Assuming a student leadership position provides you with a “spotlight” opportunity to make a meaningful impact within a UMBC student organization or group.
Here are four, fast reasons why you should be a leader at UMBC:
1. You
can gain valuable life and professional experience.
If you
managed the Student Events Board (SEB) budget, that is absolutely experience
that will help you manage other budgets in the future, in your personal and
professional life.
2. You
get to practice and hone interpersonal skills in a low-risk scenario.
Leading
the UMBC Cricket Club requires the same diplomacy, negotiating and
communication skills as leading a staff out in the “real world,” but making
mistakes has smaller consequences.
3. 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 social media
manager 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.
4. You
have something meaningful and weighty to put on your resume.
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:
Additional
Reasons to be a Student Leader
You
make a lot of friends and are bound to make great college memories!
UMBC
may pay to send you to a conference in Las Vegas, Boston, or elsewhere.
There are some paid student leader positions on campus.
You may have an actual office to hang out in on campus.
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 big
student leadership role on campus. You can make up the credits in a Winter or
Summer session.
Sample UMBC Student Leadership Resources & Links:
O-Team – Application Due February 24, 2017
