HDF 190:

FIRST YEAR LEADERS INSPIRED TO EXCELLENCE LEADERSHIP PORTFOLIO

Raquel Mendez SPRING 2013

raquel_mendez@my.uri.edu

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Strengths Opening Statement Section 1: Self Leadership Section 1: Self Leadership Section 2: Leadership Theories Section 4: Critical Thinking Section 5: Interpersonal/Organizational Leadership

SLIDE # 3 SLIDE # 4 SLIDE # 5 SLIDE # 6 SLIDE # 7 SLIDE # 8 SLIDE # 9

Signature Strengths
Belief Individualization Learner Responsibility Connectedness

Values in Action Strengths

Spirituality Hope Gratitude Honesty Perspective

OPENING STATEMENT
Throughout my time in FLITE I was able to understand which areas I excel in as a leader and which areas I must work on. I feel as though my strengths have helped me understand what my future may be. I know that I may change my mind various times throughout my life but I like knowing that my strengths will help me get back up when ever and if I ever fall. Due to my strengths of individualization and connectedness helps me unite the group with our differences and at times where I have felt that things weren't working out, I have reminded myself that I can take puzzle pieces, connect them, and have a good outcome. As a result, I think my strengths and values are an assets when leading others or working with a group.

SECTION 1 SELF LEADERSHIP (Outcome # 5)

While studying during the summer for Talent Development, there was a mandatory tutorial class for students that assisted me during my transitioning time from course load of high school to the course load for college. In addition, talent development offers workshops for freshmen involving how to get a GPA of 4.0, what students should prioritize and even how to study. Additional workshops are giving to students with handouts and binders with dividers that could bring us one step closer to figuring out how we individually stay organized. Currently I still use the Semester at a glance handout, my color coated agenda, several whiteboards, and copies of the binder models that were given to us during the workshops. While in my URI 101 class I was handed out sheets of different versions of daily agendas and schedule templates. In addition, I was encouraged to meet my URI 101 mentor to become more organized by scheduling when I had each class, work, and organization meeting. By planning out my week I was able to visually see when I could do work for classes, before tests, paper or assignment due dates, and group projects. With all this prior knowledge I have been able to apply the techniques during this semester. (See evidence 1, 2, 3)

SECTION 1 SELF LEADERSHIP

(Outcome # 11)
My goals regarding personal issues, career issues, and community issues, have changed over time. However, after taking COM 100 and URI 100 I have been able to make new goals and objectives in order to solve some things I see as issues. During COM 100 one my main projects involved me recalling a conflict with someone close to me and using information I was currently learning, to point out what communication skills we lacked and how I could have avoided the conflict. After finishing the project I was able to determine a list of communication skills I lacked that were repeatedly causing issues with friends and were creating even more personal issues than I had realized. I tend to be very stubborn and react instead of thinking of the situation calmly and letting a calm conversation take place. Therefore, a few goals and objectives I have created for myself is to improve my communication skills by first applying listening skills from my COM 100 class. For example, in order to avoid an argument and blaming the other person i had to substitute my You statements into I statements so the person would not be offended and become defensive but rather notice how their actions are affecting me. During URI 101 my instructor had each student research information about their current major or other possible majors. During my research, I was able to find the Political Science curriculum and listing of possible areas of Political Science that I could be more involved in. However, I was having a hard time finding possible job offers that in the future I would be willing to take. My goal is to work on social networking with others on this campus with the same major and become familiar with internships that are available, job offers, and possible organizations on campus that offer an insight on what it means to be a political science major. My objective is to have a small list of possible job paths I can go on and visit job fairs that are offered to further educate myself on what I can do after college. After URI 101 I was able to conclude that one of my favorite assignments was volunteering my time to clean beaches near URI. One community issue that has become common back home and on campus is littering. My community objective is to create more awareness about pollution and littering that I was taught in my Grand Challenge Course so I can gain volunteers who were willing to go to different communities around the University and do city clean-ups. My goal is to be able to gather enough people to help clean some houses near the shore that are still affected by the storm Sandy. (see evidence 17 and 18)

