10 Things Getting Involved in Leadership Can Give You Your Senior Year

By: Meghan King 

Anyone who knows me knows that I really love Leadership & Training. Getting involved in the Office of Leadership & Training my last year at Rutgers was the smartest decision I made for my professional trajectory, for my personal growth, and for my own happiness. In undergrad it made me a better student organization president, RA, and Site Leader and I am still seeing the effects of my experience with Leadership after graduation as a grad student, future teacher, and human being. So I am telling you that you really should get involved.

This is me with some awesome student leaders having fun because we are involved!

But, you don’t have to just take it from me. I asked 10 recent grad’s what they gained their senior year from getting involved in Leadership & Training. Here’s what they said and what YOU can get from getting involved this coming year.

1. Mentors 

In my final year at Rutgers, I wanted to get as involved as possible, as well as network with new people. Throughout my experiences with Leadership and Training, I was not only able to do both of those, but go out and make a direct impact on peoples lives in the community. I was not only able to go and become a mentor for students who felt lost, but I also gained lifelong friends and mentors of my own, who I am truly grateful for. I have done a lot of various programs through my college career, but getting involved with Leadership and Training was the best decision I made by far.  – Shawn Smith, Journalism/Anthropology

2. Motivation 

Working with the leadership and training team gave me the confidence and motivation I needed to really excel as a leader. I learned to trust my instincts when discussing new ideas. Today, I  use the feedback I received from my superiors to push my passion for leadership and new ideas further into development. – Michelle Hartmann, Landscape Architecture

Last years Staff/Site Leaders on the Leadership Alternative Break in Washington, DC. Shawn, Jenn, Gina, Amanda, and myself all in this picture AND in this blog post talking about our love for Leadership & Training!

3. Resources

Getting involved in Leadership & Training’s Backpack to Briefcase program was essential for me. Learning how to negotiate with landlords, the language with which to communicate your interest and wishes, and the knowledge of what to ask ensured that I was able to make my transition out of my parent’s house a smooth one. I’ve seen too many of my friends saddled with bad leases and have to pay too much for bad situations, and the Backpack to Briefcase program gave me the resources to understand how to make my own life transition in a healthy and safe way. – Erik Stratton, Theater Arts/English

4. Experience

Being a part of the Leadership team helped me to add more experience to my resume that would be relevant in whatever industry I decided to go into. Having the ability to lead a group helped me to become a better employee for my future employers and helped me to be a more well rounded candidate on my resume as well. – Amanda Seaman, Journalism/Computer Science

5. Confidence

My time at Leadership and Training taught me confidence in a challenging yet rewarding environment. As the facilitator of Pop Up Leadership, my job was to interact with students in the student centers on a weekly basis, educating them about leadership and furthering the message of our office. This responsibility brings with it the pressure of communicating in an effective manner, which over the course of my senior year has grown my confidence substantially. – Luke Modzier, Exercize Science and Sports Studies

Look how confident Luke is! Look at all those traits you can gain and will still use in 5 years!

6. Inspiration

I was truly inspired to become a part of Leadership and Training because I wanted to give meaning to my involvement at Rutgers University. Leadership and Training allowed me to develop the skills I needed to become not only a student leader but a professional on campus by understanding team dynamics and my personal strengths. My inspiration to be successful and dedicated came from Rutgers Leaders and now myself have become that inspiration for others. – Amanda Sedlmayer, Planning and Public Policy/Education

7. Determination

During my time as an intern at Leadership and Training, I was finally pushed for the first time to truly grow as a person, not just as a scholar. I had been challenged academically before, but my time at Leadership Central made me step out of my comfort zone as a student and taught me to approach anyone, at anytime. Leaders cannot give excuses for things not being done because the buck stops there. At Leadership and Training, I was pushed to recognize this fact and develop the determination to get the job done, and done well as a leader must. – Allison Zabady, Political Science/Criminology

8. Purpose 

Rutgers Leadership & Training assisted in my growth as not only a professional speaker but as a human being. To trust in individuals potential, preparing them, and lastly, challenging them when they believe they have had enough, is the purpose of Leadership & Training. I would not be where I stand today if it were not for Robyn Ginese and the Rutgers Leadership & Training team. They all saw through my doubts and made me believe in myself. – Alyea Pierce, Communications/English/Latino and Hispanic, Caribbean Studies

Alyea was our Mark Conference emcee from last year!

9. Perspective 

While working with the Office of Leadership and Training my senior year, I accompanied 40 first year students on an alternative break to Washington D.C. to work with the issue of hunger and homelessness. As a leadership mentor, I was able to facilitate activities on themes such as privilege and assumption while connecting these topics to the larger issues we were working with. This opportunity gave me a greater perspective on different lifestyles, opinions, and awareness as well as a new found gratitude for them. In addition, I learned about my personal abilities as a leader from this simply inspiring experience. – Gina Sesta, American Studies/History/Anthropology

10. Direction

I absolutely loved academics in college, and being a Women’s and Gender Studies major inspired me every day, but having a passion wasn’t enough; I found myself overwhelmed with all the different directions I could take my life post-graduation. As soon as I got involved with Leadership and Training, I let my fun—yet extremely meaningful—extracurricular activities help guide me to my path towards Student Affairs, and I never looked back. Getting involved my Senior Year allowed me the opportunity to realize that sometimes the direction for your passion may evolve not from the work you do in class, but from the students you’ll work with, and the organizations that captivate your heart. – Jennifer Osolinski, Women’s and Gender Studies/Social Justice

If that isn’t reason enough to get involved in Leadership & Training, I don’t know what is! If you have any questions about getting involved email us at lead@echo.rutgers.edu, connect with us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter. We want you to graduate from Rutgers as the most successful person you can be, so let us help you do that. I promise you, you won’t regret it.

So what R U waiting for?

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Meghan King is a Master of Education candidate at the Rutgers Graduate School of Education with concentrations in Social Studies (K-12) and Urban Education. She is also the Summer Intern for the Office of Leadership & Training and the Site Coordinator for Camp UKnight. Meghan is an alumna of Rutgers University and Douglass Residential College (Class of 2014) where she double majored in History and Women’s and Gender Studies. In undergrad, she was an RA on the Cook/Douglass campus, Producer of Cabaret Theatre, and Site Leader for Alternative Breaks.