HDF 190: FLITE (F​IRST​-Y​EAR ​L​EADERS ​I​NSPIRED TO ​E​XCELLENCE​)

URI M​INOR IN ​L​EADERSHIP ​S​TUDIES​, C​ENTER FOR ​S​TUDENT ​L​EADERSHIP ​D​EVELOPMENT

​ QUIREMENT FOR THE ​LE
C​ORE ​RE ​ ADERSHIP ​MI​ NOR

L​EARNING ​C​ONTRACT

Goal: ​To identify and utilize my Strengths and Values in an organizational and
interpersonal setting that aligns with the mission, vision, values and sponsored
programs and activities of URI’s Center for Student Leadership Development.

Activity: ​For my learning contract, I participated in Diversifying. Recruiting. Inspiring.

Volunteering. Educating. (D.R.I.V.E.)’s Multicultural Overnight Program (MOP). This
program gives prospective high school students the opportunity to spend time on URI’s
campus. On Friday, April 12th, I was a day and night host for the MOP program.
Throughout the day, I interacted with all of the high school students. I answered their
questions about college life, led a scavenger hunt that gave them a tour of campus, and
choreographed a dance for a dance battle. As a night host, I was assigned a student,
Jordyn Alston, to stay overnight in my dorm room with me.

Evidence: ​The evidence is a picture I took at the MOP host orientation, which prepared
the hosts to house students, an envelope with the scavenger hunt rules, and a picture of
the students I led on the scavenger hunt.

Annotation: ​I first learned about D.R.I.V.E.’s Multicultural Overnight Program (MOP)

from Maya Moran in my HDF 190 class. I was extremely interested in partaking in this
program because I would have an actual influence on high school students and their
decision whether to attend URI or not. I choose to do the MOP to fulfill my Learning
Contract for my HDF 190 class. I filled out D.R.I.V.E’s application online, Facebook
Messaged Maya asking her questions about how the program would run, and received a
personalized email from the program coordinator, Caitlin Cotter, answering some of the
questions I asked Maya.

I was excited to take the role of a mentor who could give useful advice to high school
seniors entering into the next step of their education, whether that be at URI or a
different institution. I hoped to get out as much as the students did, learning from them
as much as they learned from me.
As a day host for MOP, I utilized my input, learner and positivity strengths. I began to
see my strengths come to play before I even interacted with the students. I used my
input and learner strengths during the host orientation on March 28th. During the
orientation, I learned how to frame URI in a positive light when answering the high
schooler’s questions and presumptions about URI. We played a game using “yes” or “no”
cards. We decided which card to hold up based on whether we believed a statement or
question to be true or false. These statements or questions were based off of questions
most first-year students say. For example, one statement was, “you need to join Greek
Life in order to have a social life on campus.” The obvious answer was no, but after we
all came to this conclusion, we discussed alternative ways to have a social life on
campus. I learned new ways to get involved, including joining clubs and organizations,
going to random events on campus or by keeping your door open in your dorm to get to
know people on your floor. I learned new ways to get involved and collected this
information for later. I would not have come up with some of these answers if I was the
only person being asked.
I saw myself use my input skill when first meeting all of the students. The first activity I
participated in with the students was a question and answer session. I collected
information about each student and what their feelings were about entering college. I
was able to foster a close connection with many of them because, less than a year ago, I
was in their shoes. With the information I learned about the students from their
characters and questions, I adapted my answers to reassure the students about entering
college. I tried to make them feel more comfortable about transitioning into college.
I used my positivity strength during the scavenger hunt around campus. In the
afternoon, I was given a group of students to lead on a scavenger hunt around campus.
This scavenger hunt relied on my knowledge of the URI campus. We were required to go
to a specific location, based on clues, and take a group photo in front of that location.
The scavenger hunt was about two hours long. By the end, many of the students were
tired, especially after waking up early to get to campus. Some students drove 4-5 hours
to get to URI. I kept a positive attitude during the activity even though I was also tired. I
kept encouraging the group to continue. I also used my input strength during this
activity because I acknowledged that all of them were tired and allowed them to rest in
front of the lit up periodic table in Beaupre, before we completed the rest of the
scavenger hunt. This time period was calming and allowed the students to regroup
before we walking back to the Multicultural Center.

As a night host, I saw my values of curiosity and fairness come to play when interacting
with my individual student, Jordyn Alston. When I first met Jordyn, I asked her many
questions to get to know her. I was genuinely interested in her life and why she
considered URI as a possible school. I learned that she is from Connecticut, works a part
time job, and is extremely close with her family. She wants to enter as an animal science
major, with the hopes of becoming a vet. From my perception, she is introverted and
shy. One of her main concerns about entering college is not being able to make friends
because of her shy personality. When she told me this, I reassured her that many other
college student have similar fears. I gave her advice to join clubs and organizations to try
to meet new people and make friends. I also used the information I learned at the
orientation and told her that she should leave her dorm hall door open to meet new
people and start building connections within her floor. My value of fairness allowed me
to keep an open mind when getting to know Jordyn. At first, she was reserved and did
not ask many questions. However, as the night progressed, she opened up more and
began to ask me questions about my experiences in college. I did not make a decision
about who Jordyn is based on the first impression I had of her. Rather, I got to know her
on a personal level and then made a decision. I also saw my fairness value come to play
because Jordyn had to leave early the next morning so that she could tour UCONN in
the morning. Although she might not attend URI in the fall, she enjoyed getting to know
her as a person. My feelings that might not attend URI did not affect my newly formed
relationship with her.

During the MOP program, I most closely related my experience with Grace’s 4 V’s Model
of Ethical Leadership. The four V’s are values, vision, voice and virtue. As shown above,
I recognize my strengths and values and how I utilized them throughout my interactions
with the students. My values helped inspire my vision of making the students feel more
welcome to the college campus atmosphere. I used my voice to articulate my vision by
answering the high school student’s questions about transitioning into the college
lifestyle. I reassured them of their fears and tried to make the feel as comfortable as
possible. Finally, I was virtuous by using my values, vision and voice to benefit the
common good, or the community of high school students, who hopefully felt more
comfortable in their journey entering college.

Instructor Signature:
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Student Signature:
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