By Valerie Bonet 

It was the summer before I entered college when I got a call from a family friend asking if I wanted a summer job; at this time I knew I was about to be a broke college kid so I said yes without hesitation. I had gone in nervously for my interview – my first interview ever – and surprisingly, it was over in about thirty minutes. After that I went back and forth trying to figure out if the thirty minutes was quick or slow, if I made a good or bad impression and just kept thinking about my interview. After days of overthinking my interview, I finally get a call saying that I have a summer job. We had to have a meeting before I was officially accepted into the job to understand what the job would entail. I was told that the job would be a summer camp based on the cognitive development of children with learning disabilities. Although there were only twelve children, their age ranged from five to thirteen so they let me know it wouldn’t be easy. To do this we would play brain games with them from eight in the morning to three in the afternoon. 

My first day there I realized that I would be working with three other camp counselors in order to help these kids as efficiently as possible. We would meet an hour before the camp started to figure out how we were going to set up everything for that day but as the weeks went by, their time commitment began to fade and they would show up late or not really go with the plan we had set in motion for that day. The kids were supposed to be split up into four groups, but they would often neglect their group in order to play basketball or video games on their phone. It wasn’t always great to be pushed over into teaching the kids in their group as well and I knew that it was time to step up and have an open and honest conversation with them. We all needed to put our minds together in order to help the kids thrive and do so in a way that made it easy on us because it was not easy teaching these children, especially not all at once. The kids were so far in age that playing games together was difficult. In the process they would get upset and the older kids would taunt the younger calling them dumb cause some weren’t able to read and then the younger kids would get upset – it was just an endless circle. The kids would then gang up together because they were upset that they were at a camp to learn and not to have fun. Some wouldn’t listen to me because I was shorter than them so as you can imagine it wasn’t easy on a day to day basis. Between the hardships helping the children and the issues working with the other counselors, I thought that we would never find a way for this camp to work. 

Every day I would come home confused and would rethink situations in my head and kept trying to find a way for this camp to somehow have a seamless day to day flow. I had to figure out that each and every person is different and the way that you approach them is different too, whether it is a kid or a co-worker.  Each of the kid’s had different skills also and it is imperative that we highlight those skills and not only tell them when they’re wrong, but reward them when they do something good. I finally stepped up and told our co-workers that we needed a new system if we ever wanted to actually help these kids. Since these children had learning disabilities, their social skills were not as developed. We tried to isolate them from another because we were afraid of what they would say since they weren’t used to being put in group settings. I knew that I needed to step up as a leader and try to find out how to help them develop better social skills. I researched and researched and figured out I had to understand each and every child’s necessities. I them talked to the other counselors about it we each discussed ways we thought we could help them. We somehow found a way to merge out ideas together and began to read them more stories about children and their feelings to let them know that it’s okay to feel things and how you shouldn’t project negative things onto other people because they have feelings as well. We continued to do this, and we saw them being more empathetic to other children but the biggest change in them happened when they saw how other people around them behaved. To be able to lead well you need to do well. You can’t just expect everything to fall into place, it will only work if you lead by example. As co-workers, we all started to work together better after we were more honest about what was working in the camp and what we felt needed improvement. We didn’t take it as critical, we took it as constructive criticism because if it was going to help everyone in the end, it should be talked about. As we started to get along better, we saw the same change in the kids in the camp. Of course, there were still hiccups but we found ways to work together to get over it. I guess that is what shocked me the most from this whole journey. I always thought a leader was a lone wolf and was the sole person that helped everything work well. That couldn’t be further from the truth though. In order to be a good leader, you need to work together to have a solution because it is inevitable that people are going to have ways to solve a problem that you had never even thought of before. At first, I was upset because I didn’t think of the solution that someone else thought of, but that shouldn’t be what it’s about. As long as we solve the problem it doesn’t really matter who comes up with the idea because leading is implementing that solution and actually being able to make a difference with others, not just trying to fix everything by yourself.

