My Courses
WORLD RELGIONS: REL 110
In the Fall of 2017, I took REL 110: World Religions. World Religions was an eye-opening course to the faiths of individuals all around the world. We focused on the leading living religions, including Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. I think that studying these religions was important and valuable because it gave me the opportunity to think differently and consider how we could function more beneficially in today's modern culture. It emphasized method issues, perspectives, and critical thinking, which can be directly applied to my development of leadership skills. When I took the Clifton’s Strengths test, one of my top five strengths was connectedness. I learned that people with the theme of connectedness tend to believe that everything happens for a reason. They find a way to connect the dots between what is happening in the now and a deeper personal meaning. I think that I have a rather unique way of seeing world and recognize instinctively that everything that happens is caused by something else. There is a ripple effect that connects everything together. In that connection, I think that we can find purposeful meaning and deeper relationships to others and ourselves. I realized that I enjoy situations that challenge me to find meaning or value in seemingly random experiences. In an explanation that I read it said that “At times, people with Connectedness appear to be randomly connecting a variety of obscure thoughts...but give them time, because you may find they have an amazing ability to weave those thoughts together to create a beautiful pattern of meaning. I think that Connectedness relates directly to faith. Through World Religions, I learned more about the ways that faiths can be connected to each other and to the lives of the followers. Faith isn’t always stated as “God”, but faith for some people is the belief in this omnipresent and omnipotent power or energy that holds our reality together. In the end, this course was an opportunity to learn more about religions over the years and how they have made an impact on how we connect to our past, present, and future.
INTRODUCTION TO LEADERSHIP STUDIES
AGED 260
In AGED 260, Introduction to Leadership Studies, we dissected leadership theories and their application to leadership and followership in multiple settings. The purpose of the course is to develop a personal philosophy of leadership, learn and apply leadership theories to enhance leadership, and record our growth through a series to surveys, readings, and written assignments. We explored topics concerning diversity, ethics, and leadership/followership roles. Each week we have two lectures that dive into the details circulating leadership theories through the ages, and a discussion group meeting at the end of the week, to put those theories into practice with fun activities. We started the course by writing about what leadership means to me; how to I define leadership and when do I consider myself a leader. At the beginning of the semester, my definition of leadership was: leadership is to motivate others to work collaboratively, harmoniously, and to live/fulfill their highest sense of right throughout completing a task. I realized that to find a better definition of leadership for myself, that I needed to dive deeper into what it means to be a leader. I think that a leader is someone that betters the work environment, they know their team and themselves well, maintains a positive attitude, and guides to the group to accomplishing the common goal(s). From what I’ve learned in this semester so far, leadership is practiced not so much in words, but in attitudes and actions. When I was in high school, doing my first stage management gig, stage management was described to me as a relationship, not a just a person or position. I’ve learned that management is about arranging and telling, whereas leadership is about nurturing and enhancing. I think that leadership should be viewed as an opportunity to serve, and less as a call to self-importance. As of now, my definition is: leadership is not so much a person or a position, but it is a complex moral relationship between people based on trust, devotion, accountability, and a shared vision of the good.
