Thinking back on applying to the program, the workshops were not exactly what I expected. I thought that they would primarily consist of time to workshop your project with heavy individual guidance on steps and decision-making. The workshops did provide a structure to move forward and take steps in our projects, but I appreciated that they were mainly about building different skills that could be applied to any leadership project. I learned about so many things I had never thought about in such ways before, from stakeholder analysis to different conflict resolution styles. I found the presentation by the Ginsburg center about ethical community engagement particularly memorable and valuable. I also found the feedback from peers and facilitators at every step very helpful in shaping the project, as this helped me consider aspects and connections that I would not have been able to come up with on my own. Overall, the workshop series was inspiring, as I got to interact with a diverse group of peers with very different ideas and perspectives, as well as extremely and empowering, because it provided me with so much applicable information. I can’t believe how much I learned in only four workshops!
