Knowing that interconnections are the pathway to success is one of the first things I noticed when I started working in the Leadership, Education, and Development Office. Without the help of others, it is hard to accomplish big tasks. Not only can multiple people work together to reach a certain goal, but organizations, communities, and offices can also work together.

My office and I helped plan the Leadership Mason Conference in 2015. I was not able to be on the planning committee; however, I helped during the day of. The day consisted of breakout workshops and small groups. I was able to see multiple organizations, offices, and leaders come together to create a very successful day. Multiple different leaders from throughout campus came to facilitate a workshop that they created on their own. For example, a fellow Leadership Consultant and I organized a yoga workshop that focused on well-being. The students who attended the conference gained knowledge on the four Patriot Experiences, which helped them become better leaders.

I was also on a planning committee for the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service. This committee was comprised of many individuals from different organizations and offices. Each person had something different to bring to the table in order to make the day flow well. Also, everyone had different ideas, which gave the committee ample opportunities to organize a whole week of events dedicated to MLK. For example, the honors college had connections with donors, and Mason Recreation was able to get donated t-shirts to hand out to volunteers who participated in the day of service.

Volunteers cleaning and organizing Godwin Middle School’s gym.

Furthermore, the LEAD Office was in charge of overseeing the MLK service event at Godwin Middle School, which is the office’s community partner. The Leadership Consultants and many volunteers traveled to the school and helped the gym teacher organize the gym closets. Team uniforms were separated and folded. Also, the LEAD Office provided many plastic tubs to organize miscellaneous items so that the closet does not look jumbled. The volunteers who attended this day of service came from different places, but most of them attend L-Team, which is a group of student leaders who are involved in the community partnership with Godwin Middle School. On the same day, many other service projects were taking place all around Virginia. Knowing that Mason students were spread out helping their community was a satisfactory feeling after being on the planning committee for multiple months.

An individual can plan an event by him or herself; however, if he or she worked with other people and created interconnections within and between others, the event would be much more successful. There is never a time where I do not ask someone else for his or her opinion or help with something I am working on. Not only does that give me extra input, but it also takes some of the weight off of my shoulders. As I like to put it, a log feels a lot lighter when there is a team under it.