HDF 190: FLITE (FIRST-YEAR LEADERS INSPIRED TO EXCELLENCE)

URI MINOR IN LEADERSHIP STUDIES, CENTER FOR STUDENT LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT

CORE REQUIREMENT FOR THE LEADERSHIP MINOR

LEARNING CONTRACT

Goal: To identify and utilize my Strengths in an organizational/interpersonal setting that

aligns with the mission, vision, values and sponsored programs and activities of URIs
Center for Student Leadership Development.

Activity: This year, I will be leading an Alternative Spring Break trip through URI
Service Corps. The trip I am leading will be primarily splitting our time between Flint,
Michigan, and Detroit, Michigan. As a trip leader, I have been involved with deciding on
a trip location, contacting service organizations that align with our mission, interviewing
student applicants and reviewing their applications, leading weekly trip meetings, and
working in alignment with the adult advisors as well as the Service Corps executive
board. Also, I am individually responsible for the financials of my trip, meaning that it is
my responsibility to collect and log all money that is raised by the students on the trip.
This opportunity has and will continue to put my leadership skills into action, as I work
to get the URI student population involved with service.

Evidence: From March 11, 2017, to March 19, 2017, I, alongside three other student
leaders, led a team of eighteen students to Michigan. During our week, we spent time
volunteering with the Michigan Urban Farm Initiative, the Greater Holy Temple Church
of God in Christ, Inc., Food Gatherers, Calvary United Methodist Church, and Genesee
County Habitat for Humanity.

Annotation:

Alternative Spring Breaks are trips offered through URI Service Corps that allow
students to spend the week of spring break doing service work. In 2017, URI Service
Corps offered a total of five Alternative Spring Breaks, including two in-state trips and
three out of state trips. Each trip was defined by a theme around which the weeks service
was centered. The trip I led was the Human Rights trip.
After participating on a trip my freshman year of college to New Mexico, I was
invited to act as a Student Leader for the 2017 and 2018 trips. After deciding to center
our trip around human rights violations, my co-leaders and I quickly agreed to focus on
Flint, Michigan, in response to the ongoing water crisis.
This trip allowed me to practice my strengths and related to my passions and
interests in a variety of ways. I am a political science major, a career path that I have
fallen in love with through my passion for change through policy. Working in Flint,
Michigan gave me the opportunity to see very clearly how significantly policy decisions
can affect the lives of a community, as I learned first-hand how the decisions made by
people in power affected the health and wellbeing of community members.
Throughout my experience as an Alternative Spring Break Student Leader, I saw
my strengths play a significant role in my leadership style. My empathy strength played
an obvious role, and probably is largely responsible for my interest in the Alternative
Spring Break program. I love people, and am passionate about working for the security of
human rights. Understanding water as being a basic human right, and knowing that that
right had been stripped from the people of Flint for years led me to my interest in
planning a trip in Flint. Similarly, throughout the week, as we worked with community
members that had been affected by the water crisis and were working to combat it, I
found my empathy allowing me to focus the water crisis down to the stories of each
individual I encountered. I was motivated by the suffering I observed, and I was inspired
by the passion the community members had to work toward change, despite the relative
apathy of the state and federal government. My input and intellection strengths also
played a significant role, especially in the planning of the trip. My intellection inspired
me to learn as much as I could about the water crisis and share that information with the
students on the trip. My input allowed me to organize myself in a way that made planning
the trip possible by keeping me on top of my deadlines. It made sure that all my financial
spreadsheets were clear and filled out in a timely fashion, and allowed me to
communicate my plans to my co-leaders, advisors, and students effectively.

Instructor Signature: ____________________________________________

Student Signature: ______________________________________________