Dr. Martin Luther King’s actions made him one of the most distinguished leaders of the 20th century, recognized as Time magazine’s “Man of the Year” in 1963 and a Nobel Prize winner in 1964. Indeed, he is commemorated for his many powerful quotations and original concepts associated with leadership, change agency, and championship of civil and human rights throughout the world.
One particular quotation from a 1957 speech in Montgomery, Alabama, seems particularly penetrating for college students to consider in light of the higher education you are fortunate to be engaged in and the infinite number of challenges our society faces.
Dr. King said:
“Life’s most persistent and urgent question is: What Are You Doing for Others?”
This can be seen as a call to leadership and taking positive action to solve problems and serve others.
Becoming a leader should be a part of your remaining timeline at UMBC (if it hasn’t been on your radar screen yet). Employers and graduate schools actively seek UMBC students who do more than just “belong” to an to organization, society, sorority or fraternity. Assuming a leadership position provides you with a “spotlight” opportunity to make meaningful and measureable improvements within a student organization or group. Raising record breaking funds, expanding organizational memberships, and negotiating better contracts all translate to concrete bullet points on your resume and great testimonials to share during interviews.
Five Excellent, Important, and Compelling Reasons to be a Leader at UMBC
1. Your fellow students need effective, energetic leaders.
Without talented students to plan and organize events, there would not be any events other than a few yawners planned by campus officials. A college campus without events would be deadly dull. Is that a college you want to attend?
2. You can gain valuable life experience and even professional experience.
If you managed the Student Events Board budget, that is absolutely experience that will help you manage other budgets in the future, in your personal and professional life.
3. You get to practice and hone interpersonal skills in a low-risk scenario.
Leading the UMBC Cricket Club requires the same tact, diplomacy, negotiating and communication skills as leading a staff out in the “real world,” but making mistakes has smaller consequences.
4. You get to test out potential roles for your future.
People who love doing technical stage management in college theater productions may decide to pursue this role as a career. A student who is the webmaster for a large student organization may find a job using this skill in the future. A student who thrives on editing the campus literary magazine (Bartleby) or research journal (UMBC Review) may choose a career in publishing.
5. You have something meaningful and weighty to put on your resume to balance out your meager work experience early in your post-graduate career.
Would you want to hire someone who had been the founder of an Engineers without Borders chapter at UMBC? Would you view a role as President of the Students for Environmental Awareness as relevant to an entry-level position at the Environmental Protection Agency?
And if those reasons are not enough for you, consider these:
Less Serious, More Frivolous, but Cool Reasons to be a Student Leader
You make a lot of friends—friends who can give you rides, loan you things, and more!
UMBC may pay to send you to a conference in Las Vegas, Boston, or elsewhere.
You can get paid for some leadership positions on campus.
You may have an actual office to hang out in on campus.
Life is never boring.
You may have way more fond memories, for example, of singing in the Stilettos, because that experience is enhanced by a freshman elective class you took in Music.
In Closing: A Small Cautionary Note
Some student leaders take on more than they can handle and their academic performance sags. Consider taking a lighter course load if you are in a major student leadership role on campus. You can make up the credits in a Winter or Summer session.
Sample UMBC Student Leadership Resources & Links:
Additional Resources:
Bonus Link:
EXTRA CREDIT DISCUSSION QUESTION:
What leadership roles have you held on campus thus far or do you aspire to in the future?
