SL Activism Log 3

     The past few weeks have been pretty uneventful, however that is soon to change as our dates for service learning are approaching. The past week I have solicited 2 businesses, both Sweets in the Waterford Lakes Town Center and Sprinkles in Winter Park. Our group held a meeting on March 27 after class to catch up and discuss further options. We have decided to create a forum with speakers to promote Equal Pay Day and advertise our upcoming bake sale for the same event. Our meeting lasted one hour and the visits to and from the bakeries took 1 1/2 hours. I have also proceeded to get a formal letter to my boss at Hard Rock Cafe so that we can receive the cookie donations for our bake sale. Contact with our community partner was limited to a one hour NOW meeting on Thursday. Friday, March 30 I will be chaperoning and volunteering for the LOL day from 8am to 2pm.
   
    While completing these tasks, I have realized that we all have the potential to be a leader. I feel that I am enacting my own definition of leadership by taking part in hands-on experience to make a difference in the lives of children. I have the feeling that after chaperoning on Friday that I will have an even better understanding and feeling of satisfaction, as for now it is kind of just necessary ground work. Participating in something that I believe in and can get behind leaves me with a sense of importance. It's like Wilson notes in her book when speaking of the importance of finding a woman whose values you can get behind and supporting her. I feel I am getting behind a group of women whose values I can support and I am helping along the way. If not now, when? As stated by Susan Estrich, "Raise your hands. Raise your voice. Be ambitious. Don't take no for an answer. The world would be a better place if more women were running it, and so long as that is true, then ambition in women should be celebrated as a gift to all of us" (Wilson, 55).
     This service learning project has not only left me with the good feelings of satisfaction and giving back, but has allowed me to view my life in a different manner altogether. I have began to see myself as a young adult, not just a "college kid", who is able to have a voice and get involved to make real changes happen. It has showed me how to take charge of things that I want to see change and prepared me to take steps to make those changes. I am glad to be a part of this project and know that there is only more to come.

Wilson, Marie: Closing the Leadership Gap; Add Women, Change Everything. London: Penguin, 2006. Print

SL Activism Log 1

     This week as part of preparing for our service learning project, our group met outside of class on February 28 to touch base with one another about our individual progress and collaborate our ideas.  As far as my own individual tasks are concerned, I made progress in attaining a donation of 100 cookies from Orlando Hard Rock Café. I also have a date set for tomorrow (March 2) to visit Sprinkles, a local cupcake shop, to ask for donations for our bake sale that we will be having on UCF campus. I also plan to contact via phone two more bakeries tomorrow which were referenced to me by Kathy, a group member.

     I made contact with NOW, our group’s community partner on March 1. The president and other group members, including myself, carpooled to Planned Parenthood to take a certification class to volunteer as an escort during this crucial time. I am excited to volunteer there and hope to gain valuable knowledge doing so. Next week, I plan to follow up with the bakeries I have contacted and find out what I can do to help with LOL Day at UCF campus.

     The activism that our group has been participating in these past few weeks sets a good framework for feminist transformational leadership, as our group works in collaboration for the common good of the community. But rather than quoting CREA’s definition of leadership, I prefer the definition found in King and Ferguson’s Black Womanist Leadership, where leadership is defined as:

 “The desire, ability, and efforts to influence the world around us, based upon an ethic of care for self and others and fueled by a vision that sustains over time.”

  Our group has the desire and efforts (and in this case the ability) to influence the world around us. We do this out of ethic care for ourselves and others, in which we are fueled by a vision. As of now we are the living definitions. The work that I am doing individually and with my group has changed my view of women’s leadership as well. It has helped me become a participant rather than just being angry or sorrowful about the grave reality of our society. The lectures in class have helped me to view leadership in a different light; one that incorporates me. My academic knowledge has been enhanced and challenged by having both class time to reflect with other scholars and outside service learning projects that provided the opportunity to discuss other definitions of leadership.

     I feel that through participation in this service learning project, I am slowly gaining confidence and the necessary academic language that helps validate the feelings I’ve had for so long, but had no other women to support me. It has encouraged me to know that there are other women out there who not only notice and acknowledge the current gender issues in our society, but actually fight to do something about it.