By David Flores        

One of my very first experiences as a leader was when I was selected as a section leader in my high school band. I had never truly led 40 individuals before, much less for a whole semester of school. At first, I was very scared of how effective of a leader I would be. However, I knew most of the people in the section from the years before and I knew I just had to be myself and try my best. At first, it was a little rough and it was clear I did not exactly know what to do, but by the end of the first practice, it was as if I had been leading them for weeks.

By Jake Glass         

It all started in middle school.  My band teacher would stay late after school every week to help us practice our jazz combo.  A jazz combo is a small group of 3-10 instrumentalists that performs music that places more emphasis on improvisation and individual skill.  We weren’t very good, struggling to solo on many basic songs, and we seldom made it through songs without some major hiccup occurring.  But it was such an enjoyable experience.

          When I was reunited with my middle school friends in high school jazz band, the first thing we talked about was creating our own jazz combo.  And that’s how it all started.  A couple times a week we would coalesce in the band room after school and just play.  The big difference was we had no band director telling us what songs to play, how fast to play songs, or even to stay on task.  And very quickly the idea of the jazz combo that I fell in love with presented an immense challenge — we had to lead.

          We never officially agreed on who was in charge, but me and another friend ended up leading most of the practices and making most of the decisions regarding what we would do in combo.  It was honestly a lot more work than I was expecting; I felt like every week there was a new fire to put out, whether it be someone forgetting their instrument at home, or someone losing their music, or one band member who was making incredibly inappropriate jokes that made one girl in our group incredibly upset (for good reason).  And that doesn’t even scratch the surface of the music itself: What songs do we play?  What tempo should we choose? Who should solo and when?  To compound to the difficulty of leading, there were almost a dozen members, so wrangling ten people to the same room multiple times a week seemed impossible at times.  And even when we got there, keeping ten 14-16 year-olds on track for more than a few minutes seemed nearly impossible. We ended up dissolving towards the end of the school year as the big gig we had lined up (a wedding) wasn’t offering enough payment to convince everyone to want to practice.

          Sophomore year was a much smoother ride.  I built a new smaller group of my close friends and set a more realistic goal: to get a Superior at Solo and Ensemble (a yearly event when musicians perform for judges and receive a ranking).  Things went well and I made an effort to be the most accommodating leader possible.  I made sure to find a practice time that was convenient for everyone and I even let everyone decide what song we were doing.  It honestly felt like the best of both worlds compared to last year: we had a tighter friendship and we also were more productive when it came to practice.  And at the end of the day, we ended up getting the Superior rating we aimed for.

          Combo in senior year was probably the most intense but also the most rewarding for my growth as a leader.  I had to coordinate practices that fit five peoples’ very busy schedules (I was not one of these busy people but that’s beside the point).  When people couldn’t make it, I would try my best to fill in their instrument (I can play bass and piano) and specifically pick songs where we didn’t need whoever was missing.  This group was even closer than the last, and it definitely took some energy to keep us on track, as the desire to go make copious amounts of ramen or watch Netflix was sometimes more appealing than practicing our songs.  But it was honestly a highlight of my senior year, even when I had to painstakingly teach other members music theory or coordinate gigs with people who took a little bit too long to text back.  It was so rewarding to watch some of my friends grow as musicians, becoming more confident and creative while soloing.  Not to mention we were playing gigs and usually getting paid to do so.  While there were definitely moments that pushed me to my limits and stressed me out, senior year combo was such an amazing experience as a leader, a musician, and a friend.

          I feel incredibly lucky that in 7th grade my band teacher introduced me to combo, as this opened the doors to years of unique experiences that high school wouldn’t have provided me otherwise.  And while certain challenges stressed me out, in the long run, it helped me become a much better leader: whether it be conflict resolution, or communication, or even just knowing when you have to take a break.

