LDRS Podcast #3

The host of the Senior Susan Podcast, Allie Pearl, reflects on her college experience and how certain events shaped her as a person and a leader. She discusses five key events: living through COVID during her freshman year, being chosen for the executive board of her sorority, running recruitment for her sorority, being chosen for a scholarship position at her job, and studying abroad in Rwanda. Each event challenged her and allowed her to grow in different ways. She also talks about the importance of knowing oneself and one's leadership style in navigating these experiences. Hi, everyone, and welcome back to the Senior Susan Podcast, Leadership Edition. This is Episode 3, and I'm your host, Allie Pearl. And today, we have a really exciting episode. We're really deep diving into my college experience and really reflecting on some of those key events that I've experienced while at Tech and how they've really formed who I am today and really just thinking back on to my time as a senior. I've had an incredible three years and some change, and as I wrap up this fourth year, I'm really excited just to look back on all the great memories and friendships and laughs and even the hardships because as we're going to kind of touch on today, that really is what made me who I am, and I'm going to graduate Tech a completely different person than I came in being. So let's dive on in. First off, when I was thinking about this, and I was like, wow, what major events happened while I was at school? Initially, COVID, the death of Queen Elizabeth, the attack on Ukraine, these like large world dramatic trauma incidents, but that didn't really reflect me personally, even though those events may have caused me to be grateful for the life I live or the opportunities I have, they didn't have a direct impact on the type of leader I have. So through five different events and experiences I've had since being at Tech, I have grown so much. And these five events include still freshmen, or still COVID, but my freshman year personally, how that impacted me. Secondly, when I was chosen to be on the executive board in my sorority, three, when I ran recruitment for my sorority, four, when I was chosen to be a scholarship student for my job at school, and fifth, studying abroad. So I'm going to quickly kind of go through each of these, and how they really impacted me because when I was really thinking about it, I was like, wow, these things really shaped who I am and my college experience, and I would not be where I am today, if it weren't for the highs and lows that I experienced through each one of these. So first off, COVID completely changed the world. Our senior year is essentially, the end of it was taken away by COVID, but we still went into our freshman year of college, living in COVID. It was very limited, things were happening, there were no athletic events, sororities, all these things weren't really happening at the time. So this moment, I think in my life challenged me personally, more than ever before. I was insanely independent, I felt like I was doing everything on my own. And at times it was really difficult. I think it really challenged me. But I also think that challenge in the mental and personal hardships I was growing through, it allowed me to grow so much as an individual. Even though it was so difficult, it was potentially one of the best things that's ever happened to me. So freshman year COVID, living in that dorm with a roommate I wasn't best friends with, challenged me so much individually, and I grew and I learned that I can depend on myself, and I can be the best version of myself and then help those around me. Second, when I was chosen to be on the executive board of my sorority, I wasn't originally elected into the position. So I was so honored that I was considered for such a large role. It really allowed me to think that, wow, I am capable, I think, of more than I give myself credit for. So that allowed me to step into that position, confident and excited for the opportunity to be a leader in my chapter. Tied closely through that position, I had to run recruitment for my sorority, which is a extremely large task. The entire chapter, all 100 some of us, and our nationals had their eyes on me. They had their eyes on what I could put out, what product could I do for the first time in person in three years. A super daunting task, but it was such a positive learning experience for me, even though there were so many hardships I faced. I grew so much, but one of the biggest things I think I may have taken away from that and as a leader is that the loudest people are always the ones complaining. They're always going to be the loudest, they're always going to have something to say, but I learned how to handle those situations and to deal with those people and still make the best out of every day because no one is ever going to be 100% happy, and that's something that you just kind of have to accept in life. Another situation that was so impactful in my college experience was over the summer when I was chosen for a scholarship position at my work. So I work with athletics and I've worked with them since my sophomore year, however, I was just a production assistant, so a wage worker, but this past summer they called me and offered me a scholarship position, which was such an honor and now I'm working in a field that I love and I'm so excited and just grateful for it, but this really allowed me to step into a position to now help the other PAs because the old scholarship students would help me when I was younger and now I want to provide them that same opportunity. And finally, studying abroad, my time in Rwanda, every single day, specifically that month we were in Rwanda, we had to wake up and take charge of the day. We had to make the day the best to our ability and make the most of our time there. We had to guide the kids in the classroom, we had to put our best foot forward every single day because the kids didn't know any better, so if we were positive and lively and interactive, the students would reciprocate it, and I think that kind of showed me how to be a good leader, is that even if you're not having the best day, if you fake it, you absolutely will make it. So that super quickly sums up my five takeaways from major events and experiences in my life, and I think my CliftonStrengths and Myers-Briggs that I reflected on in the past really tie in closely to each of these, I reflected on myself in leadership styles and I'm just really aware of the type of individual I am personally, but also how I am most productive. So in each of these situations when I was really challenged or even having some highs in the situation, I knew how to best cope with all of the situations that I was going through. So thank you so much for joining me for today, I know it's a mouthful trying to get through all these super heavy topics, but I hope you all enjoyed the episode, can take something from away from it, and I will see you all next week.