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Kat Sittenauer

HNRS 205

Dr. Rich Schur

26 April 2017

Leadership as a Drury Freshman

Typically, freshman year is supposed to be a year of finding out who you are and a year

of finding out your way around campus and a life of semi-autonomy. Personally, I thought my

freshman year would be relatively quiet, full of books and papers and late nights with Netflix.

What it turned out to be instead, was a year full of new experiences, new friends, and many

opportunities for leadership. The honors program especially helped me to come out of my shell

and take risks during this semester. Through exercises in script writing with a group of

colleagues, the Leadership Ranch, and the leadership style assessment, I have learned more about

my style of leadership and with who I work most effectively.

In the past, I was more introverted. I would not take control; I would expect others to get

the work done, then be upset when it did not turn out the way I had wanted. In high school, I did

policy debate, but my partner was much more Type A personality than I was, so I always let her

take the lead. Then when we didnt do well, I had no clue why we were losing. Once I was a

senior, she had graduated, and I had to take on several debate partners and become the Type A

personality I had seen in my original partner. Needless to say, there was a bit of a learning curve.

Towards the end of my first semester as a high school senior, I finally began to grasp an acute

understanding of tangible leadership. When I had to take on younger debaters who looked up to

me, I had to make sure that I could be there for them. I came into that position of leadership
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slowly but surely. I was able to leave those juniors and sophomores with a better knowledge of

debate and maybe a small sense of leadership; like what my partner left with me.

Coming into college, I thought that my four years here at Drury would be relatively quiet.

I knew that I would be focusing on my studies within and outside of the honors program, as well

as participating on the Drury debate team. My first semester went something like that. My first

few months were relatively quiet. Second semester, however, I decided to get more involved with

leadership on campus. Through encouragement from new friends, I joined SGA, Kappa Delta

sorority, HSA finance committee, Pre-law Club, and now Drury Ambassadors. These positions

now teach me how to put myself in front of organizations that I hadnt been associated with

before and took the risk of being rejected. Fortunately, all positions I had applied for accepted

me. That in itself has given me a confidence boost and has pushed me to apply for other

leadership positions. The honors program has also had a significant hand in pushing me to join as

many committees as I can. In beginning an honors portfolio, I began to realize how bare my

academic resume was. Sure, I had good grades, but I wasnt as involved as I could be. So, I

dusted off my resume and applied for as many leadership positions here on campus that I could.

Through this semester in Honors 205, I have found that as a leader, I am a directive. I am

not afraid to take charge in a group of people when we have a project that needs to get done. The

Meyers-Briggs assessment classified me as an ESTJ-A, the Executive with an assertive style of

leadership. I know that may come as a surprise because I dont speak up as much in class, but

one strength of mine is I know when to let other people talk when it benefits the class. If their

contribution has more weight than mine, then they should speak first. However, in smaller

groups, I am more willing to speak up and offer ideas that I might not have in a larger group.
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The first of the two main activities in this semester of Honors, the group skit and script

writing, I was able to exert my Executive leadership style. In our very small group of three, I

took charge and directed the team to the end goal I had in mind for this project. That is not to say

I was a dictator. I listened to the other group members ideas and managed to incorporate them

into the script and the final project. But I also kept a tight schedule and made sure that the script

itself was completed and turned in on time. Then, with work from the group, I made the

necessary edits to the script, then directed our players per the script.

I took charge in this group because I saw a way for me to do so. Had there been a

stronger Type A in the group, then I would have worked closer with them. But since our group

was made up of mostly Type B, I was able to bring out the Type A in me to get this project done.

At the leadership ranch, however, is when I let others take control. Because I know that there are

other people who know how to handle the more hands on experience than I do. It is this

recognition of others abilities over my own that make me a solid leader. Instead of leading the

group into a wrong choice, I stepped back and let others take the lead and made my contributions

when their ideas werent working.

Through these exercises in leadership, both in and out of the classroom, I learned more

about my style of leadership this semester. I learned that I could put myself out there and take the

lead in a group of people I may or may not know. I learned that I could take the lead in these

types of groups and it wont blow up in my face. Through the leadership model self-assessment,

I learned that I am a directive leader. Which made sense. Especially since taking on many

leadership roles around campus this semester, I was not surprised that I would be the type of

leader to take charge and impose strict rules of time. For example, being a member of the

Financial Committee in SGA (Money Team), timeliness was reinforced through allocation
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season. We had to make sure that we slated the correct amount of money in the right amount of

time, or else allocations would not be able to go as smoothly as they could; although smooth

is very relative. This timeliness also relates directly back to the script writing process, and how a

draft was due by a certain date and I made sure that we had the script memorized by the time we

had to perform. Another part of being an active leader and getting the group to follow your lead

is to support the team and the project. Especially with the script and the performance, I found it

critical to work with the groups insecurities about the whole thing. I supported them when they

didnt remember certain lines, and when they felt unsure about a certain scene. Without this

support from the group and for the group, the project would have failed. Support is critical in

strong leadership because when the group doesnt feel secure, the end goal is jeopardized

because of the inability of the group to function together.

For the future, I know that I will use these leadership skills to lead group projects and

groups where an end goal needs to be met. I will also continue to recognize when another leader

would be better suited for the executive position than I to move the project along to its best end

goal. With my continued involvement within the sorority, Student Government Association,

Honors Student Association, and the Debate Union, and other groups will continue to need me to

be the best leader I can be. And because I care about each of these organizations, I know that I

will continue to refine my leadership style, I will give more consideration to what the group

wants, and I will aim to be more flexible.

Drury has given me so much already regarding opportunities for leadership. I know that I

will continue down the path of leadership within the Drury community and the skills I have

honed within this Honors 205 class will be with me past this semester.