Leadership Experience Fall ’21

The Kendra Scott WEL Institute student advisory board dedicated a Saturday morning to testing a pilot program that delved into understanding leadership in the context of personal values. The pilot program, a values leadership workshop, was facilitated by Vaishali Jadhav. Our student advisory board, which is made up of women from different years and disciplines, spent a Saturday at the Kendra Scott Center on campus. Having attended leadership camps and training in the past in high school, I wasn’t expecting a lot walking into this weekend. However, I left that Saturday feeling more empowered and equipped as a female leader on campus and in industry.

The main focus of the training revolved around the concept of values -- we dived into the things that mattered to us at our core and helped us navigate life decisions. After spending some introspective time narrowing down our values from a large list Vaishali provided, I confirmed that my core values were Authenticity, Impact, Family, Exploration, and Challenge. We conducted small group discussions where Student Advisory Board (SAB) members shared our values with one another. We discovered through anecdotes that a lot of our core values came from hardships or negative experiences we had in the past. It is fascinating to me how things that hurt you can greatly influence the way you navigate through life, and instill a stronger sense of guidance. Another common theme I saw in my small group was the core value of family. Something we all shared was a strong bond with our families, a value that was ingrained in both our Asian and Hispanic cultures. This commonality in core values not only served as an affirmation. but also helped me get to know and relate to my fellow student advisory board members.

Overall, my experience can be summarized in one word -- growth. Intentionally setting time to explore, reflect, and identify the values to steer me through my everyday life as a citizen of the world and leader on campus gives me a clearer understanding of who I am. It was also a wonderful opportunity to get to know the amazing females I get to serve KS WELI with this year.