It is hard for me to put down in words what these past three years as a Leadership Consultant has meant to me. I have tried to describe my job many times and find myself rambling on and trying to put it all into one conveniently wrapped sentence, but it is hard to describe all of the things this experience has given me in words. There is so much that I can say about the people, the work, and the growth that I have experienced in the past three years, so please bear with me as I figure it out.
When I was growing up, I rarely felt that I belonged. I had been assigned specific involvement in High School based on my sisters’ legacy, making it difficult for me to truly enjoy what I was doing. I rarely fit into the boxes that were set out for me, and almost never had a consistent and core group of friends that I felt comfortable with. There were assumptions and expectations attached to my last name and a lot of ideas about what it meant to be a “Sprague.”
George Mason University was the first place I went where nobody knew my name. I was able to be whoever and whatever I wanted, which, more importantly, meant that I could just be myself for once. I started off looking for different places that I fit into and where I belonged at this institution. It was during this search for belonging and empowerment that I found the LEAD Office.
My journey with LEAD started when Hurricane Sandy tore through my home state. It was a disaster that I had not been expecting to deal with within 2 months of moving away from home, and I felt a strong desire to support my fellow New Jerseyians in any way that I knew how. I started to rally up some of the friends that I had met within my first few months and started a Facebook group with the goal of developing a plan to raise money for communities in both New York and New Jersey that were affected by the storm. I was trying everything I could to get this group together, but it wasn’t until I got an email from someone who would become an integral part of my journey through Mason, Lisa Snyder. She told me about the efforts that LEAD was pioneering for Hurricane Sandy relief and introduced me to the LEAD Office. I went to my first L-Team meeting that week and never looked back.
I think that the way that I personally got involved says so much about the nature of the LEAD Office. We see students in the community who are doing things that they are passionate about and reach out to them to give support to their efforts. We find students who may not recognize their leadership abilities and give them the tools to reach their full potential. Not every student who walks through our doors is passionate about leadership, but they are passionate about something and we provide them with the understanding they need to be strong leaders.
Being a leader is more than name recognition or awards. It is the actions you take when no one is looking at you and the things that you say when no one can hear you. It is the small bits of courage that make you stand up for what you believe in, or the moments you take to make someone smile. Leadership is learning who you are and how to be that person everyday.
There are four key components to my experience in the LEAD Office that have become apparent to me during my time as a Leadership Consultant. These are Service, Growth, Courage, and Home.
Service
Service has been an integral part of my experience in the LEAD Office. Above all of the training and team building that we do in the office, it is clear that those involved with LEAD have a strong passion for service and genuinely care about the community around them.
The fabulous 2015-2016 LC Team at the 3rd Annual InCredAble Conference!
One example that comes to mind is of a very young and very beautiful angel. In February 2013, a few months after I joined L-Team, Lisa told the team about a young girl named Ellie Marie Blaine, who had been diagnosed with a rare form of cancer known as Pineoblastoma. Since that time, LEAD has raised money in honor of Ellie and the Blaine family by partnering with Lambda Theta Alpha, inc. for the Mr. Burgundy and Grey Pageant, as well as by participating in a walk for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Other service initiatives that I was involved with this year was the 9/11 Day of Service Planning Committee, the InCredAble Conference at Godwin Middle School, an arts and crafts drive for the Domestic Violence Action Center, and more.
As I got more involved in L-Team and other LEAD initiatives, I started to find a home. My first meeting reminded me of the YMCA Teen Leaders Club that I had been a part of growing up, and I suddenly realized that I had a found a place at Mason that I could call home. I attended various programs including the Mason Leadership Institute, Presidential Leadership Dialogues, Brown Bag Lunches, and many more. When the applications for Leadership Consultant came out, I knew that it was something I had to take advantage of, and I was extremely thankful to have been chosen for the position.
During my three years as a Leadership Consultant my understanding of service has changed drastically. I now understand what kinds of service can in fact be detrimental to a community, and what kinds of service can lift a community up. Asking what a community needs and providing those needs is one of the easiest and most effective ways to serve. I have been able to implement this understanding of service in my work by being critical of the way we currently do service and learning how we can improve our efforts, specifically with the Godwin Middle School Leadership Program. I hope to continue to use this learning to inform the ways that I engage in service.