By Nathan Mackey        

I selected my classes, and I’m not sure how I feel. I’m excited for programming I think, I’m taking it this summer online (I’m not thrilled about the online part), but regardless I think that’s one of a few classes in which I really feel I’ll be able to see immediate value in the form of a concrete skill, and I think that will be satisfying. The rest of the classes I’ve signed up for I’m not sure totally intrigue me. This is where uncertainty begins, my major, my future career, I’ve been having pretty big doubts. I chose nuclear engineering on a whim, a click on the pre-preview form and a promise to myself that I’d figure it out later. The appeal was in the magic of the wonderful science it seemed to entail. SL physics in high school is probably the reason I’m not a pre-med student in denial, I was captivated by the late chapter subjects, Feynman diagrams, leptons, all of it. It was the coolest thing I’d learned in school (still might be), and that was what I really looked forward to in college, and so far I haven’t exactly had that experience. I know it’s super early and I’m still in the slog of freshman level courses, but even those classes I have taken which are a bit further along, like materials, are so unyieldingly pragmatic. I revile the pragmatic, I feel I’ve always been surrounded by people dying to do something real with what they learn, the phrase “more real life applications’ ‘ may be the most common feedback to courses it seems. I don’t feel the same. I want the knowledge to understand, I’m much more interested in the reason an equation takes the form it does than using the formula to build a bridge. This is where I think I’ve become more disenchanted with my major. The future I see for myself in this is probably one of data and equations someone else figured out, looking at numbers, plugging them in and seeing if it all checks out, there’s no magic in that for me.

By Annie Ferris         

When I was 16, my best friend convinced me to go vegan with her for one week. Little did I know at the time, that one week would turn into nearly 3 years. Now, I’m not here trying to make any claims that veganism is the healthiest diet on the planet, or that eating meat is morally wrong, but to share the unexpected impact that being vegan has had on my life. As I said, I never expected to stay vegan for as long as I have. I went into it with the peer pressure from my friend and the idea that it could be interesting to try, but that it was likely not for me. What I found was that shifting a single part of my life to be focused on the better of others, rather than myself, changed my outlook on many other parts of my life. 

Going vegan made me fully examine the impact of my previous diet on both the environment, and my personal health. In researching the environmental impact of a vegan diet versus a non-vegan diet, it really changed my attitude about the impact of my individual actions. While many, myself included, subscribe to the idea that individual actions do not often make nearly as significant of an impact as large corporations (who are usually causing the problem) would like you to believe, I no longer hold that my actions have no impact. Whether we like it or not, every choice we make, every meal we eat, and every store we shop at, has some sort of impact, environmentally, economically, or socially. This has become particularly apparent in the past few months, as individual’s choices to travel, or even leave the house, has caused medical emergencies in communities, states, and entire countries. As unfortunate and devastating as the situation surrounding COVID-19 has become, it is an extremely interesting example of the butterfly effect concerning human actions. So often, we never see the impact of our actions, which is a good thing for our consciences, but not so great for inciting necessary change. 

Thinking about the butterfly effect can feel overwhelming, and for me has often led to apathy, thinking that whatever I do, there will be a negative impact somewhere. However, recognizing that there are things you can do that can have a positive impact on something or someone somewhere has allowed me to be more sympathetic to the situation. While my actions in themselves will not end animal cruelty or solve climate change, I can try my best, and hope that others do the same.

By Marl Capili

Looking at the world of sports from the outside, you would think that everyone involved is crazy. First it’s the players, a bunch of grown men or women running around in matching outfits either throwing or kicking a ball around, hitting a ball with a stick, or literally running in circles. Then there’s the intensity, players literally giving their bodies up just to stop someone from passing a line or from putting a ball in a hoop. But then even wilder there’s the fans, people crying, cheering, and screaming for people that they’ve never met before and possibly will never meet. Filling arenas by the thousands and travelling half the world just to see a team play. From the outside looking in, it doesn’t make sense, but when you’re in it it all makes sense. The blood, sweat, and tears involved, the pain and agony over different events, the way that we get star struck over these random people. I know that it doesn’t make sense but I can try my best to explain why at least I’m such a fanatic for sports.