SECTION 2 Leadership Theory and Models (Outcome # 25)

One way I was able to apply the Servant Leadership theory was by successfully completing a speech in FLITE class that required me to know the Servant Leadership Theory by Greenleaf. The presentation I had to give, involved giving an example of when I was able to apply the theory, include a characteristic, its relation to my field of study, involvement experiences and my Strengths/VIA. The characteristic that I was able to use was Healing because I have applied it before and I am closely connected to it. It is related to my current field of study, Political Science, because I want to be able to be a servant leader to others in need in various areas. However, I first need to understand what the theory entails before I can "change the world". My strengths and VIAs of belief, individualization, connectedness, spirituality, and hope are closely connected to the characteristic of Healing and the model because I hope to better relationships between countries politically and be involved in the process of improving poverty/hunger, education, and human rights. My experience/my role as a Sunday School Teacher for my local congregation is an explanation of applying the above theory. Since Servant Leadership mainly focuses on putting others before oneself I choose my Sunday School Teacher as an example because while with all the children I have to be aware of their needs and be able to attend to them at all times, whether it regard answering a question or giving them helpful insight on a personal situation. Additionally, since healing involves helping others transform I have been able for many years witness how the small children have grown not physically but mentally. As Sunday School Teacher I was one of the supervisors for a fundraising activity that allowed the children to participate by collecting change, enough to fill a small bucket, and donating it to a congregation in Haiti. By explaining the poverty in Haiti and the opportunity we have to help the children were able to provide children in Haiti with more than financial security but with clothes and food. Even though the children and I were unable to attack the root cause of the poverty in Haiti I was able to eliminate the ignorance they once had of Haiti. (Evidence 31 and 32)

SECTION 4 Critical Thinking (Outcome # 69)

During FLITE class, after being split into groups with peer leaders, we were given an activity that requested that each person within the group categorize a list of supplies into a ranking of importance if we were survivors from a horrible plane crash. After each individual ranked the leftover supplies the group was to then agree on a new list of ranking. One key thing I was able to do with my group was create different little scenarios of what our first actions would be after the factitious crash. From there we began to list a few first reactions and name objects that could help us, based on the individuals scenario. When I was creating my scenario I had pointed out that the temperature for the scenario would be too cold for us to automatically try to find help, we needed to focus on recovering from the crash by making sure our health was strong. However, as other group members understood why I had created my list they began to help me understand that not all my conclusions were correct even though I had many reasons to believe so. For example, there were not enough food to eat three meals so we need to conserve our energy and some of our food consumption. As each person gave their opinion we were able to link supplies to survival skills we had learned in the past creating a logical list that would soon be similar to the activitys answer sheet. (Evidence 15 and 16)

SECTION 5 (Interpersonal and Organizational Concepts and Skills ) (Outcome # 117)

Most recently I volunteered with a program here on campus called S.M.I.L.E while they hosted many middle school students who were going to learn about Alternative Energy, more specifically Wind Power and Turbines. I was responsible for going around to each group and leading ice breakers as well as helping them with any questions regarding their program challenge. I was to talk to each group, refocus them if necessary, have them interact with each other and be inclusive, and also teach them about brainstorming techniques they could use for their projects. FLITE has been great experiences for me to learn from leaders on the URI campus. During both the class and program I have been lead by URI students who have taught me a vast amount of leadership skills that I have been putting into practice. While at the Leadership Institute my peer leaders had my group go through multiple courses that would help me better understand what it means to work within a group and how to cooperate with others. In addition, I was able to learn how to pick my times to speak in order to build up the group rather than try to control others within the group. On the ropes course my peer leaders Rust and Lydia had put or group to the test and form a closer bond with one another. One challenge involved the group having to stand on a log randomly and arrange ourselves alphabetically without stepping off the log. These activities increased their difficulty but increased our group strength and communication skills, as well as our balance. (Evidence 18, 19, and 20)