Tier 1
Tier 1 of BHLP focuses on the development of personal leadership and allowed me to learn about myself as a leader. Through various workshops, I added more skills to my toolbox that became beneficial in all of the future leadership positions I took on.
Workshops
Making Time Count
The workshop on making time count provided me with techniques and strategies to improve my time management. I have always prided myself on my ability to manage my time; however, college was a whole different ball game. After the activities fair where I signed up for every club I saw, I started to see how time management can become a real issue. The biggest thing that I learned in this workshop was as simple as not being afraid to say no to something. While it sounds really easy, I found it to be very difficult because I am the type of person who wants to do it all. Even four years later, I have to go back and remind myself that to make the most of my time and give my full annotation to the things I find important, I have to say no to some opportunities. I also put into action SMART goals and prioritize items by things that I have to do, should do, and would be nice to do. As the work for my classes and extracurricular activities piled up, this came in handy to ensure that I got everything done on time while still enjoying college and finding time to socialize and relax.
Servant Leadership
My biggest takeaway from the workshop on servant leadership was about finding a balance. During this workshop we were given the example of good balance as having the confidence to say that you are right, but having the vulnerability to say you were wrong. I always saw leadership as being confident and making the right choices, but after taking on leadership roles I quickly realized the vulnerability part is equally as important. At some point, you are going to make a mistake and taking accountability makes you even better of a leader. Similarly, vulnerability can have such a huge impact and make you more relatable. That alone helped me to become a better peer mentor and help my mentees to open up to me about their own experiences.
Global Awareness
As someone who strives to make an impact on the world, the global awareness workshop really stood out to me. From learning about cultural sensitivity, cultural appreciation, and cultural appropriation, it opened my eyes to so much I had never thought about. However, the portion of this workshop that had the strongest effect on me was about intent versus impact. Coming to the realization that something I may say may hurt someone, even if I did not intend for it too, in the end still hurting them changed the way I approached many situations. Instead of getting defensive and trying to explain what I meant, I learned that the best thing to do is to listen to the person and learn about why it was hurtful, reflect on it, apologize, and continue to keep doing better. After this workshop, I started to apply this in all aspects of my life, not just related to global awareness.
Social Media and Leadership
Social media is a huge part of our lives and has such a big impact on who we are. In general, social media is always talked about in such a negative light. This workshop explored some of the positives of social media that have grown even more through the pandemic. I have always seen communication as the most important part of leadership and social media allows for exactly that. Even if it may not be a full conversation, it can open the door and lead to better face to face conversations. However, this workshop also let me reflect on my own social media use through the promo "do you use social media or does it use you". In my own life, social media is a huge part of it, and not always in the best way. Over the years, I have tried to decrease the amount of time I spend on social media doing more negative things like comparing myself to others over Instagram and instead using it to stay in touch with people I don't get to see everyday.
Tier 1 Poster
Advanced Tier 1
I had the opportunity to complete Advanced Tier 1 on top of the normal Tier 1 requirements. During this, I explored more about my own leadership style through extra workshops and developed my own. Combining my interests and passions, I explored leadership through environmentalism and how strong leadership, both good and bad, can impact the Earth.