HDF 190:

FIRST YEAR LEADERS INSPIRED TO EXCELLENCE

Christian Escobar
SPRING 2015
[email protected]

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Strengths
Opening Statement
Section 1: Self Leadership
Section 2: Leadership Theories
Section 3: Inclusive Leadership
Section 4: Critical Thinking
Section 5: Interpersonal/Organizational Leadership

SLIDE 3
SLIDE 4
SLIDE 5
SLIDE 6
SLIDE 7
SLIDE 8
SLIDE 9

Signature Strengths
Input
Restorative
Intellection
Positivity
Empathy

Values in Action Strengths

OPENING STATEMENT
Hello, my name is Christian Escobar. I am a freshman pursuing a major in
Psychology and a minor in Leadership Studies at the University of Rhode Island. I
am interested in attending graduate school, and eventually pursuing a career as a
clinical psychologist or psychiatrist. In my leadership class my freshman year, I
learned about my top strengths and values. My strengths are kindness, social
intelligence, fairness, honesty and judgment. My top values are input, restorative,
intellection, positivity and empathy. I think that my strengths and values blend
together to show the type of person and leader I strive to be. I hope to understand
people to the best of my ability so that I can better judge where they are coming
from and what reasoning they have behind the things they do. I hope to apply this
to clinical psychology in the future in order to help those with mental illness.

SECTION 1
SELF LEADERSHIP
8. Student will express a personal value statement
Target Class: HDF 190
In my HDF 190 FLITE class we were told to think of our values and construct a personal values
statement. I looked back to my top 5 strengths from the VIA survey that we had to take, also for
this class, and used them to construct my personal values statement. I think that my results
from the VIA survey are true to the person I am. I want to help people with my life. I am currently
a Psychology major and would like to go into the field of clinical psychology. My top 5 strengths
are kindness, social intelligence, fairness, honesty and judgment, all of which I think will be
helpful in connecting with people and helping them with their problem. I value being there for
people and see myself as very empathetic. I think it is important to seek to understand people so
that you can be better suited to help them.

SECTION 2
Leadership Theory and Models
40. Student will show knowledge of the
Relational Leadership model by Komives, McMahon & Lucas
Target Class: HDF 190
I learned about relational leadership in my HDF 190 class. In the Relational Leadership model by Komives,
McMahon and Lucas, the components or relational leadership are outlined and organized into how a
leader should know, be, and do when it comes to the 5 components of relational leadership. The first
component of the model is inclusive. This component focuses on knowing that everyone has their
differences and believing that these differences are valuable. An inclusive leader listens to what their
group members have to offer and focuses on developing talent. The second component is empowering.
An empowering leader knows the impact that power can have on a group and believes that power should
be shared amongst group members through a conversation facilitated by the leader. A third component of
relational leadership is purposeful. A purposeful leader knows the common goal of the group and
believes that the goal can only be achieved through the efforts of all group members, and involves others
in the goal-building process. Another component of relational leadership is ethical. This component
focuses on knowing the values that should be followed and believes that actions that benefit others are
preferred over actions that benefit the self. An ethical leader would confront inappropriate behavior seen
in others. The last component of relational leadership is process-oriented. This component knowing the
group process, believing that it is important to the outcome, and collaborates with the group to guide the
process as it goes along.

SECTION 3
Inclusive Leadership / Diversity and its application to leadership
82. Student will describe personal examples of being a change agent

A change agent is someone who brings about social change for the betterment of
others. During my studies freshman year it came across to me that a large amount of
college students suffer from mental illness, and their grades suffer because of it.
Although I cant raise awareness across the whole campus by myself, I acted as a
change agent in my own way by giving informative speeches in my HDF 190 and
COM 100 classes. I hope to raise awareness at least to my peers so that social
change may start. There is not a very strong presence of a student mental health
organization, and so I am also currently working on getting one started.

SECTION 4
Critical Thinking
98. Student will describe examples of leadership in crisis situations
One day after school my junior year of high school I was on my way to soccer practice and meet
up with one of my good friends who lives close to me. I instantly noticed something was off and
had an idea that he had been dealing with a lot. When I asked him if he was going to soccer
practice he told me that he was not feeling himself and was going to go home. I knew by the way
he said it that something was seriously wrong. I made the decision then and there to skip soccer
practice and follow him home, after all, he only lived a few streets over from me. I made the
tough decision of talking to my mom about the situation and she in turn talked to his mom who
ended up finding him help. It turns out that he was extremely depressed that day after school.
Looking back at this situation from the point of this class I realize that I used leadership skills to
make a tough decision in a critical situation. I also look back on my StrengthQuest results and
believe that my strengths were put into use in this situation before I even knew that they were
top strengths for me.

SECTION 5
(Interpersonal and Organizational Concepts and Skills )
130. Student will show knowledge of Intercultural communication considerations
Target Class: HDF 190
I learned about the technical aspects of intercultural communication, such as some barriers and
limitations as well as useful methods of intercultural communication. I think it is extremely
important to listen actively and be open minded when speaking to someone form a different
culture than you. I have interacted with people from many different cultures specifically in HDF
190 and at leadership institute. There was one activity during Leadership Institute that involved
members of our group opening up about personal experiences. There were a few members who
were born in different cultures and shared their stories. Listening to them reminded me of all of
the different places and cultures that people come from. I found that it is also important to
realize that there are many barriers when communicating across cultures including
miscommunication. Things may not mean the same across cultures and can be cause for great
confusion. It is also important to pay attention to body language, a form of communication not
as restricted by culture as speech.