Final Reflection

Hopefully, I've gotten a really cool thing to do next fall from this class - whether it's my group's project or someone else's.

But if that doesn't work out, I'll still be more than satisfied with this course.

First of all, you guys are awesome. I came from a small school where the varsity athletes were the theater kids and the kids who won the science fair and the artists and everything else at once. When I got here, I wanted to be on the lacrosse team, which I knew would take all of my free time, so I didn't really look into doing anything else. After I didn't make the team, I didn't do anything ever. Like at all. I went from juggling more activities than I can count in high school to doing nothing here. It was a very boring first quarter. Then I met you guys! You are all so passionate about so many things, and you inspired me to be get involved again. I haven't spent time with all of you individually, but the collective attitude in the class has steered me toward a better life, or at least a more fulfilling college experience. So thanks for that. I'm so glad to have met and learned from you guys.

This course made me really reflect on myself. Starting from the beginning with the MBTI test and continuing through values and the weekly blog posts, I've learned as much from myself as I have from the class and my classmates. I realize that sounds cocky, but I think it's incredibly important, especially in the context of leadership, where you have to know how to lead yourself to be able to lead others. I won't stop valuing the time and space I got for introspection any time soon. This class sat us all down and showed us that we have our own power, and that we deserve to take ourselves seriously.

Of course, it also taught me not to take myself too seriously. As a class, we expertly managed to have very serious discussions while still keeping a fun, relaxed mood to the class. Even when the topics got heavy, we still managed to make our time enjoyable. I think I was put on this world to bring joy to everything I do. However, those things don't often lend themselves to being fun, so bringing joy can be difficult to do and is usually difficult to do correctly. This class danced on that balance line from day one, and I think we managed to end up on the right side most of the time.

Santa Clara sets itself apart from many other universities by striving to educate our whole selves. ELP remembered that we are just people, but it still pushed our limits to redefine that human balance. If everyone took a class like this, I think the world would look a little different.

This class gave us a glimpse of our potential in this life. Go forth and set the world on fire.