Extracurricular Activities and Organizations
This picture was taken at Impact Retreat, Texas A&M's Christian freshman orientation camp, where I served as a counselor in the summer of 2011. I have participated in quite a few organizations on and off campus every year, because I believe that we learn just as much from one another as students as we do inside the classroom. Also, being involved makes everything more fun and meaningful. To me, involvement is vital to any college student. I have used my organizations to find my passions outside of academics, and to exercise my abilities as a leader to make a real difference on campus.
Early Years: Freshman and Sophomore My first campus organizations that I joined was Aggie Fish Club. AFC is one of fourteen Freshman Leadership Organizations at Texas A&M, and the purpose of these groups is to provide students opportunities to become active members of the Aggie family from the outset of their time at school. We organized many service and social events throughout the year. AFC was a unique experience for me because it was the most diverse group that I had ever been a part of at that time. My early involvement on campus open doors for me to become a counselor for Impact Retreat and Camp Adventure the following summer. What I learned from my counselors as a freshmen taught me how to effectively lead when I came across those opportunities later. The great aspect of my two roles as a camp counselor is that they were very different from each other. In Impact, I led a group of incoming freshmen, while in Camp Adventure, I led elementary aged students. Both situations helped me grow personally and professionally. Current Involvement Since my junior year, I have committed most of my time outside school to my local church: Grace Bible Church. After participating in the college ministry's fellowship team as a sophomore, I was recommended for leadership and took a role as a Bible study leader during the spring semester after my co-op with Cargill. I was given more independence in leadership than ever with this group, and now, as I currently serve as the Evangelism Team leader for the college ministry, I have even more responsibility. One of the differences between involvement in a church and involvement in normal campus organizations is that I interact with adults whose full time career is the church, in addition to the students I lead. I have grown so much from the mentoring I have received from the pastors and interns at the church, and I know that I always have good counsel when making important decisions. Grace's mission is to "raise up the next generation of leaders." My role in that is simple, but challenging. My position will go to someone else next year when I graduate, and it is my responsibility to engage my team so that they will want to continue serving the church. |