Honors First Year Experience (FYEX)
Date: August 2017 – December 2017
Competencies: Values lv. 1&2, Teams lv. 1
Competencies: Values lv. 1&2, Teams lv. 1
Summary
The first semester I was at MNSU, I took the Honors First Year Experience class. We met once each week during the semester. This was one of the first classes I took on a college campus, as well as my first experience with the Honors Program. During class each week, we would discuss various aspects of the competencies of the Honors Program: Leadership, Global Citizenship, and Research. This gave me a good base on which to build my knowledge and experience of the Honors Program’s core competencies and helped create a framework through which I could experience the remainder of my time in the Honors Program and at Minnesota State University, Mankato.
The first semester I was at MNSU, I took the Honors First Year Experience class. We met once each week during the semester. This was one of the first classes I took on a college campus, as well as my first experience with the Honors Program. During class each week, we would discuss various aspects of the competencies of the Honors Program: Leadership, Global Citizenship, and Research. This gave me a good base on which to build my knowledge and experience of the Honors Program’s core competencies and helped create a framework through which I could experience the remainder of my time in the Honors Program and at Minnesota State University, Mankato.
Reflection
During our leadership section of class, we looked through several different leadership styles and aspects of leadership.
One of the major activities we did was the StrengthsFinder assessment. I found out that my main strengths were Intellection, Input, Discipline, Deliberative, and Belief. When reading the strengths report, I was struck by how much I identified with these 5 statements (Values lv. 1). We also took an assessment called the “Four Tendencies” quiz. I was an Obliger, which meets outer expectations, but resists inner expectations. After reading my report, it very much matched me, and I reflected that I had always had a difficult time meeting expectations I set by myself – such as staying active or working on a hobby or habit – even though I was fantastic at completing outside expectations – like finishing homework or staying productive at work (Values lv. 2). This helped me learn that to do well in forming a habit, I have to bring in some outside expectation – like signing up for a gym membership or having an accountability buddy. The last momentous leadership aspect we covered was different types of leaders. I decided I was a servant leader and looked at how that type of leader interacts with group members as opposed to other types of leadership (Teams lv. 1). My faith had a big influence in this decision, as Jesus Christ was one of the most recognizable servant leaders (Values lv. 1).
After my Honors FYEX class, I was much more confident in all aspects of the Honors Program and had a framework to begin to build my leadership experiences off of. I learned that I was able to be a leader regardless of being an introvert or conflict aversive, and that I had a good mix of strengths that would blend well in groups with a variety of other strengths.
During our leadership section of class, we looked through several different leadership styles and aspects of leadership.
One of the major activities we did was the StrengthsFinder assessment. I found out that my main strengths were Intellection, Input, Discipline, Deliberative, and Belief. When reading the strengths report, I was struck by how much I identified with these 5 statements (Values lv. 1). We also took an assessment called the “Four Tendencies” quiz. I was an Obliger, which meets outer expectations, but resists inner expectations. After reading my report, it very much matched me, and I reflected that I had always had a difficult time meeting expectations I set by myself – such as staying active or working on a hobby or habit – even though I was fantastic at completing outside expectations – like finishing homework or staying productive at work (Values lv. 2). This helped me learn that to do well in forming a habit, I have to bring in some outside expectation – like signing up for a gym membership or having an accountability buddy. The last momentous leadership aspect we covered was different types of leaders. I decided I was a servant leader and looked at how that type of leader interacts with group members as opposed to other types of leadership (Teams lv. 1). My faith had a big influence in this decision, as Jesus Christ was one of the most recognizable servant leaders (Values lv. 1).
After my Honors FYEX class, I was much more confident in all aspects of the Honors Program and had a framework to begin to build my leadership experiences off of. I learned that I was able to be a leader regardless of being an introvert or conflict aversive, and that I had a good mix of strengths that would blend well in groups with a variety of other strengths.
Artifact
Attached is the leadership essay I wrote at the end of our leadership section of my FYEX class. I’ve also attached my StrengthsFinder and Four Tendencies reports that I received during this class.
Attached is the leadership essay I wrote at the end of our leadership section of my FYEX class. I’ve also attached my StrengthsFinder and Four Tendencies reports that I received during this class.
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