TransyLEAD

Earlier I mentioned another leadership conference that was coming up soon. Well, that happened yesterday, and it was phenomenal! First of all, we had an unbelievable keynote speaker—David Coleman, the real life “Hitch.” He is the “Dating Doctor” that the movie was based on, and he’s incredible. I have never laughed so hard during a speaker at a leadership conference. Conferences are kind of notorious for being long and boring, but Transy’s Student Government Association, Panhellenic and Student Activities Board really did a good job at making this one both beneficial and entertaining.

My first workshop was kind of a repeat of some of the information I had heard at my leadership conference in Michigan earlier in the month, but my next one gave me a completely different perspective on leadership and getting involved—it was a panel of professors at Transy giving their spiel about what it should mean to be a leader and how involved they think students should become. They pointed out that students too often over extend themselves simply to build their resume. They said that it’s okay to just lead in the classroom or lead just a single organization—they stressed passion over resume padding and told students that they would exude more effective leadership if they dedicated their time to fewer activities. This provided a look at leadership that I don’t often hear. As a campus leader myself, I have always pushed myself to get involved in any way I can, but I completely believe what they said, and I plan to make some cuts in my activities so I can become a more effective leader in the one or two organizations that I’m extremely passionate about.

My last workshop involved us in a discussion with a Transy Alum and now Kentucky State Representative. We talked about the process of getting elected to public office, responsibilities it entails, and how becoming a leader earlier in life sometimes leads almost naturally to serving in office. While I’m not interested necessarily in becoming an elected official, I found it interesting hearing the kinds of leadership roles she had taken prior to becoming elected and how it helped her build the relationships and responsibility necessary to win an election.

The conference concluded with another program by David Coleman—his “Dating Doctor” spiel (www.datingdoctor.com). He was honest—brutally honest—about relationships and everything involved in relationships. He had us belly laughing, interacting with each other, asking completely open questions, and questioning every relationship we have ever been in. Overall, it was wonderful. I could have listened to him talk all day, probably. I took away so much from the day, and I’m SO proud that my school hosts something like this every year =).