During the Winter 2015 semester, I had the opportunity to study abroad as an exchangestudent\u00a0at the National University of Singapore with the support of the Barger Leadership\u00a0Institute. This experience proved to be extremely rewarding and transformative, as I learned\u00a0more about culture, leadership, and myself than I ever could have had I stayed in Ann Arbor.<\/p>\n
Simply being away from my family and friends back home helped me grow more\u00a0independent and mature. Having lived in Michigan all my life, to have the opportunity to study\u00a0abroad as an exchange-student where I was completely integrated in the college life challenged\u00a0me considerably. Prior to studying abroad, I had never had the opportunity to travel outside of\u00a0the United States except for when I visited Venezuela, where my mom immigrated from, as a\u00a0child. While studying abroad in Singapore, however, I was finally able to travel to other\u00a0countries and interact with other cultures directly. As Singapore is optimally located in the center\u00a0of Southeast Asia, I was able to affordably travel to Malaysia, Thailand, Australia, Japan, South\u00a0Korea, Vietnam, and the Philippines.<\/p>\n
To the extent that I had not fully realized prior to coming to Singapore, travel can be a\u00a0deeply educational experience. My understandings of identity, nationality, race, democracy,\u00a0authoritarianism, colonialism, governance, public policy, development, and life in general were\u00a0all challenged and furthered. Moreover, through my travels, I was able to develop my cultural\u00a0competencies and leadership skills. I feel as though I have become more globally aware,\u00a0interculturally competent, and can look at issues from varying perspectives.<\/p>\n
Also worth mentioning is the fact that most of my friend group consisted of non-Americans. My closest friends were Korean, Taiwanese, Singaporean, Norwegian, Dutch, and\u00a0Canadian. I learned so much from their different backgrounds and we often had discussions\u00a0about different cultural values and policy issues. This, I believe, helped me build my listening\u00a0and communication skills, as well as allowed me to engage in dialogues across cultures.<\/p>\n
I learned so much from their different backgrounds and we often had discussions about\u00a0different cultural values and policy issues. As a public policy major, I am particularly interested\u00a0in discussions such as these. Through these discussions, I came to realize that public policy is\u00a0simply but a reflection of cultural values and priorities.<\/p>\n
Through my coursework, I had the opportunity to build practical skills and develop\u00a0myself as a leader. In my class “Managing Nonprofit Organizations”, I developed a proposal to\u00a0start a global nonprofit organization along with a culturally diverse team through a semester-long\u00a0applied project. Through this course, I was able to develop presentation \u00a0kills, entrepreneurial\u00a0skills, and managerial\/project-management skills. Moreover, by working with 3 Singaporeans\u00a0and a German, I learned how to work in a culturally diverse team and leverage each person’s\u00a0different experiences and insights for the benefit of our project. At times, it was very difficult to\u00a0work together since we all had different interests and wanted to serve different communities, but\u00a0in the end we incorporated everyone’s insights so that we each had a stake in the organization’s\u00a0success. Inclusive leadership, I learned, is incredibly important to effective teamwork and team\u00a0cohesiveness.<\/p>\n
Though smaller in scale, I also had a group project in my \u201cComparative Study of\u00a0Development\u201d course. Through this experience, I learned most about how effective leaders are\u00a0able to delegate work accordingly given the strengths of weaknesses of the team. For example, I\u00a0leveraged my presentation and communication skills, while my teammates used their statistical\u00a0and computer modeling skills. More importantly, this group project manifested into strong\u00a0friendships with local Singaporeans, where I had the opportunity to learn more about\u00a0Singaporean life and not just engage with other exchange students.<\/p>\n
By the end of the semester, I truly felt like I had become a more effective leader. While I
\nam everyday contemplating whether I would like to work in business, politics, nonprofits,
\ngovernment, or social enterprise, I learned that ultimately what drives me is a desire to lead and\u00a0to have a positive social impact.<\/p>\n