Additional Educational Experiences
“Life is a journey, not a destination.”
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
Emerging Leaders Program (2024)
In the fall of 2024, I attended the Emerging Leaders Program at South Piedmont Community College. The program offered a unique way to learn about leadership with self-reflection and hands on lessons. I participated in several team building activities that were centered around how important good communication is. The above pictures were taken during a team building activity where we had a random stack of materials and a limited amount of time to build a structure that reached the ceiling. During certain parts of the task, we were not able to talk to each other. There was also a portion the task, right at the end, where two of our team members were removed leaving just me and another team member to work together and solve a stability issue with the structure. This activity required communication skills, teamwork, and critical thinking skills. I enjoyed this exercise and was proud that we were able to complete the task given to us.
I was also able to take a leadership assessment test to help me understand leadership qualities unique to my personality. Our group had discussions about leadership including what qualities make a good leader and a bad leader, and we were each tasked with researching a type of leadership and presenting a short speech. I researched authoritarian leadership, and I was surprised to learn that even this type of leadership can be instrumental in cases of emergency when orders need to be followed quickly and efficiently. I enjoyed hearing the other speeches about different types of leadership as well as hearing feedback from the other participants in the program. The lessons in the program were very thought provoking and I was glad to have been a part of it.
Educational Experiences Through Gardening
One of the most wonderful educational experiences in my life is my home garden. I enjoy experimenting with new varieties of plants, vegetables, and flowers. I also like trying different ways to grow vegetables. I have tried methods such as hay bale gardening, container gardens, hydroponics, and the tried and true planting seeds right in the soil.
I love growing an abundance of produce to share with others, just as my grandmother and grandfather did. It was their pleasure every year to send their loved ones and friends home with fresh tomatoes, green beans, and cucumbers. My garden is my happy place. The pictures above are from my most recent garden from the spring of 2024. This is only a small glimpse of my gardening space and some of my harvest. I had an abundance of tomatoes and jalapeño peppers this year to share with friends and even some classmates. I do this in remembrance of my grandparents.
In my spring garden, I grew tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots, lettuces, strawberries, blackberries, elderberries, several varieties of peppers, and herbs. Every year is an educational experience in the garden. I have goals for every year. This year, I learned to make homemade pesto from fresh basil that I grew. I also made delicious fermented carrots, and learned how to harvest and store elderberries.
I also keep a weekly gardening journal that documents the weather, gardening conditions, updates on plant growth and care, pest control, and garden experiments. It is very interesting to compare the activities going on in my garden from year to year. I love my garden and I consider it my special place of learning.
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