Communication

Communication is an essential part of our everyday life, or so I have been told. Over and over I have heard about how communication is a huge part of our lives, but no one has really showed me how it affects our lives. Lauren and McKaila did a great job of showing how communication can affect everyday interactions and how it will affect us as peer mentors next year. 

One huge part of communication is listening. This part of communication has always come hard to me. I love to talk and what I used to do is use the time when other people are talking to prepare what I was going to say next. I honestly didn't care what I had to say because I thought that what I was going to say was more valuable. Last summer I was one of 8 leaders chosen to be in charge of a summer camp that I have worked at since my junior year in high school. One of our main tasks was to help mentor some people in our groups that we were in charge of. That summer I realized the value of listening and the major role that it plays in mentoring someone. 

Along with working at that summer camp is something that I talked about during class. At camp we were sharing the Gospel with the campers, the greatest news they would ever hear. But sometimes it felt like they weren't listening to what we were saying. Something that our head director once told us is that, "They won't care what you know, until they know that you care." This applies to us as peer mentors for the next year. The first year students won't care about our experiences, advice, or other things we have to offer, until they know that we truly care about them.

Chapter 3 Enhancing Cultural Proficiency

Chapter three is all about our own cultural proficiency and how we view different people and situations. Exercise 3.5 in the book looks solely at what is your culture and helping us our culture and where we came from. It really allowed me to look at how we are all different and realizing what as influenced me as well. It was something I had never thought about before. Growing up in the suburbs and just being what I thought was normal. I always thought about how people were different from me and not how I was different from other people and how my environment had shaped me. That was one of the main things I got from this chapter, is that I am different than others and I need to see that as well.

Josh did a really great job of speaking on this topic in class on thursday. The most impactful thing for me that we did was where we looked at a list of values and chose ones that we thought were most prominent in our lives. The three that I ended up choosing were faith, love, and joy. Before going into the class and seeing that list if you would have had me choose what three values I thought were most important, those probably would have been my three choices. Throughout my life, there has been nothing more important to me then those three things. If I was going to add one more, it would have to be hope. Without the hope that I have in something more than this world, I would have broken down years ago. Sometimes I don't understand how people can live life without hope.

This chapter was my favorite chapter so far because it allowed me to really look at my life and see how it will help me be a mentor. I know everyone is different, and I can't wait to hear what values other people have and how their lives have been impacted by those values.

Sam Hausler

ISLE and Peer Mentor Conference

When I first found out that we had to go to two conferences I wasn't too excited to go. I didn't want to give up most of my weekend to go to something that I didn't want to go to. But, it was something that I committed to doing so I went.

The first conference was the Peer Mentor one. We were required to go to two sessions so I chose the only two times that worked for my schedule. The first session I went to was about strengths, learning what your strengths are and the strengths  of the people that you are mentoring and how that affects your team. A lot of what they talked about resembled the MBTI talk that we had the day before. Although it was close to the MBTI talk, I still was able to take a few things out of it. They really hit on the importance of learning how each strength affects different situations and how to work as a team. It really made me excited for when the first year students take the MBTI test so that as a mentor I will have a better understanding of how our section can work as a team.

The second session I went to was about social media. This session I didn't take as much away from as the first one. They talked a lot about how they had used social media to promote their group. As Hixsons, thats not what we really use social media for. We use it as a way to communicate and encourage all of the other Hixsons around us. We aren't asking for likes, or follows, because it is already prestigious on its own.

The next conference was ISLE, or the Iowa State Leadership Experience. I had to work all morning so I missed around half of the conference but I was still able to attend four sessions during the afternoon. My favorite session I went to was what color is your brain. Although it also was like our MBTI talk it put a new perspective on it. They talked about how the brain is split into four quadrants and how we use all of them but we favor one of them. The color that I favor is blue. Blue is all about numbers and being organized. This pretty much sums up most of who I am and I was satisfied of how they did it.

Although I originally wasn't excited for last weekend, it turned out to be a good learning experience and I am glad that I was forced to go.

MBTI Part Dos

ESFJ, these four letters accurately describe who I am and what my personality is like. This is the second time in a row that I got ESFJ. After the first part of the MBTI test I was quite sure that ESFJ is where I belonged.

E - Extraverted. I talk a lot. Its who I am and who I always will be. The first two letters talk about where you find your energy. Introverts find their energy from themselves and by thinking. While extroverts find their energy by the others around them. This describes me so well. I find motivation and my drive from everyone else, not from me. When in a group of people I am usually the one spurring on the conversation and keeping everyone involved. Unless I am feeling lazy, then I just don't care a whole lot. To paint the picture of how extraverted I am. For the past two tests I have been a 30 in extraverted and al of the facets were at a 5 for in-preference.

S - Sensing. Sensing is all about using your five senses to find your information. I am a very reliant on what I can see, smell and touch. It takes a lot of faith for me to believe something is true if I can't use my five senses to find truth in it. I also am very detail oriented. I tend to shy away from the big picture and just focus on the little things and how they affect the bigger things.

F - Feeling. Feeling is about how you make decisions and what factors go into those decisions.  I care about people as my main factors. If the decision that I make harms somebody or they don't agree with it then I will try as hard as I can to make it right with them or to settle whatever their doubts are. Compassion is a really big characteristic in my life. I love the feeling of being able to relate to people and being able to be compassionate and empathetic for them.

J - Judging. Judging and perceiving are how you interact with the outer world. I am 100% in the judging margin. I plan everything. From when to wake up, to what I am going to wear for that day. If something isn't planned that I start freaking out and don't feel comfortable at all. It is in my comfort zone to feel like I have everything in control and that nothing can go wrong.

So what does all of this mean and how does it help me lead a group? It lets me realize what I am good at and how I can use those in contrast with the strengths of my co-leader.