Top 5 Unique Situations With Leadership (Blog 2 On Unique Situations)

Every once in a while, there comes a leadership situation that is "how did I get here?" a leadership situation that is an honor and needs no further intrusion that it is a great idea. A leadership thing that screams "I need to do this" and is unique. While there have been dozens like this, here are my top 5 situations that stand out because they are unique:
5. Autism Campus Inclusion (August 2012): This is unique because I was chosen out of thousands of students with autism and was the only one from Idaho chosen. Also I was one of a handful from the West (there were 2 from California, 2 from Washington and 1 from Texas besides me in the West). I learned a lot and think that the tools I learned while I never started an Autistic Self-Advocacy Network chapter in Idaho, were tools that I can use to further my advocacy strengths. And I'm grateful for that.
4. Partnership Jamaica (March 2011): While this loses points for uniqueness now as over a hundred from Boise State have gone, I was the first group to go and to help make Jamaica a better place. Furthermore, I was chosen from over 200 applicants as 1 of 15 people and got to do an abroad journey over there and had a great time- the work ethic was great and while it was demanding, I learned many valuable lessons about leadership and teamwork while there. It was absolutely wonderful!
3. It Gets Better March (November 2010): Not many people in Idaho can say that they have put on a march in the cold in Boise in November and even fewer can say that they stayed afterwards for the vigil- it was truly a unique experience working just with LGBT individuals on furthering their rights and trying to make the world a brighter, more enlightened place. Bonus points for trying to get media contacts and succeeding and even more bonus points for being on TV and doing an internship while making this happen.
2. Pride Festival (June 2011-2014, June 2016): One of the few churches to march in the parade and hold up a booth all of those years plus 2015 was Southminster Presbyterian Church. I feel extra privileged to speak out against the injustices and to create a much better place and help apologize to numerous people who don't go to church there. And my outfits every year get more and more flamboyant: from a pink t, a gay rights scarf, and a BSU hat for a few years to this year being in balloon tentacles that a drag queen gave to me. It was a unique time because it's the one time a year that I can be that flamboyant while supporting a church in that advocacy realm and not get a filthy look.
1. Obama Speech (January 2015): None leadership honor I've ever gotten is bigger than this. This is what happened over the course of several hours that day: waiting for the remarks and doing plenty of pics with friends and chatting, hearing the president speak, shaking the president's hand, being on TV with said speech, and getting numerous calls and texts over the next few days and some verbal congratulations from church and Boise State people and professional people over a few weeks with shaking the President's hand. I won't want to shake Trump's hand in any manner but I consider Obama one of the best presidents we've ever had and feel amazed that I was able to. So that's all for this blog: stay tuned for the next blog: top 5 unique sports team situations I've ever had followed by top 5 unique friendships and top 5 unique exercise class situations that I've ever had. Happy New Year everyone AutBott signing off!

Top 5 Unique Class Situations In College

I have had more than my fair share of classes as I have taken close to 170 credits in my time at Boise State and while I have won way more accolades and have gotten way more attention for my leadership things (in a couple of blogs my leadership situations that are unique will be blogged about- for the next two I will do classes and sports situations followed afterwards by unique trip situations and to have as the 2nd-to-last blog before my Hot Bott 100 the unique situations with friendships as I have had many of those too), I have also gotten close to a B average in college and have thoroughly done well since Fall of 2014 with slightly more than a B+ average (in Research Methods, Intro To Environmental Studies, Intro To Non-Profit Management, Global Environmental Science, Relational Leadership, Communication Theory and Philosophy, Seinfeld Philosophy and Politics, Intro To Media, and Comm Tech and Social Change, the only cake classes were P/F in that time- P.E. and Yoga so of course I'm proud of this fact), and I have learned even more and continued to find interesting class tidbits of constraints and opportunities along the way. Without boring too much more in the explanation, here is a short description of the top 5 unique class situations in college:

5. Comm Tech and Social Change (Summer of 2016): the octagonal class setting was unique as was the course content- there has never been such a theoretical component and also funny podcasts, videos (including my introduction to John Oliver and a clip of Big Bang Theory), and other ideas of what technology looks like. The prof was good in some respects and he made class fun when he wasn't nit-picking my behavior. All this plus the fact that there were 10 people in the class that were amazing friends or became amazing friends due to the lack of class size makes it even more unique.

4. Design Thinking (Fall of 2012): This class was super unique in the make-up of the class: a lot of part-time students, a few non-traditional students, an international student, a number of students who were in different disciplines, a number of students that loved Boise State and a number of students that were a bit apprehensive about it. The professor always had us doing fun things (some of which is on my wall to this day), and I learned almost as much about leadership and innovation as I did about art in this class. Also having it at night was good because it created community for the people in the class further.

3. Leadership Capstone (Fall of 2011): Another class make-up that was unique particularly for an upper-division class of a unique discipline: there were 3 Latino students in the class, 1 Native American, 1 person who had epilepsy, 2 people with dual diagnosis, and 1 person who was a white Republican male with none of those issues at hand. In a different situation, the 6'4" white male who was a former football player and a huge fan of Reagan would be able to be feel slightly more included in class because of the lack of spiral of silence, but in this class, he was the minority. I think that was the only class that was that small were I felt that. Kind of crazy. Bonus points for having a girlfriend at the time that was in the class. That threw the dynamic off real quick.

2. Gender Studies (Spring of 2012): I thought that having a class where there was open discussion and other various implementations (Service Learning, book club, tests, quizzes, writing, extra credit, activities, and so on) would've been a bit much for most situations that I'm in. However at that point with my living situation at the time being the way it was, I needed to feel like I was taking 14 credits even though I was taking 7, so it was perfect. That being said, the class population of males only one or two haven't outed themselves by now and the population of women in the class while only twice as much more than the men was super diverse in ethnicity, in privilege, in situations of upbringing, and other demographics of knowledge of the subject. Extra points for having a professor who was probably the best (and hardest) professor I've ever had- she is still a close colleague to this day and I am super appreciative of all that she does for Boise State and the community.

1. Peer Theater Troupe (Spring of 2009): A unique class in that we acted afterwards for the public while keeping everything confidential prior to performing. Also unique in that the crash course of gender studies and feminism and then going to performing and a crash course in that as well. The dynamic of people where there were 3 people who were outed as bisexual at the time and one who would be outed later and 2 people who while heterosexual were women and were from progressive families which is unique being from Idaho. I appreciated the fact that the women in the class were mentors at the time and I still see progressions of their leadership now. And the prof of the class is one of my heroes too. I am so lucky to have been in all of these unique situations and I'm looking forward to potentially a few more after this semester Go Broncos!