Taking Our Turn With International Leadership

Before I set out for my semester abroad people told me that my experience would be one of the most enriching experiences of my life–and an experience that would look good on a resume. I planned on coming abroad regardless of adding a line to my resume, but when I first got here I wasn’t sure how exactly I could even put my study abroad experience into a few sentences that would get me hired. I didn’t think that “Studied in Rome and had the time of her life” would translate quite how I wanted it to. But the John Felice Rome Center had my back this semester and thanks to a new program I easily earned a certificate that allows me to put “Study Abroad” on my resume that says more than “I experienced Italy for 4 months”.

This semester Student Life Assistant Jessica and the JFRC’s Director Emilio Iodice put into place the JFRC Student Life Leadership Certificate. The goal of this certificate was to offer students something tangible to market their study abroad experience with by participating in activities and organizations they would have been involved in regardless. To earn the certificate students had to complete 4 of the following: Enroll in Emilio Iodice’s leadership course, be a member of Student Activities Committee and organize or lead an event, participate in calcio as a captain or commissioner, go on the WWII study trip, write a reflection paper in any format (as in this blog post!), volunteer at panini distribution or the Ronald McDonald House, or attend two of the four monthly leadership workshops. Then at the end of the semester (this coming Friday, actually) students will give poster presentations reflecting on their leadership experiences from the semester.

This certificate has enriched my study abroad experience by allowing me to market the past four months of my life in a positive way to future employers, so that they know I did more than prance around Europe seeing sights and eating good food. All of the programs and clubs that counted towards my certificate are things I would’ve been involved in anyway this semester. And now I’ve got proof that I was enriched as a person and of course as a leader this semester.

“Global Leadership” is an intimidating term that I’ve heard tossed around here and there, but now I’ve realized that this term is much more accessible than I thought. My time here has shown me that a good leader is a good leader no matter where in the world they are. And when you become a “Global Leader” you are certainly more aware of the world and more willing to adapt yourself to someone else’s culture in order to lead to the best of their ability. I don’t think I could pinpoint all the ways I’ve been changed this semester, but when I get home I know it will be obvious to others and myself that my time abroad impacted my life in positive ways.