by Dr. Caitlin Haugen, Assistant Director, Beyond the Classroom
??Effective civic leaders make social change by learning from experience,
listening to key voices, and acting in collaboration with partners.?
The challenge is to identify those experiences, voices, and partners
that enable you to use your talents and leadership
to the fullest to create positive social change.?
~ Dr. Jim Riker, Director, Beyond the Classroom ~
While good leadership may appear as easy as pushing a button, many BTC students learn it requires much more!
The above quote illustrates BTC?s philosophy on leadership.? All of the program?s classes and activities emphasize developing students? leadership skills.? Students are also required to have a semester long internship and take a one credit seminar that allows them to think critically about their internship experiences.? BTC requires students to seek internships in nonprofit, civil society, or governmental organizations.? In their internship seminar, students are challenged to think critically about the characteristics of leaders through class discussion and assignment.
Last semester in the internship seminar, students were asked to write about what it means to be a leader for a reflection paper assignment.? As Beyond the Classroom gears up for the new academic year, these reflections provide inspiration and a sense of purpose for students embarking on various courses and activities for the program.
Madison Higgins worked as the Development Intern for NARAL Pro-Choice Maryland.? She researched potential donors and planned events for her organization in her internship, and she noted, ?Through this internship, I have learned that there are many different kinds of leadership.???? Students also identified the importance of strong leadership through their internship.? Ashoka Changemakers intern Julia Brown noted that ?Strong leadership is an integral part of any well-run organization. An organization not only needs leaders to take control of an organization, but to develop it and cause it to thrive.?? Lizzie Majchrzak identified a leader and mentor she worked with during her internship at Camp Umoja:? ?[He] never fails to see injustice or to ignore it.? But not only is he socially conscious, he always feels a call to action and never fails to answer.?
In addition to courses and programming, BTC offers resources to develop students? leadership skills through social media. Follow the program on Facebook and Twitter to learn more.
Students noted that they learned to identify leadership skills.? Carleigh Benton learned, ?The willingness to teach or train others is extremely important in a successful leader? during her internship as an Emergency Room scribe at Washington Adventist Hospital.? ?I have learned a lot about leadership in this internship,? stated Abena Oni, who interned with Reading Partners. ?However, the most valuable thing that I have learned is that a good leader constantly strives for self-improvement and encourages others to improve themselves as well. A good leader constantly strives for their organization to be better and do better.?? Further, Samaritan Women intern Annie Beekman wrote, ?Through this internship I have learned that leadership means a lot more than just having great organizational skills or great vision.? To successfully lead an entire organization one must combine these strengths.? Every leader should have some amount of both of these qualities, but should always be looking to other sources, especially those below him in the organization and other successful leaders, for inspiration and improvements on past ideas.?
Forest Plourde-Cole was a communication intern with the American Public Health Association.? In his essay, he described the importance of leadership in non-profits specifically. ?Leadership is a profound piece of an effective non-profit. By definition, monetary rewards are not the foundation of employee or volunteer?s efforts within a non-profit. With this, leadership, or the ability to motivate and inspire others to reach a goal, must be a staple in the non-profit staff.?
These essays illustrate the profound learning BTC students experience as they embark on their journey to become engaged, active citizens through internships and other program experiences.
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