Thank you for considering me for the Leadership Impact Award. It is a tremendous honor to be nominated. At IPFW, I am the advisor for the school’s Awetism Group (combining autism with awesome). The group engages students on campus and others in the community to explore the world of autism and bring knowledge and understanding to the neurodiverse world in which we live. This work is a passion of mine, because I am one of the millions of Americans who are a part of the autism spectrum. In our first year, we have made great strides in educating the community and ourselves about the subject of autism culminating in the Neurodiversity Expo in the fall that brought many diverse elements from the autism community together. The students themselves …show more content…
I believe the ideals of honoring and upholding tradition are critical part of achieving success as an organization. Being a member of a team and operating from a mindset of “team first” are important in having responsive and responsible leadership. Tradition and a sense of belonging help to put individuals into the mindset of being a member of a unit. I believe you have to be willing to serve others rather than yourself and one should always attempt to put the mission of the organization front and center. Sometimes that means having to clarify and define what that mission is. Here at IPFW, it is serving the students in whatever capacity will make them as successful as possible in their college experience. For some students, that is helping making sure their accommodations are in place, for others it is providing guidance and trying to make sure they never accept defeat and don’t quit on their dreams of attaining a college education. Many times when “no” is what you are used to hearing, falling into defeatism can become problematic. But I believe it only takes one “yes” to turn that dynamic around into a