Honors in ONP
This summer, I participated in the Honors backpacking trip through Olympic National Park. My goals for this trip were to reconnect with my love for backpacking and gain experiential learning credit. Here's what I submitted as my final reflection:
April 8, 2014
I am incredibly thankful for my experience in Olympic National Park. The trip gave me the opportunity to explore a part of Washington that I might never have traveled to and definitely would never have learned in the depth I did. It is one thing to enjoy a national park and a completely different thing to enjoy the philosophy of a national park. I've never learned about National Parks other than knowing that nature exists in them and as I enjoy nature, I felt like I support them. This trip taught me what the parks stand for and why-along with the controversies attached. It was interesting to learn the history of the park and the implications it has on many different aspects of society. It was inspiring to learn peoples' role in this institution and possibilities for my role in it as well. I gained a much deeper understanding of what it means to support something so often taken for granted. I didn't expect to learn or engage as much in the relationships between the Parks Services and the surrounding communities as we did on this trip. Through my own research and everyone else's presentations, I gained a lot of insight into the people and collaborations involved in the environment we immersed ourselves in. It was really fascinating to see all the ways things could go wrong between these communities, the ways they have gone wrong, and the incredible compromises that have made things head towards "right" again. The research we did was so applicable to life in front of our eyes that it was hard not to take these lessons back home with me. Aside from the academic content, I learned a lot from working with the group in general. As a very eclectic group, we got along really well. It was fun to see different personalities working together and teaching each other-more fun to see a genuine desire from everyone to learn from each other. This project gave me the opportunity to approach the outdoors from a critical perspective. It taught me that if I enjoy something and care about it, there's definitely a lot I can learn about it and much I can learn with people about it as well. It's really solidified my conviction to take coursework on anything that strikes, because it's great to have a lot of knowledge behind a hobby or seemingly insignificant interest. It inspired a level of advocacy to my studies that I see as really essential moving forward towards things I'm passionate about. |
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Bellevue Younglife
I've been leading for 2 years with Young Life in Bellevue, working closely with a group of girls now in 10th grade. Leading high-schoolers has definitely taught me a lot about growth in leadership for all areas of my life and has developed in me a confidence for situations I'm not equipped for. Here's what I wrote about my experience stepping into leadership more intently these past 2 quarters.
May 13, 2015
Leading with Bellevue Younglife has definitely influenced my leadership abilities in more challenging ways than I expected. Through the past months, I have been building relationships with High Schoolers. I've worked with a specific group of Sophomore girls, investing most of my time with them individually or in small groups, and I've also spent time getting to know boys and girls of all ages. I expected this experience to grow my leadership abilities and teach me to relate to the high school population. It fulfilled these expectations in certain ways, but mostly provided me with a new understanding of skills to pursue in this capacity. It integrated my coursework more than I expected, and taught me how to holistically approach mentoring relationships. I was able to attend a conference through Young Life in the fall, where I had the chance to hear from other leaders in the organization about what it looks like to be a leader. Through this experience, I learned leadership skills that were translatable to any context of leadership. The biggest thing I learned from this conference was approaching these relationships with humility. The most effective leader first inquires as to what the people she is leading need. To look at the kids I'm leading and not make assumptions about their life, but instead approach them with an attitude of saying "I want to help you. How do you want me to?" Throughout the next few months, I was able to implement this mentality and learn more genuinely how to grow as a leader in this context. I often played a counseling role for the girls I work with because they recognize someone who wants to hear what they want, which is very unique for them. This in itself proved its own challenge, and I constantly needed to give myself the reality check that I am not qualified to counsel them and don't have a lot of the answers they seek. But it's more about listening to their questions. Through this mentality, I was able to strengthen my role as a team member by giving input on how to improve our team functioning and effectiveness while also being malleable to fill different roles on the team. I learned to become an energetic leader upfront because that's what the kids needed, not because I felt naturally inclined to. I think I mostly learned through this project that effectiveness as a leader is rooted in that malleability-knowing that I am not capable but having the enthusiasm to become capable if that's needed. |
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