How will you make the most of your Leadership Program experience? Please review the Leadership Program site, consider events and activities that the University and Austin community have to offer that will count toward filling your LP requirements. Consider your strengths and areas of personal growth; consider leadership and community issues you would like to learn more about while at the University etc. (40 lines / 250 Words Maximum):

From the Social Change Model of Leadership Development, please select one of the following terms and write an essay on your personal definition of the word and its' significance to you - Consciousness of Self, Commitment, Collaboration, and Controversy with Civility. (40 lines / 250 Words Maximum):

Confidence is the key. Being conscious of your self means that you understand your strengths as well as your weaknesses. Too many times, people self deprecate nd make themselves out to be weaker than they reall yare. Maybe its Asian culture but my time in Taiwan has taught exposed me to the cuture of humility. Of course one should never brag profusely but wone should also take pride in their strengths and take responsibility when needed. Beoing concisous of yourself means that you know exactly who you are. I tmeans that you don’t view yourself as high er than what you are aor lower than what you are. You are in perfect balance of the good and bad. It is knowing your fortes and pianos . It is knowing your purpose as well as knowing your destiny. It is everything that makes you decide to do thinga dn everyrhing that makes you stit on the sidelines. The importance of knowing yousrself creates a good leader. A good leader is above all confidet in his or her abilities. IS understanding in his or her limitations as well as expectations. A leader is expected to maintain the calm mask fo confidence een when face with certain defeat. Confdicen comes from knowing where ones comfs from as well as wheres one upbringing is. Confdince comes from within and as a result confidence comes from the intorpsection at the concept of self. Being concisou of ones self. It creates the dynamic and turbulent flow of ideas and opinoions needed to create a strong platform the lead people.

Leaders are confident.They are knowledgable or at lesast seem that way. Good leaders are knowledgable, great leaders are confident. Decision making is the only thing leaders are graded by. That is there only major contribution. A good leader makes the right decision based knowledge of facts and figures. A great leader makes the right decision based on facts as well as feeling. A leader who never doubts oneself. Having consciousness of self means never underestimateing or overestimateing ones owns ability. It means being comfortable with imperfections withing yourself and working around them. It means

Being you means forming concrete opinions on things and never changing them. It means that once you set the rules you can’t change them. It means that no matter whatever you’re feeling you have to go through with policy. This is what I would have described “Consciousness of Self,” before my senior year. Your consciousness isn’t concrete. The phrase people change is very true. Instead of a concrete opinion, which can be weathered with water and worn away till it’s broken and forgotten, an opinion should be like wet clay, where pieces can still be added and shaped. An opinions doesn’t have to be like water where it flows and forms whatever shape it is contained in. An person should be able to stand on it’s own, picking and choosing information like clay to add to the sculpture. It’s never done. Always slowly changing, hardening parts to stand strong.

“P-O-S-E-R, poser. That’s what you are.” I felt like everyone could hear my heartbeat, as if it were on a speaker system broadcasting my inner feelings despite my straight face. Words from my best friend, a comrade whom I had known for years, someone who has been honest and always supportive. To others, I would have brushed aside their opinions, leaving them to their own convictions and beliefs, forever believing that they were misguided and having problems in their own life. But this was my friend. My self-reflection wasn’t an instant realization or epiphany. I had to think and analyze my relationships with everyone in my life. Whether I was being genuine or being as fake as the Prada bag from china. Whether or not my passions were only their because I wanted to fit in, and not because I wanted to do them. It’s human nature to want to be a part of a group. Being a part of a group means safety. It means your biological purpose in life of continuing your own bloodline is safer than those who go it alone. I didn’t belong to any group. I was flexible, perhaps too flexible. I didn’t have an opinion or view that was my own. My personality was an amalgamation of things that I picked up form different friends. I never formed my own opinions or created my own vision. I wasn’t a person. I was ust a façade. Of course everyone’s opinion is cultivated through family and friends and general location as well as their experiences. But my opinions weren’t my own. They weren’t thought of by me. I merely parroted what I heard and never created an opinion that I could call my own. I was a poser. Not a person but a camoflouging octopus, switching between groups and changing opinions. I didn’t realize I wasn’t a person until that 5 letter word. But when I changed, I found it difficult to have a concrete opinion all the time. I would find evidence that I morally felt contradicted my view. But taking back what I say makes me the same as a poser. I realize now that I should my sense of self as a

Please describe why you feel you are the best fit for acceptance into the McCombs Leadership Program? (40 lines / 250 Words Maximum):