My involvement in PL has certainly shaped my college experience. Through PL I met amazing people, made strong connections, visited some pretty cool places, and learned a lot about myself as a leader.

     Before I was in PL, I thought of a leader as the person who is put in charge, whether it be a boss, a teacher, etc. Throughout my time in Pl, I learned that everyone is a leader in their own way. Leadership comes from within and in PL, I honed my leadership skills. I never knew there were so many different leadership styles and theories which allow people to lead in their own unique ways.

     This change in my understanding of leadership is definitely stemmed from what I learned in PL about leaders both historically and currently. I attached a position paper, my leadership philosophy paper, and a paper I wrote about a leader of my choice. My position paper is about the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) that protects DREAMers. In this paper, I compare the policies of President Trump and President Obama and how they lead the country in regards to immigration issues. This increased my understanding of leadership because I was able to craft a new policy that combined policies under the leadership of Trump and Obama. I also attached my leadership philosophy paper where I discuss how Jesus was a leader. I thought this was an interesting way to look at leadership because He was both a historical and a religious leader. In this paper, I analyzed how I could emulate Jesus as a leader. Finally, I attached my “pick a leader” paper where I wrote about Wendy Kopp, the founder of Teach For America. In this paper, I wrote about how Kopp transformed as a leader over the years which was not necessarily a positive change. This illustrated to me how one's leadership style is ever changing.

     The element of leadership I learned in PL that I use most in my own life is the concept of servant leadership. I have a minor in Nonprofit Leadership where I learn about nonprofit organizations and their missions. Many executive directors are servant leaders because they live and breathe the mission of their nonprofit. One day, I hope to work at a nonprofit and serve as a servant leader and I am constantly honing my servant leadership skills due to my time in PL.