Coming into Public Leadership, I didn't have a solid foundation of leadership. I knew what leaders were, and I could name a few of them. If you had asked me at the time, I might've cited my High School field hockey coach, my mom, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Now, having spent three semester learning about leadership, I consider myself a little more seasoned on the topic. My definition of leadership has expanded to include specific possessed entities and actions. To me, a leader is someone who is special in their ability to move a population through goal-oriented vision and motivational speech. Leadership, now, means more to me than it initially did because I am able to understand the full scope of its importance. Not only did I learn about what a leader does, I was able to meet plenty of them through the guest speakers the program brought in. PL Scholars, by teaching me about the importance of leadership, has taught me to want to be a leader. It has also equipped me with the tools to do so.

If I were to analyze my own leadership style, I would say that I tend towards being a citizen leader. Whenever I have control of a situation, I listen closely to those involved and develop a plan-of-action that caters to the common good. In class, we discussed Edward De Bono's six thinking hats, of which I was categorized as a "blue hat." I have elements of all categories, as I am creative when appropriate. When making important decisions, I refer to "black hat thinking" and develop contingencies plans by looking through solid solutions through critique. If I were to sum up this thinking style, I think it could be described as a chairman of a meeting, one who prioritizes process control.

I have used these skills ever since I have learned about them. One specific example of where I find they are most important are in the interview process. When an interviewer asks me what my leadership style is, I now have a pretty solid answer. When I'm not directly asked this question, it is up to me to share my knowledge of leadership. I have been able to do so by mentioning times in which I exemplified leadership. One of my most common examples is when I worked as an intern at the University of Maryland Motivated Cognition Lab. As the youngest lab member, it was up to me to prove my capability to my mentors. I had to lead my own research project, which often meant making decisions that would impact the other members involved. I assumed leadership by being confident in a role that I was new to, making informed and clear-cut decisions, and demonstrating goal-oriented behavior.

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Below, I have attached three papers of which I am specifically proud. I think that they are the best representations of my work in College Park Scholars. From left to right, the first is an analysis of intersectional leadership. It combines feminism and leadership to describe on of the more underrated conversations regarding leadership strategy. The second paper is an analysis of Leonardo DiCaprio in order to personalize leadership and describe an example of a leader. The third is a position paper, which prompted me to analyze leadership decisions on DACA, legislation that discusses the status of DREAMers. Together, these papers work to provide an excellent example of my perspective of leadership, a leader, and the decisions of leaders. Just writing them facilitated my change in understanding of leadership. The more research I did, the more I was able to build upon my existing knowledge.

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