When we talk about entertainment, the most impactful works of literature, television, and cinema come down to the story. When it comes to sporting events, you can’t write the storylines that are made from each event. Every year there are twists and turns that no one could predict, there are shows and channels devoted to predicting what will happen yet they rarely seem to get it right. How about the tale of the Leicester City Foxes in 2015-2016. They went from being dropped to a lower league the previous year to winning a championship despite having 5000-1 odds. What about Super Bowl LI, where the New England Patriots mount a comeback from 28-3 down to take the championship. Whether it’s the season long epic, or the single game story, sports writes its own tales and we as fans get to witness every twist and turn live. 

A story is only as appealing as their main characters, and the world of sports is filled with a cast of characters each with a different background and path to the spotlight where they are now. Look at Lebron, starting from his teen years, he was proclaimed the King coming out of Akron, Ohio of all places and yet he was able to live up to the hype and widely considered one of the greatest of all time. On the other hand we have players like N’golo Kante, a relative unknown often rejected player for being too small. He rose through the ranks until he made a breakthrough with Leicester and is now seen as one of the greatest defensive midfielders in soccer. Some players are bland and stoic like the great Tim Duncan or they can be a walking meme like JR Smith. When you watch a sport some people just see a bunch of millionaires running around, but what I see is a group of individuals that each have had a various amount of obstacles to get where they are now. 

Last but not least, one of the most appealing parts of sports is its ability to bring people together. There’s no greater feeling than being at the game and bonding with complete strangers over a sport. Sometimes you have no idea what’s happening yet the aura and atmosphere created by just being present is intoxicating. Very few places can you find a place where you can get a sense of camaraderie with such a huge group of people you’ve never met, people who could have completely different views and experiences than you. It’s almost beautiful seeing the way sports can bring people together such as during World Cups or Olympics.

By Kshama Shetty         

One of the bigger influences in my life is the language I speak – Kannada. During high school, I spent my Sunday afternoons teaching little kids how to speak the language. I was lucky however and I was able to have a transition into this position. When I first started freshman year, I was a helper to one of the teachers. It was a fun position, since all I did was find and print relevant coloring sheets and then help students one-on-one when they were doing individual work – little did I know how it was preparing me to teach a class of my own. It was during this time I got to know all the students and their parents. I was able to get a scale of where everyone’s strengths and weaknesses were but I also got to hear random stories the kids told me.

A year and a half later, I learned that due to an increase in students, they were creating an additional class and asked if I would want to teach this new class. I immediately jumped up at the offer and that’s when I really began teaching. At first, I had my doubts. I was unsure of my own abilities at speaking the language, let alone teaching it to someone else. I was scared of one of the kids showing their parents what they learned – only to have it be that I taught it wrong. Whenever we had a new student, due to their young age – they always tended to be very scared to be alone and therefore one of their parents would sit with them in the class. I always dreaded this since I was scared that the parent was judging me for what I taught, how I taught, etc. However, as time went on – I was able to learn from these fears. I made sure to prepare beforehand, that it was okay to check Google Translate to make sure I was teaching properly, and that I had heard positive reception from the parents and therefore shouldn’t be afraid of what a new parent would think. 

Outside of teaching however, there were different challenges. Every class was expected to perform something at the annual Diwali show hosted by our committee. For me, since my class consisted of kids 3 – 8 years old, making up a dance for them was the best way to go. Class time became 30 minutes for the weekly lesson and 30 minutes to practice for the Diwali show. There were always challenges, whether it be that the kids couldn’t remember the step they had just learned or the fact the kids were tired after 10 minutes and wanted to play a game instead. However, after a few motivators like snacks and stickers – everything came together for the actual Diwali show. 

Looking back, teaching Kannada classes was one of the most impactful things from high school. I was able to develop leadership skills, master my Kannada, and I grew closer with the kids and their parents outside of class.

