Student Leadership Institute Workshops
Spring 2024
Advanced Google Skills (Leading Self)
I have interacted with Abby Juda a few times before and I am so grateful every time I speak with her because she is a treasure trove ofinformation! As the world moves more towards technology, I wanted to equip myself with the skills to use a seemingly simple search engine. I pride myself on the research I have done thus far, and using specific terms, operations, and other tricks have already begun to help me when I am conducting a literature review for a paper.
Student Orgs 101: Purchasing Playbook (Leading @ IC)
I attended this session as the co-president of ICNature Club since my e-board has been confused about how budgets work. I am proud to say that this was the first semester that our budget was successfully submitted and approved. It enabled our club to get more materials than we have in previous semesters!
Women Leaders Series: Table Topics (Leading in a DiverseWorld)
During this event, I had the distinct pleasure of interacting with strong women. I loved being part of the gathering of IC Alum, professors, students, and staff to support each other. Although we covered a host of topics from the weather to France to puns, my biggest takeaway was just how much everyone stressed the importance of looking out for yourself. That could look like self-care, setting boundaries, or saying no to additional work.I think that during COVID, when we were all stressed out and working from home, we also realized just how stressful our lives had become, and this is something on the top of everyone's minds right now. I am so happy to see showing up for yourself a large part of the discourse, but I realized that women find it so much tougher to let go of that idea. We have been conditioned to put ourselves last for decades, and even if we know in theory it has to change, we have to be more intentional and active in our everyday lives to actually change our behavior alongside the theory.
Fall 2023
Student Org 101: Fall Finance Training (Leading @ IC)
As a president and treasurer of a club, I thought it would be a great idea to start off my academic year with a refresher on finances of student organisations. During this session, I learnt a lot about how money is managed once it is granted to an org by the Student Governance Council.
Elevate Your Communication (Leading Others)
During this session we took a test on communication styles and mine was direct and harmonious. I completely relate to this since I believe that I can be a l know that I am a very active part of most groups that I am part of and naturally fall into a leadership role, for better or worse. Sometimes, I do overpower the others, which was outlined as a weakness of the direct style, this is something I have been actively working on. The harmonious side of me does show too since I truly believe that if everyone is not in agreement, there's someone that is unhappy with the outcome; meaning that the group did not function to the best of its abilities. When I do find myself in leadership positions, I often take a laissez faire approach, leaving people to create structures for themselves since that is the way that I work my best!
Learning Your Leadership Style (Leading @ IC)
Although I have taken this session in the past, there are quite a few things that have changed. As an environmental major who is constantly thinking about natural disaster management, I like to keep updated on disaster and emergency management trends in the place I live. This session helped me stay updated with the trends and re-think through my own preparedness plans and re-fresh the emergency protocols that are in place for me to use.
From the last session, I made it a point to carry a first-aid kit that I have since carried with me practically everywhere. From this session, I hope to create a more robust emergency kit for my apartment and car as well as create plans for evacuation or in-place-shelter.
Spring 2023
Women in Leadership Experience
I thoroughly enjoyed my day-long visit to Seneca Falls, the birthplace of Feminism in the United States. Growing up, I have always believed in and advocated for feminist values and practice. I went to a high school where the mission was to empower women and make them leader, and this was a great homage to a very large part of who I am. Walking through the museum, I was fascinated by the tiny details of life before women received any rights in society. That, along with the talk by the park ranger (whose satirical tone I enjoyed very much), instilled me with more gratitude for the generations of women who have fought for basic rights in society. All too often, we get caught up in our daily life and are dissatisfied with current situations. That approach, although justifiable by even the current situation, does not reflect the years of struggle before me. Meeting local women leaders made me realize just how important self-care is. They all spoke about learning how to work with your body and your mind instead of against it, and creating standards for yourself rather than letting other people define you. I struggle with both of those things, and sometimes like to convince myself they don't matter. This was a great reassurance from people doing what I want to be doing, that I need to continue working on a more balanced lifestyle.
Fall 2022
Event Planning Processes & Practices at IC
As I delve more into becoming a leader at IC through students organizations, I thought it would be fun to understand more about how things work in this system, and how I can help the two clubs I am on the e-board of! It was an extremely informative and helpful session and equip me to navigate future club events.
Career Caravan
With the help of one of the career specialist, I used this SLI to start thinking about applications for the upcoming summer break. It was a very productive session and helped me to start to think about my resume, cover letter, and other aspects of internship or job application processes.
Opening Reception Featuring Rhonda Wall and Brian Wiggins
This SLI gave me an opportunity to think more about art, through my conversation with one of the artists, Rhonda Wall about the work displayed at the gallery. It was interesting to see how she weaves themes of the epidemic, environment, political activity, and feminism into her works. It got me thinking about possible avenues for my own environmental work.
Spring 2022
Emergency Preparedness and response
As a student in the field of Environment Sciences, I am interested in disaster management so much so that I am taking a class on it this semester! This session was a great way for me to understand my immediate role in disaster management and safety at IC.
Problem Solving in a Group
This was a great way to understand how different people work in group settings, what they find is tough, and how they navigate these issues. It also had a super fun activity!
Imposter Syndrome
I became aware of how much more I need to work to feel like I have accomplished something. It has always been something that I have struggled with and it is really tough to work with when you’re an ambitious college student! This session made me feel like this was an issue that I can tackle now that I know more about where imposter syndrome stems from and how I can slowly change my outlook.
Fall 2021:
Creating an Impressive Leadership Portfolio
I was glad to have opted for this as my first SLI. This is because it was a great starting point to think about my portfolio and what I want to do with it I enjoyed learning about how to portray bigger themes of your own personality and values through a portfolio.
The Best Leaders can be Introverts, Extroverts, Ambiverts or Omniverts
My biases have always lead me to believe that introverts have a tougher time with leadership. After this seminar, I started to understand how I can use my personality as an introvert to my benefit in the context of leadership.
Who needs sleep?
I do! In the past, and even right now, I never prioritize my sleep. Dealing with a mental illness doesn’t help my sleep quality either, and I have almost taken a defeatist attitude towards the topic. This SLI reminded me of just how important sleep is for my functioning. I have been trying harder to get adequate sleep.