Exploring Personal Leadership
Date: January 2019 – May 2019
Competencies: Information Synthesis lv. 2,3&4, Original Research lv. 1,2&3
Competencies: Information Synthesis lv. 2,3&4, Original Research lv. 1,2&3
Summary
During the spring semester of my second year at Minnesota State, I took the Honors Seminar, Exploring Personal Leadership. Throughout the semester, we learned about leadership, how it positively or negatively influences the people around us, what ways we can effectively work on our own personal leadership skills, and how we could put our values and beliefs into action through our leadership. Throughout the semester, we also planned and executed a Community Engagement project, where we learned about a problem in the Mankato area that we were passionate about, researched organizations that combat that issue, and created a project to assist in the goals of those organizations. I chose to complete my project on MVAC [Minnesota Valley Action Council], and the issue of homelessness in the Mankato area.
During the spring semester of my second year at Minnesota State, I took the Honors Seminar, Exploring Personal Leadership. Throughout the semester, we learned about leadership, how it positively or negatively influences the people around us, what ways we can effectively work on our own personal leadership skills, and how we could put our values and beliefs into action through our leadership. Throughout the semester, we also planned and executed a Community Engagement project, where we learned about a problem in the Mankato area that we were passionate about, researched organizations that combat that issue, and created a project to assist in the goals of those organizations. I chose to complete my project on MVAC [Minnesota Valley Action Council], and the issue of homelessness in the Mankato area.
Reflection
When I was first introduced to the coming Community Engagement project during the first couple class meetings, I was nervous, because I felt I was not passionate enough about any of the topics that I might be able to complete it on. However, as I started to investigate potential issues in the area, one issue really piqued my interest: homelessness, and how the people suffering it are given assistance (Research lv. 1&2). After that, I began to learn about a couple of key stakeholders in the area that provided resources for those suffering homelessness and near-homelessness (Synthesis lv. 2). The concept of near-homelessness was new to me, and I was surprised at just how many resources were dedicated to that community. With the resources I gained from MVAC and Partners for Affordable Housing, I was able to compare Mankato’s response to homelessness to the social change model implementation (Synthesis lv. 3), which we learned about in class. In addition to researching homelessness, I developed a project to assist in spreading awareness of the homeless and near-homeless population in Mankato. Using my position as a Community Advisor, I invited speakers from MVAC to speak on how their organization assists the issue and gave my residents an opportunity to do a small project to help those dealing with homelessness (Research lv. 3). Once I finished my project and research, I compiled it all in a paper and class presentation, where I was able to share what I’d learned about homelessness in general, in the Mankato area specifically, and how stakeholder organizations are helping those communities experiencing homelessness (Synthesis lv. 4).
After completing the various steps of my Community Engagement Project – research, application, and reflection – I was able to see as a whole how the whole process had affected me. Doing all this work relating to the homeless population in Mankato helped me get a glimpse into how difficult life and life circumstances may be for these people. It helped me gain empathy on the various struggles that lead to stigmatized problems in society, and has helped me gain awareness to how lucky I am to just have a stable source of housing and food.
When I was first introduced to the coming Community Engagement project during the first couple class meetings, I was nervous, because I felt I was not passionate enough about any of the topics that I might be able to complete it on. However, as I started to investigate potential issues in the area, one issue really piqued my interest: homelessness, and how the people suffering it are given assistance (Research lv. 1&2). After that, I began to learn about a couple of key stakeholders in the area that provided resources for those suffering homelessness and near-homelessness (Synthesis lv. 2). The concept of near-homelessness was new to me, and I was surprised at just how many resources were dedicated to that community. With the resources I gained from MVAC and Partners for Affordable Housing, I was able to compare Mankato’s response to homelessness to the social change model implementation (Synthesis lv. 3), which we learned about in class. In addition to researching homelessness, I developed a project to assist in spreading awareness of the homeless and near-homeless population in Mankato. Using my position as a Community Advisor, I invited speakers from MVAC to speak on how their organization assists the issue and gave my residents an opportunity to do a small project to help those dealing with homelessness (Research lv. 3). Once I finished my project and research, I compiled it all in a paper and class presentation, where I was able to share what I’d learned about homelessness in general, in the Mankato area specifically, and how stakeholder organizations are helping those communities experiencing homelessness (Synthesis lv. 4).
After completing the various steps of my Community Engagement Project – research, application, and reflection – I was able to see as a whole how the whole process had affected me. Doing all this work relating to the homeless population in Mankato helped me get a glimpse into how difficult life and life circumstances may be for these people. It helped me gain empathy on the various struggles that lead to stigmatized problems in society, and has helped me gain awareness to how lucky I am to just have a stable source of housing and food.
Artifact
Attached is the paper I wrote and presentation I prepared as part of my Community Engagement project with MVAC.
Attached is the paper I wrote and presentation I prepared as part of my Community Engagement project with MVAC.
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