By Lianan Armil         

Coming from high school into freshman year of college, I had minimal leadership experience relating to engineering. Most of the experience I had came from lifeguarding and teaching swim lessons at the local pool. I decided to get my lifeguard certification in junior year because swimming and diving had become a large part of my life. An important aspect of leadership is taking initiative, even if it means taking a risk. Although lifeguarding and swim instruction were completely new to me, taking that step and signing up for the courses helped build my leadership skills. If there was no risk taken, and I had just continued without the training, I would have missed out on a multitude of learning opportunities. For example, I learned the importance of organization during swim lessons. If the class was not structured and controlled, the kids would start misbehaving, and they would get bored. Having a lesson plan written out with many different skills to practice helped keep classes under control, and it also helped them be more productive.

By Adam Wolcott          

I miss March Madness. Even as the biggest Yankees fan you know who also loves college football, March Madness is my favorite sporting event every year. College basketball is such a great sport because it cultivates the underdog. The gap between the brand name schools and the mid-majors is rapidly closing, as more upsets happen every year. I was so excited for March Madness this year, as there had been so many upsets every week that the tournament was going to be impossible to predict. Watching these schools that no one has ever heard of become famous overnight as they take down a basketball giant is a feeling that puts a smile on my face every year. College basketball truly shows that one individual can’t carry a team all the way to the end, and even without a superstar, a team of committed players can make a wave in the tournament.

The analytics of March Madness are just as exciting. The chances of having a perfect bracket are slim to none every year, and yet I along with everyone else still try. Even though I still pride myself on winning the family pool the first year I played in 2006, when I was five and I picked the Gators to go all the way (because that was the only team I knew), I score just as well in recent years as my mom who doesn’t watch any basketball all year. I watch many of the marquee games with the blue bloods, and keep track of the mid-majors that are cruising through their conferences that no one is paying attention to, yet my chances are just as good as someone who picked the teams based on what mascot is cuter. But that’s the fun in it, everyone has just about the same shot at picking the winners.

When I was a sophomore in high school (2017), my dad and I went to the first and second rounds in Orlando. Watching six basketball games in two days (including the Gators) was one of the best sports fan experiences of my life. It was so cool to watch the bracket unfold in front of our eyes, as in our particular region 11-seed Xavier reached the Sweet Sixteen in those two days in Orlando. Those three weekends in March and April are a college sports fan’s dream, and I’m so sad to not have it to look forward to this year. But at least YouTube lets the games from the previous years stick around.

By Madeline Stophel          

            I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect from FLEG when I first joined. I knew that it was made to help us develop our leadership, I just wasn’t exactly sure how. But now, looking back at my time spent in this organization, I’ve realized that I’m a completely different person than the one I was eight months ago at the start of the school year. One important skill I have noticed a change in is the effect on my communication.

In my senior year of high school, I was one of the officers for Science National Honor Society, and therefore in charge of the Science Olympiad team. While everything worked out well, there were several situations that resulted from miscommunications throughout the year, the worst of which involved scheduling events at state. I believed my teammate had scheduled the event, and he believed the same of me. We didn’t realize until the night before the mistake we made. We went in early the next morning and got the situation sorted out with the volunteers. However, although it worked out, it could have been solved earlier had we had some foresight and advanced communication, which I took as a lesson going into college.

Now that I am in college, I make sure to confirm everything is being done when working in a partnership. Often, I have an assignment – whether to create the GBM slide, run the meeting, or create a presentation – with another person on my committee. Although simple, these assignments have helped me improve my communication so that I will reach out to my partner almost immediately, divvying out tasks so that we both have equal parts and don’t forget everything.

The collegiate committee’s slack channel from the beginning of the year to now has undergone a drastic difference. In September, when we first started, most of the communication, especially the beginning of any conversation, was done by Dominik or Leah. Although this was not a bad thing (we were only starting to learn what FLEG was all about), it is certainly a different picture than now. The slides are sent out by whichever FLEG recently ran the meeting, bolstered with comments from the committee about ideas or updates with what we are doing for the events. The Co-directors certainly participate, reminding us about deadlines and giving their input on ideas, but it is more committee run than before. We are now more proactive and open with each other. FLEG has given me both the incentive and the practice to improve my communication skills. Without it, I wouldn’t be the same person I am today.