Based on the mission statement for the Chancellor’s Leadership Development Program, what experiences thus far have helped you move toward living out the mission of the program, specifically?                                                     Mission: To create a family of students capable of excelling as values-based leaders focused on serving the community, inspiring others, and impacting the world.

Thus far each experience has allowed me to a bond with the cohort. I think we've really put an emphasis on the family part of the mission since day one and we've felt like a tight knit family. We had an activity at the retreat called 'Life Maps" and the goal of the activity was to explain basically where you come from and what you've been through and how deep you decided to go was all up to you and how vulnerable you felt with the group. This is what I'd say was the biggest factor that showed how close we'd came so fast and solidified our family.  The rest just comes naturally because we all strive toward supporting each other to become leaders, and through this we work together to impact the world!

How have the mentor components (group and individual) enhanced your leadership and personal development? How have you benefited from the mentor relationships in CLDP?

The mentor components have been a tremendous help in my leadership and personal development! The group mentor meetings really helped me learn things about myself that I didn't know by just discussing a variety of topics that I didn't know existed, but I related to it, and seeing my peers in the group relate also helped because it showed I wasn't alone. One that will always stick out to me and seems to be a reoccurring topic that helped me learn about myself is the imposter syndrome and the various cases of it that we talked about and everyone in the room had some form of relation to it.

How are the experiences through this program helping you to become a well-rounded leader in your potential major/career?

The experiences through this program have really started to bring me out of my shell which plays a major role in helping me become the well-rounded leader I strive to be. Everything in the program has contributed to that. The mentor meetings, seminars, retreats have all helped. In my major/career which is Architecture, I also interact with a lot of people and also receive lots of criticism and feedback and this program has helped me cope with that feedback.

Part of this program encourages global learning experiences. How have you or how do you plan on exposing yourself to these type of experiences? How have they/will they enhance you as a more global minded leader?

This program has definitely made me think about getting out in the world to see different things to impact my leadership skills. So far this year I've taken every trip opportunity available to me, but I also have more I plan on taking to enhance my leadership which includes the New Orleans service trip. I plan on studying abroad within my time here at NC State. Of the global experiences I've had so far, my visit to Washington D.C. Had a huge impact on me. Being there and learning the history of D.C. and our leaders opened my mind to how to globally impact the world. I also visited 3 cities in Alabama on a Civil Rights trip just to get a sense of a different place than where I come from and to experience their culture, I plan on doing more trips like that in the future.

What have you learned about yourself through this program that you didn’t know before? How will this new knowledge enhance your leadership potential?

I learned a lot about myself through this program, but I'll say I learned about myself the most at the retreat we had at the beginning of the year. The activities we did were very eye opening for me. I learned how others may see me, and I learned that even as a shy person, I can be seen as out-going and seem the complete opposite. One of the activities at the retreat helped me realize this. This activity was an anonymous activity and there were different people selected to be in the middle every minute or so and the others had to stand facing the other way with their eyes closed and Andrea would say a line for example: touch someone who has brought you joy this weekend, and the people in the middle would walk around and touch people who they felt answered that question and it lets you know something you portray to people that you may have never thought you did. I also learned the reason why I am here today to do what I'm doing with my life. All these things have already enhanced my leadership potential because to be a leader you have to know yourself first, but also it will continue to enhance my leadership potential by showing me the leader I am to myself that way I can portray that to others.

Based off of your experience with the Chancellor’s Leadership Development Program, how has it influenced your engagement across campus?

The CLDP has first off connected me with people with a wide range of different majors around campus! I feel with me being in the College of Design I may not have been able to do this on my own because of the rigor of my major and the College of Design doesn't get to really see any other majors, but it has also helped my engage in my own community which is the College of Design more by getting me to be more open to talking to new people. With CLDP helping me to open up and talk to new people I've met what I consider to be one of my best friends at state and within my major is my friend Marcus.

Showcase

Putting on a Show

It has been a true honor to share my experiences with the cohort thus far. Getting this far has definitely not been easy, and I love working with these guys to achieve our goals through lessons of resilience and perseverance. While on our way to become leaders in our own way.