The LeaderShape Institute
"People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel."
I had the opportunity to attend the LeaderShape Institute from December 12-17, 2015 at Camp Higher Ground Conference and Retreat Center. I experienced this 6 day intensive leadership camp with 58 other University of Cincinnati Honors Program students. LeaderShape was an experience I always had hoped I would be able to fit into my schedule, and it worked perfectly with this year's holiday break. Many of my peers had recommended this opportunity to me, and I am so glad to have taken advantage of it.
The main idea of this Institute is to help citizens across the nation have the ability to lead with integrity and find a healthy disregard for the impossible. We focused our efforts on looking deeply into our being and finding our own vision for the world. We created a Breakthrough Blueprint of our established vision and found tangible possibilities of making our dreams a reality.
My Breakthrough Blueprint concentrates on my vision of creating a program for middle school girls in Cincinnati Public Schools focused on the value of independence, fiscal and social responsibility, life goals, and ethics. In today's world, fewer and fewer students understand the power you can create by understanding the value of the dollar while saving money for the future. It will be exciting to start this journey post-graduation!
As another piece of the LeaderShape Institute, we developed and portrayed our leadership styles through various activities and games. Our group broke down social class barriers and false accusations against people's career choices. We realized that in the end, many people are looking out for the good of others, but we each have the opportunity to donate our time, talents, and treasures in different ways. Personally, a major takeaway from the Institute was to stick up for your own beliefs. It is important to listen to others and hear their perspective on situations; but, at the end of the day, I knew I needed to be myself and be confident in my values.