If I had to describe my leadership philosophy in one word it would be agency. For me, being a leader means developing your own personal agency and recognizing it in others. Agency - the ability to do something - is something that we all have, and something that can be harnessed in a myriad of ways.
I was, for the most part, directionless my freshman year of college. It was not until my sophomore year that I realized just how many opportunities I had as a student at UW. I was encouraged to join the ASUW Student Senate by a friend of mine, and that changed the entire trajectory of my college experience. Becoming a senator meant being a part of the official arbiter of student opinion for over 40,000 students at UW. All of the sudden I felt as though my voice mattered. I then agreed to give a speech in support of Washington's Guaranteed Education Tuition program at the State Capitol in Olympia for Huskies on the Hill Lobby Day. It was an unbelievable experience, and one that instilled in me the value of speaking up and using your voice for the betterment of your community.
Leadership, for me, denotes responsibility. When I think about leadership, I think about the need to act upon one's own agency to create change. I think about engaging with your community and participating in something bigger than yourself. I think about recognizing your privilege and using in it in a productive way.
And I think about empowering others to do the same. While it might sound dramatic, my entire college experience was changed by one person challenging me to do something new. Without that push I may have never been a peer instructor and mentor to 24 freshmen, registered 500 college students to vote, or have been elected by my peers in the Senate. Without that push I may have never realized my own agency and capacity to empower others, which have come to define my entire approach to leadership.
I was, for the most part, directionless my freshman year of college. It was not until my sophomore year that I realized just how many opportunities I had as a student at UW. I was encouraged to join the ASUW Student Senate by a friend of mine, and that changed the entire trajectory of my college experience. Becoming a senator meant being a part of the official arbiter of student opinion for over 40,000 students at UW. All of the sudden I felt as though my voice mattered. I then agreed to give a speech in support of Washington's Guaranteed Education Tuition program at the State Capitol in Olympia for Huskies on the Hill Lobby Day. It was an unbelievable experience, and one that instilled in me the value of speaking up and using your voice for the betterment of your community.
Leadership, for me, denotes responsibility. When I think about leadership, I think about the need to act upon one's own agency to create change. I think about engaging with your community and participating in something bigger than yourself. I think about recognizing your privilege and using in it in a productive way.
And I think about empowering others to do the same. While it might sound dramatic, my entire college experience was changed by one person challenging me to do something new. Without that push I may have never been a peer instructor and mentor to 24 freshmen, registered 500 college students to vote, or have been elected by my peers in the Senate. Without that push I may have never realized my own agency and capacity to empower others, which have come to define my entire approach to leadership.