wanted to make a change in the world.  Zach came up with the idea of donating hats to children with cancer on a buy one, donate one basis.  And his idea exploded!

Zach exemplifies the qualities that I see in a leader.  He is putting others before himself by donating thousands of hats t0 children with cancer.  He put aside his problems of being a broke college student and went out and changed the world. He is spreading awareness by creating a college ambassador program to help students just like himself make a difference in the world! Now he is a true leader!

 

Its Debate Time

Im not going to lie, when I heard I was going to be taking debate I was a little hesitant.  I had never taken a class like that before and I wasn’t exactly sure as to what I’d be learning.  However debate was one of my most useful classes!  I learned how to think on my feet along with all the different dynamics that debate has like fallacies and the art of persuasion! These are important skills to have and they will help me get through life.  All-in-all, debate was a great class to have taken.

Psychology

One of the benefits of LAS is having class with your entire cohort.  One of the classes we take together is Introduction to Psychology with a focus in Leadership.  I learned n0t only psychology, but a lot about myself during this class.  This class taught me how to use my resources when I didn’t completely understand something along with time management.

The class was taught by Professor Prewitt.  He was the perfect guy to teach this class.  He related the topics to a leadership scenario or something that college students could relate to.  He was also a great professor to have your freshmen year because he helped you with time management but was also extremely understanding when you had any problems.  I couldn’t have asked for a better professor!