HDF 190: FLITE (First-Year Leaders Inspired to Excellence)

URI Minor in Leadership Studies, Center for Student Leadership Development

Core Requirement for the Leadership Minor

Learning Contract

Goal: To identify and utilize my Strengths in an organizational/interpersonal setting that aligns

with the mission, vision, values and sponsored programs and activities of URIs Center for
Student Leadership Development.

Activity: My goal is to understand and develop my strengths in organizational, group, and

interpersonal settings. These will align with my goals, vision, and personal strengths that will aid
in guiding myself further through my collegiate experience with a renewed sense of
responsibility and clarity of self through my involvement with Civic Engagement.

Evidence: Screenshots from my Civic Engagement Leader final project.

Annotation: In an organization created in 1995 by philanthropist, Shawn Feinstein, Civic

Engagement Leaders is a group that strives to integrate service, leadership ability, and
academic study in order to enhance a learning and academic involvement on campus and in the
Rhode Island Community. The students selected to be in this program are introduced to
different servant leadership opportunities through the many volunteer opportunities Feinstein
provides. My job as a newly inducted civic engagement leader was to help run several service
projects from four categories of education (my section), human services, health, and
environmental as well as facilitating one of my own as a lead CEL (Civic Engagement Leader).

I used my strength of Woo (Winning Others Over) during the planning stage of the semester.
The month of January was an exciting time for all; everyone is taking new classes and meeting
new people. All the civic engagement leaders met with their new issue team and their new
intern for the very first time. The situation was awkward for the five students at the beginning.
We all knew what we had to do, but a couple of the students were more shy than others and
didnt feel comfortable with the group. This is when my Woo strength kicked in. I immediately
began to strike up conversation with all the new students. I made it as a goal to remember
everyones name by the end of the first class. As an activity, I was chosen to go around in a
circle and name all the CELs and interns in the group. Although I struggled to name everyone
the first time, my friendly nature I was able to alleviate everyones nerves and got everyone
laughing and comfortable with each other. By breaking the ice, I made it easier for the civic
engagement leader groups to come together and plan out volunteer events and work more
cohesively as a group.

I used my Communication strength to facilitate reflective discussion during the BULLY Project.
The BULLY Project was my lead CEL Project, meaning that it was my responsibility to lead the
advocacy project for all of the thirty seven participants. However, watching a movie or listening
to a story alone will not inspire participants to create change. The drive to make a difference can
be brought out through Process Oriented style discussion and reflection. My ability to
communicate with others effectively shined as I was able to communicate with the participants
in a way where they could truly understand. I was able to help the volunteers dig deeper in
thought and help develop thoughtful strategies for handling potential dangerous bully situations
as well as fighting the injustice surrounding hunger. Even when there was a technical difficulty
during the BULLY Project Movie, my other CEL and I were able to use our communication
abilities to create thoughtful discussion and keep the volunteers minds on track until the video
was turned back on rather than having them get distracted during the chaos.

My Positivity strength was put into action during the MS Walk. Walking 4 miles isnt exactly the
easiest activity in the world. For some people, it can be exhausting and draining. As a rest stop
worker, my job was to provide hydration, snacks, and motivation for the runners. My friend and I
took initiative to be as enthusiastic and optimistic as possible. We cheered as loud as we could,
shaking our cow bells and pom poms, and thanking all the walkers for making a change in the
lives of many people. The people walking by were definitely affected by our motivation. I
received many smiles and positive comments from the walkers. I even made a couple friends
with students from the MSA and a couple children participating in the walk. It was my positivity
that was able to motivate the participants into maintaining high spirits throughout the race.

Empathy, my fourth strength, was useful to sympathize with the stories of the people from the
advocacy projects I participated in (The BULLY Project). In an advocacy project, pathos plays a
paramount role in inciting action in participants. It helps as a facilitator of these reflective
discussions to be able to connect to the stories of the victims. When watching the BULLY
Project I was able to connect it to my middle school experience. I was able to feel the thoughts
and emotions of the victims of the bullying. I was able to draw upon my experience of isolation
to be able to feel for the peoples stories and explain these feelings to the other participants in
the reflection. My empathy helps me grow closer to the students who suffered from bullying and
this helped me further my service in CEL by relating their tragedy in my reflections which helped
create a better advocacy for my project.

Having Includer as my fifth strength was used to keep everyone feeling involved and important
throughout all of my advocacy and volunteer projects. Its important that all the participants are
involved in the volunteering process. Service becomes fruitful if everyone feels a part of a
group. Its this sense of inclusion that helps everyone conglomerate together and achieve
maximum success in the form of social change. As an example of this, during the BULLY
Project, I made sure to call on as many different people as I could to mix it up in the discussion
to make everyones voice feel heard. By encouraging everyone to get a say in the reflection and
working with as many different people throughout the service projects as I could, I helped to
create a tight knit sense of inclusion that helped foster a greater sense of service for all the
participants involved.

Instructor Signature: ____________________________________________

Student Signature: ______________________________________________