Goodbye and Thanks!

Looking back, I expected Emerging Leaders to be some long class reading some book about "leadership." I had enrolled in the class because I needed 2 more credits and being for freshmen only, this year is my only chance.  I was pleasantly surprised to discover that class was anything but what I had expected.  ELP was my favorite course this past quarter not necessarily because of the material covered, but because of the group dynamic of the class.  I want to thank Lori and Casey for creating such an engaging and fun course.  I also want to thank all of you guys!  It was our attitude as a class that made ELP special!

What did I learn?  I learned how to better be myself.  When applied to leadership, I learned that a leader cannot just be the "selfish leader" I had been taught to be in Catholic grade school, Jesuit high school, and Boy Scouts.  While serving others is an integral part of leadership, I learned that you cannot forget about yourself.  Lori's story about needing to take care of herself and while she was serving others started to make more sense.  I also learned that leadership requires passion.  You can't truly lead to the best of your ability if you don't genuinely care about the cause you are leading.

Looking forward, I want to find that cause or calling.  College is a time to make new friends, discover who you are, and prepare for life out in the "real world."  But arguably one of the most important parts of college is finding what you love to do and turning that into a career.  Over the past quarter, I have been reflecting on my passions.  I love to cook, take photos while hiking and traveling, read, and write fantasy/sci-fi, camp, lay outside Graham in the sun....

After reflecting on all that, I realized that reading and writing stand out to me in some way.  I worked on my high school's literary magazine sophomore through senior years of high school and lead as the Senior Executive Editor.  I have written some of my own poetry and short stories and love helping other people work on theirs.  Also, I have noticed a problem in the literary world.  Every story is "boy-meets-girl and happily ever after."  Growing up, I wanted something that showed "boy-meets-boy," something that I could relate to.  Taking all of this into account, I have decided to start pursuing an English major emphasizing on creative writing.  If I love my English classes, I will double major in marketing and minor in entrepreneurship.  Why the other two?  I want to start my own publishing and editing company that would promote pro-GLBTQ books for kids ages 8 through 18.  I want to take my passion (reading and writing) and help those growing up who love reading but, like me, have nothing that shows the happily-ever-after we want.

I also want to thank everyone for their support and acceptance through what I have blogged about.  I'll miss everyone next quarter! (Lets keep blogging and post links to them on our Facebook group)

Have a great spring break and Happy St. Patrick's Day!