Habla Roosevelt: Leadership
- Aug 24, 2016
- 3 min read
Learning Outcomes: Awareness of Strengths/Grows, Challenges/Skills, Initiative/Planning
My older brother, Steve, graduated high school just a few months ago, and with his departure, he has passed down the leadership position for Habla Roosevelt onto me. I've learned a couple of lessons, here and there since then. I'm now in charge of managing the club for both of my Junior, and Senior years. What we do in Habla Roosevelt, is we help teach the workers/janitors kids how to speak english, as a way to give back to them for their constant hard work. We volunteer every Saturday for periods of two, to three months, which we call semesters. This is also a way of bringing our community together through language, and education.
I like to call myself a natural born leader. I have the constant urge to step up, and take control of certain (most) situations, especially if it's of an area I'm well informed in. Not only am I good at managing clubs, I tend to want to have control over every aspect of the project, which is why leadership c
omes extremely natural to me; a position that is both my strongest, and weakest characteristic. When the leadership opportunity to manage such an important club was given to me, especially one that works hard towards the education of young kids, and teens, I was absolutely thrilled. I knew I was ready, and capable of handling the job, as well as all the work that came along with it. I immediately took the leadership position, but only focusing on how well I could do, not really thinking of the harsh challenges that lay ahead of me.
Not having my older brother there to guide me through the process of leading an entire group of volunteers felt really discouraging. Mornings in where his presence I used as encouragement, and safety were gone. I had no one to rely on whenever a problem irised, or whenever I was nervous coming in at school on my own, at 7AM to meet with teachers. I was so used to being a follower; he would tell me what to do, and I would do it. The large responsibilities I used to never think about, and the ones he was once in charge of, are suddenly sitting on top of my daily to-do-list. I am on my own, and everything needs to run as smooth as possible. I constantly worry that I'm not working as hard as I should be, or as well as my brother used to. I worry that Corey isn't impressed with the work I put into managing such an important club.
I started managing Habla on my own just a few weeks ago, right at the beginning of my Junior year. Since then, I've already managed to learn a few things:
1. Don't bite off more than you can chew. If I need any kind of help, I should simply ask! I am not on my own, and there will always be help around if I need it.
2. Take risks. I should be able to step out of my comfort zone to be able to make an impact, especially if I want to manage Habla correctly. It doesn't matter if it's talking to new people, or presenting in front of large groups of students, I should be able to come forward as a leader, and get the job done.
3. Don't be scared! There is nothing to be scared of, or worried about if I happen to come across unfamiliar situations. Learning is a long process, and it happens slowly.
I'm both excited, and extremely nervous to start my Junior year off with such a large responsibility on my shoulders. I hope for a another successful year.
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