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Ellie Callahan Leadership Studies Minor E-Portfolio

ABOUT ME

Hi there! My name is Ellie Callahan and I am currently a junior at CU Boulder where I major in Psychology and have a double minor in Spanish and Leadership Studies, My college career has been nothing short of busy as I have been a part of The Herd Leadership Council (HLC), Air Force ROTC, am a Learning Assistant (LA) for a Developmental Psychology class, and am an Resident Assistant (RA) to 25 residents on campus.

With several different extra curricular activities, I have been able to learn and grow as a leader in multiple ways. HLC has allowed me to create student driven programs for all students at CU. Air Force ROTC has demonstrated to me what good leadership and how to problem solve under intense conditions. Being an LA has helped me develop my mentoring skills. Being an RA, specifically in a pandemic, has taught me teamwork and patience. With each group, I’ve had the opportunity to truly develop my leadership in different ways.

Though my leadership style is constantly developing, the kind of leader I am right now is one who is dedicated to the people, driven by mission, and committed to fostering a sense of community. Thankful for each extra curricular activity I am in, I continue to develop who I am and what kind of leader I want to be. The following reflections have made me who I am today and point to who I will be in the future

Leadership Minor Curriculum

LEAD 1000: Becoming a Leader

As my first leadership class that wasn’t ROTC related, this class was the foundation for my leadership knowledge going into my upperclassmen years. I specifically learned different types of leadership styles and how they applied to my life.

HONR 1810: Honors Diversity Seminar

This class specifically looked at intersectionality and how we can learn from each other’s experiences in order to make for a better world. Focusing on our differences and the why behind world questions, I learned the importance of experience sharing and working together towards a better future.

AIRR 3020: Leading People and Effective Communication

Being an upperclassmen in a program that I have been in for two complete years, this class has been absolutely necessary for me to discover what kind of officer I want to be while in the Air Force. Specifically, we have focused on scenarios that have occurred and must ask ourselves what we would do in those situations. This class has been a fundamental component to understanding what leadership looks like in the military.

LEAD 4000: Leadership in Context and Emerging Challenges: A Capstone

Wrapping up my leadership minor, I’ve taken everything I’ve learned from my previous electives and have learned how to apply it towards a real world issue. Not ever being in a class like this, my leadership style has been tested in a situation that isn’t just ROTC based or school based. Instead, it has been applied to something that goes beyond my own scope and has led to a change in my world view.

Defining Moments of Leadership

A Big Transition: Moving to Littleton

Being the youngest of four by 10 years, I have gotten used to this idea of being alone with just my mom. Growing up, my friends surrounded me in suburbia, giving me a taste of what it would be like to have more people in the house. It never really bothered me that we were alone together until we ended up moving to Littleton. Our landlord in Erie had stopped paying the mortgage as my mom had receipts, proving that we paid our rent, but the house ended up foreclosing anyways. We moved in with my aunt, my uncle, my grandmother, and my aunt’s four boys who all still lived at home. We went from just us two to having seven people in a house that was not built for more than five.

With that being said, my mom didn’t have to do as much as she used to. She didn’t have to pay bills, she didn’t have to cook, she didn’t have to work, and she usually would just clean the house. Without an income, and a place to call our own, my mom suddenly wasn’t the adult that I needed her to be. Instead, I had to be the adult I needed for myself. I remember walking into school, being handed a large pile of papers and being told, “you qualify for all of this, have your mom fill it out”. I went home later that day, looked at my mom while she sat on the couch, and instantly knew I was going to have to fill out these forms (and many more in the future) for myself. At that moment, I remember thinking that it was time to pick myself up, roll up my sleeves, and do my own work because no one else was there to help.

Young RYLA 2018

Being a recently graduate from high school with all of the world to explore, I was optimistic and energetic. I only wanted to pursue the things I wanted to do, I wanted to focus on my self development, and I wanted to prepare for college. My world was about me, until I went to Young RYLA in 2018 as a counselor for 8th graders, specifically focusing on the development of self leadership. This year was probably my favorite as a camp counselor because my kids were just fantastic in all ways a counselor could dream of. They cared so much about each other and valued everything I said. This is one of the first times that I had noticed how my leadership impacted others. These kids were counting on me to prioritize them. They needed someone who was strong and funny and caring and someone to love them unconditionally. I wanted to be everything they needed and more. It was at this point that I knew I wanted to be people driven and collaborative based. My kids meant everything to me because they were counting on me to be the best I could be for them.

Fall 2018: My First Semester in Air Force ROTC

I almost went into college believing that ROTC was just not for me. Turns out, ROTC was probably one of the best things I could’ve signed up for at the last minute. I never really thought of myself as a leader in high school, nor did I know what it would take to be a good leader. However, in my first Leadership Lab (LLAB), I remember being overwhelmed and excited about what I was about to get myself into. Being in ROTC now for three years, I have learned so much about who I am and what kind of officer I want to be. One of the biggest turning points though was during my freshman year when everyone from my peers to upperclassmen, to the cadre running the detachment, would look to me for leadership. It was a lot of responsibility being only 18/19 and having all this pressure to be great, but I knew that if people had faith in this small little Asian girl to change the world, I should too.

Fall 2020: Being an RA During a Global Pandemic

Being in a second year RA in a residence hall that is notoriously known for being “the bad dorm”, I felt extremely confident in my abilities to be a strong mentor RA for the first year RAs and my students. I had seen everything from suicide ideation to large parties, from almost being punched by a drunk resident to soothing two residents hysterically crying. Despite 2020 being an extremely tough year for everyone, all residence hall staffs were impacted by it differently. Some staffs had over half of their staff missing while others had a decrease in incidents but an increase in severity of incidents. For Baker, our staff experienced no vacancies and a large decrease of incidents and the intensity of incidents. Though sounding like a dream, this unfortunately was a large detriment to our new staff as they did not receive as much experience as previous years and were not confident in their abilities to respond correctly. One night specifically required me to go and reassure the new RAs that what they were doing was correct. This was one of the first times when my ability to lead others was not just on my performance, but also my mentorship. They needed me for guidance, and I was ready to be there to give them that.

Spring 2021

After almost a whole year since COVID-19 started, my life seemed to be just as busy as ever. Instead of three extra curricular activities, I took on four. Even more so, in my original activities, I took on more responsibilities that required me to be on my game at all times. Working constantly, sitting in meetings, and being in charge of several different people all at once, I am pretty well versed in this idea that I know what I am doing. This spring specifically is a lot different than others because for the first time, I am in charge of four different groups of people. With this in mind, I have to be a much different leader for each group that I work with. For ROTC, I need to be assertive, problem solving, and accountable for my cadets. For my LA class, I need to be supportive, warm, and encouraging. For my residents, I need to be welcoming, knowledgeable, and a stickler for rules. For my HLC group, I need to be outgoing, personable, and creative. It is from this semester alone that I’ve realized how leadership is not the same for each group I participate in and that it’s important to make sure that whatever kind of leader I am for that group, is the best leader I can be.