Felicity Smith

HDF412
Melissa Boyd-Colvin & Melissa Camba-Kelsay
22 December 2020
Capstone Argument

An assessment of your current level of competency in each of these three areas:

While I wouldn’t necessarily consider myself an innovative thinker, I do believe critical thinking
is something I have definitely made progress on over the years. One thing I excel in in regards to
critical thinking is my ability to think before I speak. This was one thing I wasn’t always good at
growing up as my passion and strong emotions would often get the best of me. However, I have
now gained the skills necessary to pause my mind in a conversation and think about how I want
to move forward to ensure I am not hurting the feelings of anyone around me. In regards to how
I can continue to develop these skills, myself along with Annika Fisher and Alex Obiurka
recently got chosen among few to receive a research grant from the Office of Research and
Innovation at URI to do further research on our anti-racist eduaction series. This experience will
allow me to further enhance my critical thinking skills and progress towards being a more
innovative thinker.
Through being part of the Leadership Studies minor and being involved with the Center for
Student Leadership Development, I have grown leaps and bounds as a leader since my first-year.
My mom, like any mom, has always told me that I have been a natural leader my entire life. But
it wasn’t until I started the Leadership Studies minor where I truly learned what it means to be a
leader and how it looks different for every single person. I’m so grateful for the opportunities I
have had from being a part of the minor. From being an HDF190 peer leader, to being on my
club’s executive board, to leading a week long Alternative Spring Break trip, I have gained so
many experiences that have allowed me to find myself as a leader.
Finally, in regards to global and intercultural fluency, I would say that this is something I am still
working on but something I have made substantial progress in. Recently, through taking
HDF412, I have gained so much valuable knowledge about cultural anthropology. In addition to
this, I have had opportunities to listen to and learn from those with different backgrounds and
perspectives than my own through the anti-racist education series I am apart of. I plan to
continue developing these skills by further educating myself on global issues, branching out to
learning about different intercultural topics, and continuing to listen to diverse perspectives.

An overview of connections between your leadership development experience and academic

knowledge and these critical competencies for your specific field:
Being a part of the Leadership Studies minor has most definitely prepared me for my future
career as a teacher. Through learning about my strengths, I have seen exactly how each of them
play into my ability to teach and master certain competencies. First, my strength of context
assists me with critical thinking as I’m always thinking back to previous experiences and how
they played out so I know how to go about situations better. As a teacher, this will be useful
when having to critically evaluate how lessons should be taught to ensure I am meeting the needs
of all of my students. Continuing on, my strength of developer is strongly shown when I am in a
leadership position. Being a developer means I work to cultivate the potential in others and that
is all I ever try to do when serving as a leader for others. When I am a teacher, this strength and
competency will be used every day as it is my job to lead my students to be the best versions of
themselves and be successful young individuals. Finally, my strength of empathy most
definitely helps me in mastering the global/intercultural fluency competency. Without empathy,
it’s nearly impossible to understand perspectives and experiences different than your own.
Seeing as I’m going to be teaching a new group of students every single year who come from all
different backgrounds, it’s imperative I understand and have global and intercultural fluency. It
would be a disservice to my students if I weren’t knowledgeable or understanding of their
cultures just because they are different than mine. With empathy as my number one strength,
that just could never be. Due to my learnings through the minor and beyond, I now feel so much
more prepared and confident to one day lead my own classroom of students.

Your strongest marketable skill/competency to date and how you have developed that over
time at URI:
I would say my strongest marketable competency to date is teamwork/collaboration. With my
number one Clifton strength of empathy and my value of perspective, I really make it a point in
my interactions with others to pause before reacting and to view things from their point of view.
Along with my strength of developer, I truly strive to uplift and empower others when working
in a group. Over the past three and a half years, I have had many opportunities as a leader to
practice working in teams and collaborating with others which has prepared me for working on
teams as a teacher. I now feel comfortable and confident collaborating with others, handling
difficult conversations respectfully and responsibly, and working effectively as a partner to my
coworkers.

References:
Career Readiness Competencies Module.​ (2020). [Slides]. Google Docs.
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1w0R-jhi3vzGi017Yqs0HJ0FeVtYrg4xTJ1ZVzb
9fj7Q/edit#slide=id.g5d5ca554a0_0_0