Over the past four years, I have grown immensely as a leader. I am thankful I have had the SPA leadership Program support me throughout my time at American University (AU). When I entered AU, I thought “leadership” meant being in charge. I learned that this type of leadership only occurs in certain circumstances and by far is not a modern day definition. Leadership is a process. This means that just because someone has positional leadership does not mean they are a leader. In my time at AU, I have been in situation where the positional leader lacked motivation and was not effective. Rather, the person’s subordinates lead the team within.
Still, it is important to have a single-person being the coordinating of activities. When no one steps up and does this, teams tend to miss deadlines, produce poor quality work and have difficulty communicating.
The SPA Leadership Program is fascinating and unique group. The program attracts high achieving students who want to make change. Now don’t get me wrong, most of us enter with the idea that leadership is position and a “power thing.” However, over the past four years, each of us has developed our own definitions and moved away our misguided thoughts. We were guided in our development through the theories we examined and put into practice.
In my first year at AU, I was limited in my campus involvement to just SPA Leadership. To afford college, I worked full-time overnight at Whole Foods. This left me exhausted during the day. I was lucky if I had enough energy to attend class. The SPA Leadership Program gave me a foundation. It kept me involve on campus and in social-educational group. The social action group was the first group project I had at AU, and by far the longest I have ever had in an educational setting. In the group, we built bonds through our successes and conflicts. We all learned how to work with each other, and developed synergy that I miss.
As my finances grew more stable due to a new scholarship, I became much more involved on campus. Once I secured my first campus job, I ran with it and in some ways am still feeding off it. My first job at AU was working the front desks of the Residence Halls. Through it, I meant staff members from different departments including AU Police and Student Activities. Fast-forward 3 years, and I now have had 4 internships and was the Deputy Director of the university’s speakers bureau. This program gave me the tools and support to keep chasing the next opportunity.
I am forever indebted to the SPA Leadership Program for being a critical part of my development at American University.