The concept of leadership is hard to understand; How does a leader look? What does a leader do? Who can be a leader? All these questions came to me as I began to attend Agnes Scott, a liberal arts college focused on creating leaders. I had heard of leadership in high school; I was told I had the attitude of a leader, but I never overthought about it until I began my leadership 101 class. As the instructor continued to say to the class that each one of us had qualities to be a leader, I became annoyed, annoyed at the fact that it sounded so cliche. As time went by, the lessons, readings, and assignments that were given to us made me contemplate what leadership was and my drive to be a leader.

One of the first assignments that allowed me to assess leadership along with liberal arts education was the analyzation of the essay “Only Connect” by William Cronon. Though I was not in class for more than a month, I was able to reflect on the article and its message; how it is important for individuals to connect with others, and continue the adventure of learning after one graduate. The professor gave us the task of comparing our strengths to the list that Cronon provides in his essay on what a leader should be. This was one of the toughest things I had to do; why do I have to view myself as a leader? Why me and not someone else? I realized that I was scared of the responsibility a leader carries, or I was scared of finding out my strengths were not good enough to be a leader. The more I re-read the essay, the more I wrote my paper, I realized that my qualities would make me a good leader after all; I can feel what others feel, understand others as if those thoughts were my own by putting myself in their place, I enjoy solving problems, whether my own or of others, I love to learn and sort through the clutter that life gives, by seeing potential in everything. Leadership began to be something more than just someone taking action and giving orders; it started to become more real and able to be achieved by ordinary humans like me.

Following the “Only Connect” assignment, we began to talk about Los Tres Grandes of Mexico; David Alfaro Siqueiros, Jose Clemente Orozco, and Diego Rivera, individuals whose leadership came in the form of art. Though they created their individual pieces of art, they came together to start the Mexican muralism movement to unify the country that was divided by the post-Mexican revolution government. This section of the course taught me that being a leader also means being curious, reaching to the community in whatever way possible and that our actions are not for ourselves, but rather the benefit of your community and home. This section would not have been completed without a project, a group project to be exact. The class was assigned was to create a presentation on one of Los Tres Grandes; three other of my classmates and I were given Siqueiros. I was still out of the country which made it a massive challenge for me to communicate with my group or even know my tasks. Obstacles were present, but were later defeated; I was back and caught up to my group in no time. The team presentations took a certain weight off my shoulders; it taught me how to do things I wasn’t so great at, for example speaking in front of others. It also allowed me to put my strengths into action. The overall presentation came together seamlessly in the end, even though we were a group of strangers, researching another stranger on the complex topic of muralism art.

Towards the end of the course, Professor Cozzes came to speak to us about the conflict that created the murals of Ireland and Yehimi, an Agnes Scott alumni, came to talk to us about her story and how it led her to begin painting mighty walls for her community. Yehimi arrived to the United States at the age of 8, not knowing a single word of English. In the difficult times, Yehimi resorted to art, the universal language of the eyes. She won an art contest but was denied the prize due to her legal status. Yehimi identified a injustice and took action to fight it by actively making others aware of what is going on to immigrants, what is happening to the minorities living in our community. She uplifts them all even if they are not going through issues that she has gone through. With strength and determination, she became a first-generation college student and graduated from Agnes Scott and later became a teacher at Cross Keys high school, her old school. Yehimi used her position as a teacher to help other undocumented students; she came back to her community to use the skills she attained to help those that are going through what she went through. Her story showed me how influential leaders can be and that she is powerful because she provides hope and a plan for other undocumented students; She allows them to see that it is possible for them to do the things others say they can’t do, even though certain individuals are trying to stop them. Yehimi’s first mural was a sensation, but all good has to come to an end; the wall was painted over, her message that she wanted the community to see. In that event, she portrayed another quality of a leader; the ability of when to take some losses, accepting the bad outcomes even if it’s difficult. She received the fate of her mural but did not stop trying to get her message out to the community.

In the Cronon essay, there is a part that mentions how one should return to their community to share what they have learned. Going back and giving back to the community is precisely what she did, she came back to Agnes Scott and shared what she had learned and went back to her old high school and did the same thing, gave back to her community when she got to her old high school and became a teacher. Yehimi inspired others to fight for their rights, to succeed in a country that you are told you cannot do anything in.

Looking back at everything I learned in LDR, I realized there is not one image of what a leader looks like, there is not a specific role model that you have to be precisely like- that was the main idea of LDR class, it shows you that each of you can make a leader, and not all leaders will turn out the same because everyone has different perspectives, issues they are passionate about, ideas and overall strengths. Leaders don’t only focus on one group in distress, a leader is open-minded and doesn’t exclude. This course has taught me that as a leader you don’t have to stand alone, it’s a bad idea to stand alone. If you stand in a group things will go much better. LDR has taught me that it’s dangerous only to have one view of a leader.