1. This week has proven to be a trying week. Our final big event was canceled due to low attendance. So now we are scrambling to make arrangements for a new event. We have now added a new community partner, a church in the UCF area. I think it is more effective to begin with our pitfalls. The cancelation of the big event has greatly impacted our group. It has made us realize that we are having communication issues. I will say that a success this week was we had a meeting and discussed our communication. Since class was dismissed we have already made an improvement in our group communication. We also have a plan of action to complete the service learning project. Another success is that for the most part we all agree to start with a clean slate while working on this current event with the church youth group. We think that it is essential to having a successful event. So we will be leaving the canceled event and any communication issues in the past and start fresh. I think this is the key to getting things done. In this next week we will be having a conference call with our entire group. That will take place on Friday evening. Then we are also meeting with our new community partner to start preparation for the new events. Once obstacle that we will face this week is the group meeting during office hours, making sure everyone is in attendance will be our main focus.
2. The events of this past week have allowed me to make some personal connections with view on girls’ leadership. I realized that this project was about more the community service, it was about leadership. Our group dynamic and experiences have served as a hands on version of the articles that we have been reading in class. Our group has taken an almost passive role in leadership over the weeks leading up to the big event. I think we were all worried about stepping on each other’s toes. We fell into the trap of a hierarchy of leadership rather than developing a communal style that probably would have been more beneficial to our project. MacNeil discusses the concept of “share[d] power” in relation to girls and adults, but I think if our group had a better understanding of this theory we would have less individualistic leaders styles and more communal styles (34). The checks and balances would have been beneficial to our group. It would have required us to be more accountable.
3. This week has definitely been a learning experience. The struggles and disappointments resulting in the cancelation of our final event has been a major part of my concern. I have really learned a lot about my personal leadership skills and what areas I need to focus on developing. The guilt of the cancelation made me realize that I was not being as active in my leadership responsibilities that I could have been.
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MacNeil, Carole A. "Bridging generations: Applying “adult” leadership theories to youth
leadership development." New Directions for Youth Development. 2006.109 (2006): 27-
43. Print.
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