One of the most important leadership roles I have taken on in college has been being Vice President in charge of programming for my sorority Alpha Epsilon Phi. I have been serving as VP Programming since January 2011 which is a position that involves planning all the intra-sorority events, such as retreats, study breaks, speaker events and service events but also serves as part of the sorority’s executive board which facilitates the daily operations of the group. Additionally, during my time serving as VP Programming my chapter won the award for best programming at the 2011 National Alpha Epsilon Phi convention. But beyond the superficial requirements of the job, there are so many things that I have learned in my position that are impossible to convey in a 3 sentence job description. First of all, working as part of an executive board has helped me a lot with my interpersonal skills. One particular thing I learned from this experience was how to balance personal relations and work relations. For instance, a lot of people on the executive board delt with a lot of serious issues this year like the death of friends and family members, serious academic problems and personal health issues. It was difficult sometimes to know the right balance between letting someone have a break and making sure that the overall function of the board was maintained. This is a challenge that I would never have had to deal with if I hadn’t held this position.

Another skill that I acquired from my position was how to organize all the events that were part of my job. When I ran for the position, I ran under the premise that I wanted to plan events that people wanted to come to. But when I got elected, I realized that I wasn’t really sure how to do that. First, I found it remarkably hard to get people to tell me what they wanted to do. I tried surveys, e-mails, text messages, etc, but I came to realize that even with the opinions I had gotten, people don’t always know what they want. And sometimes, its the job of a leader to give them what they want even if they don’t know what that is. What I discovered I really needed to do this was self-confidence in my own ideas so that I could stand up to criticism and some serious organization skills to be able to carry my plans to fruition. I remember for one of my very first events I really wanted to do something big and exciting that our sorority had never experienced before: trampolining! There was definitely a lot of disagreement amoung the executive board as to how it would work out but in the end it was my decision and I decided to go with it. So, I tried my best to figure out the details (I hadn’t really gotten the “serious organization skills” down yet) and ran with it. And it was great! It wasn’t the biggest, most well attended event ever, but the people who came had a GREAT time and I learned that that was what made my job meaningful, making people feel welcome, facilitating fun and helping to make a few memories. These realizations was what made this leadership position so special for me. Everyone talks about “leadership” but I finally feel the word has meaning for me after I realized that serving the needs of others, working to help other people accomplish a task or just have a fun evening out is what it’s all about. Because of this I finally feel like a leader and I know I want to continue to pursue these roles in the future.