Semester One Reflection

Expectations vs. Reality

Leadership to me always meant that someone had an ability to take charge in any situation with forcefulness and strength. Over the course of this semester I have realized that leadership is much more than being a visible force; rather, it is composed of emotional intelligence and authenticity that captivates people to work toward a common goal. The ability to gather people around a cause or a vision is unique and not easy to come by, which is why most people can name the great leaders of the present world and of the past. Still, within any niche emotional intelligence is crucial, and is comprised of aspects of self-awareness, empathy, self-regulation, and social charisma. These elements are what make leaders effective, rather than force, fear, and power. In my time so far in the public leadership scholars program, my perception of leadership has changed dramatically. While the depth of the discussions we had in our PL classes lived up to my expectations, I was surprised that even over zoom learning how to be an effective leader could be engaging and informative. I expected college to be filled with lectures and notes, but I found myself in more small groups and whole class discussions than I had anticipated. This worked well with my learning style, because I can only process so much information when I am being talked at.

Some of the most interesting connections between courses came from the intersection of my TLPL, or Teaching, Learning, Policy and Leadership, courses and my history courses. It is interesting to see how leaders have acted in the past and to connect that with the way the education system works in the present day. This semester I studied both European and colonial American history, and through these courses I learned about the way knowledge was acquired through academics throughout modern history. This gave the necessary context for my education course where we discussed current issues in schools. I could see the ways that the foundation of the education system is still detrimental today. In these classes we discussed school throughout history, which is also a topic that I wanted to go into more depth for CPPL. I wish that we would have discussed and learned more about ways to lead in an effort to end poverty after our poverty simulation, and I would be interested in studying the intersection of poverty and education more in the future.

University life this semester was also very different from my expectations. Being in a pandemic had the largest impact on my experience in college, but many of the traditional elements were there. I enjoyed living with people in the Cambridge community and forging strong friendships through living in close proximity. Normal university life would involve a lot more of this, but I’m glad I got to make connections in PL and around campus. I think second semester will be very similar to this semester, but by sophomore year hopefully the college experience will become more normal for all of us. UMD managed the Covid-19 pandemic considerably well while still offering some in-person experiences and classes. I remain motivated by the idea of normal social interaction and courses like I had in high school, but I also look forward to the challenges that a normal college experience will offer in the near future.