Anthony Petrone

Jackson - Frasier

March 29, 2023

HDF - 415

Mid-Semester Self Evaluation

Over the course of the semester, my role in HDF-415 is more unique than others.

Although I am not a Peer Leader for the students in HDF-190, I have been able to put my

strengths into practice for the Leadership Institute Program. Based on the outcomes and

expectations in HDF-415, I found that I was able to successfully achieve three of these through

my transition from Peer Leader to Student Coordinator for the Leadership Institute.

First, the syllabus states, “students will build community among student leaders within

the URI minor in Leadership Studies”. According to Gallup, one of my talent strengths is

“relator” and I feel that I have been able to put this into play with the newest Peer Leaders for the

Institute Program. A true “relator” means that the leader cares about working on a team, and

making good relationships with the members to furthermore achieve the same goal/s (Gallup,

2023). For the fall of 2023 Leadership Institute Program, the Coordinator team accepted 14 new

Peer Leaders that will now be merging with the 9 returners, and this is a challenge that I am

looking forward to taking upon. As a Coordinator, it is extremely important that myself and

fellow colleagues form a welcoming community for the newest student leaders of URI. I believe

this is especially important to work on at this moment, as I assist in training all Peer Leaders for

the Institute in the fall.

Next, I would like to touch upon the outcome “students will practice facilitation,

presentation, communication skills and develop leadership skills specifically related to teamwork
and organization”. Reflecting on my personal journey with the Leadership Institute, I can

confidently say that I have grown a lot. Working as a Peer Leader for the ‘22 Institute was a great

way for me to truly practice my facilitation skills. Leading activities amongst my small group

was a great segway into becoming a Coordinator for next year. I find that I am a very relaxed

facilitator, which certainly correlates with my Gallup Strength of being an arranger. I find that

the qualities of being an arranger are exemplified when I facilitate, and I have been able to

identify this throughout my time as a leader at URI. Arrangers are organized, and have the ability

to be flexible when working with groups of people (Gallup, 2023). As the Leadership Institute

slowly approaches, I will continue to facilitate Institute related work as smoothly as possible for

the sake of the team and overall success for the program.

The final outcome I feel that I have accomplished is that “students will reflect and debrief

issues related to the mentoring of first-year student leaders”. When I first started taking part in

the wide variety of activities done within URI CSLD, I never truly understood the real purpose

of debriefing after an activity, but as I have grown, it all makes sense to me. I feel that debriefing

allows for the overall group to get a true understanding of why something was done. As I take

upon the role of training Peer Leaders for Institute, I now understand that there is always a real

reason activities are done. My goal is to make sure all Peer Leaders understand the importance of

debriefing techniques, so first year students can assess the activity and think about the lessons

potentially learned.

Now to transition from outcomes I believe I have achieved, I want to address an outcome

I would like to enhance my learning on. The outcome is as follows “Students will understand the

principles and practices of mentoring first-year student leaders”. As a Peer Leader, I was

certainly a mentor to the 9 students during the Institute in 2022, but as I enter the role of
Coordinator I need to touch up my skills. Going into applying for the Student Coordinator role, I

was well aware of the qualities that come with the role but certainly think that I can improve my

mentoring skills during spring training. Something I have been reminding myself is that not only

Peer Leaders will look up to me, but as well as the 100+ first year students that enroll in the

Leadership Institute Program. My goal as a mentor is to use my Gallup Strength of

“responsibility” to overall be the approachable leader/mentor for everyone in our program

(Gallup, 2023). I understand that this role comes with being a responsible leader and having this

quality in my arsenal makes me confident in my ability to be the mentor students are looking for.

Connecting all of these outcomes together, and relating it to the Leadership Identity

Development Model, I can confidently say that some portions of this model will certainly help

me in achieving some outcomes. Komives and his colleagues say that “Generativity

is a commitment to developing leadership in others and having a passion for issues or group

objectives that the person wants to influence” (Komovies). Now the reason I am speaking in this

regard is because I can relate to this stage of the model very well. Although taking on a new role

with the Institute will come with its own challenges, I know deep down that I need to stay

committed to the other people around me so their experiences with the Leadership Institute are

positive.

Overall it may be said that through the outcomes I have so far achieved, I can confidently

say that as I work as a Student Coordinator for the Leadership Institute I will be able to be the

mentor people will look up to. I want to ensure that I am an approachable leader for the Peer

Leaders as well as the first year students.

 Works Cited

Gallup, I. (2023, March 2). Gallup - Workplace Consulting & Global Research. Gallup.com.

Retrieved March 29, 2023, from https://www.gallup.com/home.aspx

Komives, S. R., Longerbeam, S. D., Owen, J. E., Mainella, F. C., & Osteen, L. (2006). A

Leadership Identity Development Model: Applications from a Grounded Theory. Journal

of College Student Development, 47(4), 401–418.