On the five

K, so far I have three.

I met a guy named Kevin, he is an undergrad from BYU pusuing a new degree in CM form Weber. He still lives in Utah county and Drives up to Weber for night classes two nights a week. In the same instance I met a guy named Dave. He has just left a 12 yr career with the military flying helecoptors to pursue a degree at Weber. He showed me some pictures of the copter he has flown and some of the exercises they do in training--aka freaking cool stuff. This friday I was at BYU for a competition in estimating. I went up and talked to a kid I had seen in previous competitions but never spoke to. I asked him how he was doing and how well he did in the competition. He thought his team did well on the estimate, but not on the presentation. They hadn't left themselves enough time to practice. He is graduating this spring and wants to move back to Florida, his home state, and find a job working in commercial constuction. Also, as huge side note my team took third place in the estimating competition. That means we won 500 monies for tuition next year, compliments of the Americas Society of Professional Estimators. YEE Haaaaaa.

Goal Setting

Past Accomplishment: Making it to college. This accomplishment was important to me because I have pretty much been a slacker my whole life. In school, I was never slow or dumb, just lazy. I never ever ever did my homework. Honestly from like third grade on...

New Goal: I like to graduate leaving a legacy. I want to graduate with good grades as well, but leaving something behind would mean a lot more to me. I would like to know that the time and work I put into school was noticed.

Steps to get there: This goal poses a challenge for setting steps. I can start small. I am already the pres. for my club. I can contribute as much time as possible making systems for the club to run smoothly. I already have one idea in mind. I would like to leave a binder for future presidents. It would have the competition handbook, letter to send out for sponsors, constitution, ect ect. This semester I would mostly focus on what needs to be in the folder, all the time keeping copies of documents and such that I would like to see in the binder. In the spring I could start a basic run-through of the book; organizing and setting things in the proper order. Over the summer can be the finalizing of the binder. Put everything together; Start with a forward to president and constitution, leave off with a suggestions and What if categories.

Who, Why, and How: For this idea I can use a lot of people. I can use my mother to read over anything I will be including. She is a technical writer for Morgan-Stanley Online. She is great with my papers. My faculty advisor plays a key role. When the book is completed I will be leaving it with him to give to future presidents. I think my biggest asset is going to be myself. The majority of the work is going to have to be done by me. My constituents (the junior presidents) will also be a great help. If I can manage it right, they can do a lot of the leg work. For example, one of the juniors has already composed a letter to sponsors asking to support a team in the Reno competition. The others are working ahead on their tasks. I can just keep copies to put in the book--with credit going to the proper authors.

Pulse Check

As for the grade of the class, I would give it a solid A. We have covered many different strategies and topics; most of which have impacted my every day. I also enjoy the book. What I have read in there makes a great deal of sense. I take notes from the book and try to practice one thing each day to improve my leadership skills (it works our most days). This is also used to improve my memory skills. I have the worst memory on planet earth. Although I don't say much during class, I am a great listener and I have gained many ideas and views that I appreciate. If there is any down fall in the class it is only my lack of participation. I am struggling to complete the weekly assignments--even as easy as they are. Jose is doing a great job. I like the atmosphere in the class room. Everyone can come as they are and participate at their own level. The relaxed atmosphere creates comfort giving ease to the mind when sharing ideas or opinions. If there is anything we need to keep doing, I believe it is focusing on exercises that we can do out of class and in the future. I would like to be able to come back to things I have learned and reinforce my skills as a leader one day when I am taking on a new challenge. Overall, I have enjoyed the class. I like meeting everyone and seeing a life inside of Weber. I have long been under the impression that Weber was only a commuter school and not many people got involved. I have learned to think other wise. It was because of my own ignorance that I have not seen the "night life" at Weber State University. When things cool down for me next year, I would like to get into the college life a little more than I am right now.

Snoboard Club

OK, so I figured it out. I am joining the snowboard club. The way you get in is to buy a pass and go to practices. I was really surprised at how organized it was once I figured out their system works. The run everything off of a myspace page. The have practices three times a week, and do all sorts of fun activities. I've been saving up the cash for the pass so I should be an official member by mid october. Also, the price through the club is a screaming deal!

Mentor Is?

A mentor is someone who sets the bar. They have been where you want to go. A mentor is someone who has goals and values that you can identify with. A mentor is someone you look up to. I have never sat down and thought about it before, but everyone should have a mentor. If you have a mentor, someone with good goals and strong ambition, you subconsiously try to duplicate what they have and what they are doing. I mentor in the back of your mind can be your greatest strength. The journey is a lot easier if you know where you want to go.

Leadership Is?

Leadership is important; leadership is vital; leadership is difficult; leadership is fun; leadership is rewarding. It takes a lot to be a good leader. You not only have to push yourself towards excellence, you must bring others along with you. You must keep in mind everyones goals and ambitions and create the path of success. Being a learder is rewarding. Working in groups can be difficult. Everyone has had different experiences, has different dreams, and different ambitions. It is up to the leader to put differences aside and push for the greater good. If that is accompished the feeling alone has little comparison.

Joining the Club

Ok, so I logged into my portal, went a little club crazy and joined three clubs. I was glad to see so many different clubs with the same interests as mine, but when I was looking through there sites I noticed that there was little going on in any of them. I joined the 7 Habits of Highly Effective Students Club and noticed that they didn't have anything at their site; no postings, no emails, nothing. The hiking club was a little better. They had topics, comments, conversations. It seemed as though there was a few that wanted to get things done, but little support or interest. Finally I joined the snowboard club, hoping that because we're in Utah with the greatest snow on earth that there would be monds of people, topics, comments and meetings, but there really wasn't. It was the best so far. There were quite a few postings from previous years, and there was a couple for this year. There was even instruction on how to get season passes at a discount through the school. But I still didn't see anything about meetings, or group snowboarding days, or really anything. Am I going to the wrong place? Are there other websites with up dated information? I'm thinking that there is and the portal system is just a place to list all the clubs for freshmen or others new to campus. -----Mike out.

About Me

I'm 23, going to Weber and like long walks on the beach. JK. During these years at Weber I am studying construction management. I am the Senior President for the CMT's student club, and I participate in estimating competitions against colleges from all over the western United States. I took this leadership class to improve my skill with people, to gain a foundation for being a president, and simply to better myself. Getting to college was no easy task for me. I was kicked out of normal high school and finished up my junior and senior year at an alternative high school. After a couple of years building houses, I knew that I need more than what was in front of me. I signed up for school and never looked back.