This year has really shown me how important it is to have people who support you and are there to help you. Meeting with Dawn on Friday was great. She had thought of things that I didn’t, had suggestions for me, and even offered to help me during the trade show. I so appreciate the support that she has shown for me. Dawn was encouraging and helpful. It really helped me when she told me I was doing a good job. That reassurance is so important. I have also learned this year that even if someone who always achieves high is doing good, they still need a “good job.” I know I am one of those people. I value someone saying that sincerely more than and trophy or a plaque. We have been told how imorotant it is multiple times this year in CEO. I had this weekend packed with things to do for both prom and the trade show. I wasn’t getting much support from my prom committee, so my mom offered to help me. She helped me stain pallets and build huge props for prom. She was a major help with both calming things, and reassuring me. You already know how much I have going on right now, but thier support has helped immensely.

04/22/2018

When I opened this email to write my journal, I had a hard time thinking of everything we did this week. We definitely did a lot, but we were in the classroom everyday. I don’t necessarily think it was a bad thing, but now I get why we don’t ever have weeks like that. I think we are so efficient that when we complete the tasks given to us for the day, we have a lot of extra time. I also think that it is important to go out and network with business people in the community every week. That’s why it was so important for all of us to be at the Rotary meeting. Talking to professionals like that helps us put both CEO and ourselves on a level above an average high school class or kid. This week was important for the start of the second class. We showed the perspective students an honest day in the “classroom.” I know that when I applied to CEO I didn’t really know anything about it or what it would be like. I just figured I’ll either get accepted and find out, or I don’t get accepted and it’s nit the end of the world. If there was a week like that when I could have attended, it definitely would have helped me during my application process. I brought one sophomore to class this week, and after visiting, she is pretty committed to doing the class. From the students that visited, it is evident that distance is an issue for a lot of schools, including Milledgeville since our students are also from Chadwick. It isn’t a problem for Rachel and I, but it is definitely a commitment. I think the second class will help with this issue, and give an opportunity to more students. Even if some of the students that attended class decided they weren’t going to do it, it at least showed us that there is a sting interest in CEO. This week was definitely unusual, but it was very important.

02/11/2018

I think one of the most important skills that CEO has taught me is how to take charge and delegate responsibilities. It’s common for people to think that the leader does most of the work and others just help, but that is so inefficient. When we have project managers, they assign the group and themselves different responsibilities. I think that is so important. Splitting up the tasks gives everyone a chance to take ownership of their job and focus their effort and talent on one thing. Too often we exhaust ourselves trying to do everything. As class president, I am “in charge” of planning prom. Our committee’s biggest issue is that everyone is accustomed to giving their opinion on everything. This was getting us nowhere, and we would just argue and go back and forth about things that weren’t very important. We disagreed about what crowns to order! We were wasting so much time and being so inefficient. Our advisor gave us a deadline of February to have EVERYTHING done. I talked to my mom and a few of my teachers about what to do and I always brought up delegating each responsibility to one specific person, and decided to go through with it. I figured I would get backlash for it, because we have never done it that way, but CEO has showed me that it really is the best way to go about it. I have gotten super good feedback from both people on my committee, a few teachers, and my advisor. We have accomplished so much by doing it this way and we will definitely make our deadline.I can thank CEO for giving me these skills.

UPDATE: Our meetings are going much better and we almost have everything done! I am so glad I made the decision to switch our planning to delegating responsibilities. Our efficiency and cooperation has improved greatly.

01/21/2018

I really enjoyed Kim Purvis's presentation about leadership.  Everything she said was so honest, and I think it resonated with all of us.  Kim didn't tell us how to be a powerful leader or a respected leader, but she told us how to be an effective leader.  We cannot get stuck in one leadership style, because that style won't work on everyone.  She told us the four different kinds of people we will have to lead: scouts, pioneers, settlers, and complacent.  Each of these people will have different levels of motivation, cooperation, and inspiration, therefore making it impossible to stick to one leadership style.  I find this information very helpful, given all of the leadership roles I have.  This weekend, I have gotten together with two different groups of people to start planning prom, as I am our class president, and to choreograph a poms dance, as I am a captain for our team.  While working in those groups, we disagree a lot, and that sets us back.  As the "leader," I need to get our team back on track, but I can't get everyone on the same page the same way.  Without the right leadership skills, it would be a hard task to complete.  Kim also talked about the Three C's to Leadership: character, competence, and communication.  I also think that one more c, confidence, is important.  You may have it all together, but you won't succeed if you don't think you will.  I often find myself lacking in that area, because I usually tell myself that there is someone who will do it better.  Confidence in my ability is defiantly something that I need to work on.

11/19/2017

I’ve been thinking about the wow factor a lot.  I can definitely tell who has it and who doesn’t!  I waited until now to do my journal entry, because I represented our FFA chapter as an officer at the Carroll County Farm Bureau "Farm to Fork" event. We helped the ladies set up the dinner tables and served food. So I did already use the place setting that we learned when we talked about etiquette! I knew there was going to be a lot of adults there that I needed to impress. I thought about the wow factor.  I knew I should introduce myself and approach others. I wanted to make my chapter and myself proud.  I wanted to leave the people I talked to impressed. After talking about this in CEO, I set a new standard for myself. I didn't want to wait for the other kids to set the standard, so I did. It was a good opportunity for me to practice my "wow factor."  People react differently toward you when you have impressed them.  Like you guys said, they treat you like an adult.  

08/27/2017

I’ve been thinking about the wow factor a lot.  I can definitely tell who has it and who doesn’t!  I waited until now to do my journal entry, because I represented our FFA chapter as an officer at the Carroll County Farm Bureau "Farm to Fork" event. We helped the ladies set up the dinner tables and served food. So I did already use the place setting that we learned when we talked about etiquette! I knew there was going to be a lot of adults there that I needed to impress. I thought about the wow factor.  I knew I should introduce myself and approach others. I wanted to make my chapter and myself proud.  I wanted to leave the people I talked to impressed. After talking about this in CEO, I set a new standard for myself. I didn't want to wait for the other kids to set the standard, so I did. It was a good opportunity for me to practice my "wow factor."  People react differently toward you when you have impressed them.  Like you guys said, they treat you like an adult.  

08/27/2017