Growth
My experiences as a Leadership Consultant this past three years have absolutely exceeded my expectations. Each year has transformed me in ways that I could have never imagined, and while I still hold to my true self, there are parts of my identity that have drastically grown over time. This past year has allowed me to grow more as individually and professionally as I have prepared to transition out of my Mason experience. I have been given the opportunity to learn more about myself and my personal identities and have used that comprehension to have a strong understanding of other individuals and the world as a whole.
Some amazing L-Team members at the 2016 Distinguished Quill Awards being recognized for their work with the Godwin Middle School Leadership Program.
During the Fall 2013 semester, I was challenged to learn more about social justice and develop my cultural competency. This has been one of my greatest areas of growth over these three years and has given me the ability to understand systems of oppression and the privileges that I hold. Due to this, I have been better able to interact with others within and outside of the Mason community as well as criticize spaces that fail to be inclusive of all identities. This past year has been full of a lot of difficult situations both nationally and locally that have challenged my commitment to social justice work and encouraged my greater understanding of activism in action.
I have also experienced a large amount of professional growth throughout these two years. I have been provided ample opportunities to discover and really understand the Student Affairs profession. My huge passion for Student Affairs has continued to drive me towards success as I work to understand my future and the ways that I can give to the world. I have been able to have conversations with many different professionals about their experience in order to continue this growth. I have also received three amazing opportunities to attend the NASPA Annual Conference. I believe that being a part of committees with LEAD and understanding how systems work within a university has fostered my understanding of higher education and the role that I could play in that system. This professional growth gave me the opportunity to form close relationships with some mentors in student affairs and connect all that I learn in and out of the classroom to my future in the profession.
With all of this growth, I have been given the amazing opportunity to support the growth of others. As a mentor, a leader, and a friend, I have been able to create relationships that allow me to share my experiences and empower others to see the leader in themselves. As I transition out of my position as a Leadership Consultant and into my graduate program, I hope to learn more about my mentoring style and use the experience to guide my future role as a mentor and Student Affairs educator.
Courage
Being a part of LEAD and assigned to various program pieces has pushed me out of my comfort zone and forced me to try things that I had not done before. To succeed in all that I have these past three years, I had to step into my courage and walk strongly into each situation. Courage is my number one value, and I truly saw that grow in myself this year. In developing my own identities, I have become more confident in myself and my abilities. I have recognized and evaluated my strengths and therefore know where my strengths best fit, giving me the confidence to lean into the unknown. I am now proud to be the person that I am and make the effort to be my authentic self each and every day.
Sharing one of my spoken word pieces at the 3rd Annual Women’s History Month Banquet.
I have also been able to step courageously into new experiences and relationships that have helped me grow. Attending NASPA, while extremely exciting, has been a new and quite scary experience each time. Each times, I spent close to a week in a new city (Baltimore, New Orleans, and Indianapolis) and was exposed to many different people at all levels of their career. I have been provided with numerous opportunities this past few years and courage gave me the power to jump into them and experience them for all that they are.
More importantly, I have gained the courage to be myself. It can be so hard to show one’s true self each day, but I have learned so much from the people around me that authenticity only leads to being one’s best self. After hiding so much of who I am for so long, I am thankful to feel that I can share my personality with the world without fear of being judged.
Home
Finally, LEAD has given me a home and family at Mason that I would never have expected to find. I have never been able to step in a place and be completely myself while gaining the love and support of almost a dozen other amazing people. Not many students are so fortunate to have an on campus job that they are consistently happy and excited to go to. Being out of state, there have been times that not being able to see my family has been really difficult. But I know that with LEAD, I have a home away from home that will support me in any way that they can.
I could not have asked for a better team in my final year.
The most amazing part about that is that I am not the only one who feels this way. So many students have called the LEAD Office their second home, and I think that says a lot about the atmosphere that is created there. I don’t know where I would have been if I hadn’t found this office, but I know that I am forever grateful that this is the one I found.
I could not talk about my family within LEAD without specifically calling out Lisa Snyder. Lisa has been like a mother to me and has been there to support me in any and every single way. I could not be more thankful to have such a beautiful and caring person in my life. Being a Leadership Consultant has meant everything to me, and I attribute so much of my success and growth to the Office of Leadership Education and Development.
