4650 | Colin Luck

One group in particular that I can remember that I joined deliberately was the Patton Hall Community Council. As a freshman, you always hear your elders telling you to get involved in your first year of college, so this group was one that I joined to participate and build leadership skills. To be on the council, you had to go through an election process and be voted in by your peers in the building. So, since I was living in Patton Hall, I had to connect with every resident on a personal level in order to get votes and also to get a better understanding of the possible representation I had to bring forth to my potential council. Even though it is not a group that EVERYONE can just join, the way I connected with the group still connects greatly to some of the concepts mentioned in Chapter 4 of our book.

The election process was rough. We had to participate in debates with our fellow competition, and since we are all freshmen in Patton Hall, we were all very eager last year. Bear in mind that I was running for the Treasurer position. The Five Factor Model of Personalities, or “The Big Five”, was something that I could easily relate to with this process. To stand out among the competition, I had to exhibit extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness. Painting a positive image, I had to show my personality by being:

Extroversion
- Enthusiastic
- Bold
- Energetic
Agreeableness
- Kind
- Cooperative
Conscientiousness
- Organized
- Efficient
- Systematic
Neuroticism
- Relaxed
- Calm
- Emotionally Stable
Openness
- Intelligent
- Creative
- Imaginitive

Without having these traits, there was no way I could have been elective by my fellow peers into the position. Because we were the council for the residence hall, we were to represent the people of that hall and listen to their concerns, while also putting on special programs for the residents. So, for this process of actually being put into the group, I had to fit in with these characteristics as a representation of my group personality. This model can also be seen even when making friends. No one is a careless, sloppy, disorganized, temperamental, and unsociable person (even if they may seem like it); which leads me to believe that everyone can exhibit these traits.

Even on the campaign trail, I can remember exhibiting social anxiety, which is also mentioned in Chapter 4. I can remember during the debate night, I had not packed the proper clothes for the event, so I showed up in a tee and shorts, while my competitors were dressed in fully fashioned suits and dresses. I guess I didn’t get the memo. I became very embarrassed very quickly, so I just did what I do best: I was myself. I didn’t try to paint a false image or representation of myself, and I told the audience that I was NOT going to do that to them either. This is when I believed that I was going to win, and I did–so I guess it isn’t all that bad showing up in improper dress attire.

As for the biggest determinant for me running for and accepting the nomination into the council was just because I wanted to get involved and wanted to gain more leadership experience as a freshman. Even if our group dynamic was off and we did really get along much, we still succeeded in the overall mission: to properly represent the residents of Patton Hall by listening to their concerns and taking action. Because of this journey I partook in last year, I believe that I am much more equipped to serve as not just a leader for others, but for personal growth and development as well.

This is a picture of our first bulletin board that we created. (PS: I’m on the O in “Council”!)

My leadership background varies across many different fields, from administrative genres to positions affecting a living community. In high school, I was heavily involved in a club called DECA, which stands for the Distributive Education Clubs of America. This club was basically a club that enhanced members’ literacy in marketing, finance, operation management, and other aspects of the business world. Because of this club and my involvement in it; this led to the decision of mine to double major in Risk Management/Insurance and Marketing. DECA provided me with many opportunities for research in the field of business. I participated in three research projects from 2013-2016, two of the projects were recognized by the state organization, earning our chapter a trip to the international convention in 2014 and 2015 in Atlanta and Orlando, respectively. I also participated in the 2013 convention in Anaheim, CA as a guest. During my senior year of high school, I was appointed as chapter president for the 2014-2015 school year, and I got real hands-on experience with the management of our chapter of forty students. This experience really formed me into the person that I am today. Even though it was a stressful time serving as chapter president because of all the time management skills I had to acquire balancing school and extracurricular work, it was a worthwhile experience. This is why I believe that I will be able to thrive within my major and beyond because I have great time management and leadership skills, which is something that each person that is a business major MUST have.

In the Lead with Honors cohort, I was just appointed as the head of the service committee for this semester. Since I work in the Office of Civic Engagement at the Atlanta campus of Georgia State University, it was a no-brainer to decide that it would be easy for me to bring service opportunities to the cohort as I know what service events are out there each semester. I also am working closely with other members of the cohort on an ad hoc committee, solely for the development and production of the t-shirts for the cohort.

As far as group function within the cohort goes, the way we have it set up now is very unorganized and disheveled. We have a fully democratic way of deciding on things; but then the result of our democratic ways usually get overturned by higher authority anyways, so there really is no purpose in us wasting time on our democratic ways if they are just overruled. For example, we crafted a vision statement for our cohort for the LONGEST time during this past spring semester, where we came up with different ways of stating our future vision for the cohort. It was then decided by higher authority of what it was going to be, because of the fact that it was “too long” or “too wordy”. If that was the case, we should’ve just had the higher authority pick the vision statement so we would not have to waste time on something so frivolous. Instead, we could have focused our attention elsewhere on more important matters. Our vision statement ended up being the following:

The LEAD with Honors cohort will become well-rounded leaders who cultivate positive change in the world around them.

During my past leadership experience with DECA in relation to the Lead with Honors cohort; DECA was a much more organized and civil organization to be apart of, considering it has been around since the early 1900s, while this cohort is brand new. Hopefully, in time, my cohort members and I can learn to when to move on and when to invest a lot of time in one project effectively. Because of the unorganized manner of the way we approach things, I believe that this is why we saw such a decrease in members. We started out with nearly 30 students in the cohort, and now the numbers are barely at 20 students. If things don’t change in our group dynamic and the way the cohort program is set up, those who are affiliated with the cohort will keep on seeing decline in student involvement and member count as each semester progresses. I also believe that since the structure of the cohort requires so much of many of its members, this is why retention rates are low. Looking forward, I hope we, as members of the cohort, and unite with collaborative, yet compromising ideas so we can all come to an agreement on what we want to see in the future for our cohort.