Reflection

Prompt 1: Discuss changes in your global awareness, perspective, and engagement (these are defined at the end of this section) as a result of overall participation with global learning at FIU.

Thanks to the Global Learning program I was able to seek out opportunities that give me better understanding of the people, the cultures, and the societies that populate our world. The courses, capstone experience, and activities all helped me develop my global awareness, perspective, and engagement.

Through this program, I now strive to understand what is happening in the world and how it affects my own society at home. I feel a social responsibility to maintain myself informed and aware of the different political systems and economics that govern our world because even though problems outside my country may not affect me directly, they affect one another and will eventually impact the society that I live in. A course that helped develop my global awareness was the International Financial Management course I took my senior year. It tough how fluctuations in one countries economic state and currency can potentially hurt or benefit a lot of individuals, businesses, and governments across the globe.

Having a different perspective means being able to take other's points of views and assumptions when making decisions. Through my Intro to Marketing course and my two internships at TradeStation and the Little Lighthouse Foundation I have learned this is most important in marketing. When crafting a message, it is incredibly important to understand the society and culture you are marketing to. A message should speak to the values and needs of the respective populations and should not be offensive or degrading towards their culture.

Lastly, my participation in global engagement grew since enlisting in the Global Learning program. Through my participation in the Dubai and India Study Abroad program, I saw the stark contrast between wealthy societies and poor ones first-hand. In the future, I'd love to participate in programs that encourage innovation and opportunity in third world countries to help them utilize their resources at hand and create employment opportunities. My Alternative Breaks trip to Colorado also instilled in me a passion for volunteering in communities across the globe and supporting organizations that are striving to make the world a better place.

Prompt 2: Detail your plans to act as a global citizen post-graduation in your personal, academic, and/or professional life.

My plans post-graduation are to gain professional experience in the fields of marketing and advertising. I hope to get the opportunity to handle multi-national accounts and as a global citizen use my global perspective and awareness to craft messages that are meaningful, respectful, and innovative all throughout the world. I hope to get a masters degree in a marketing program and pursue this goal in a city or country far from home to continue experiencing different societies and cultures. In terms of my personal life, I plan to be globally engaged by helping not only my community but others by continuing to volunteer, fundraise, and support causes that are important to me and what I stand for like women empowerment, education, animal welfare, and sustainibility.

Prompt 3: Name specific skills you gained or improved.

Through my leadership and experiences at FIU I believe I gained all the student leadership competencies set forth by the Center for Leadership and Service. I have listed the competencies bellow with the leadership role and experience that helped me attain or improve that skill.

Communication: A vital skill for someone like me wishing to pursue a career in Marketing or Advertising. Through my courses at FIU I have not only honed in my communication skills when working on group projects with classmates but as well when knowing when to ask for help from professors. My leadership roles on campus all also develop my communication skills both on a professional and social level. For example, when working as Secretary of Student Life in the Student Government Association I constantly had to be in contact with professional university faculty and staff who helped me to pursue my projects. When working as a Peer Mentor I knew I needed to tailor my communication methods to seem relatable and approachable to my students. Lastly, I not only got to improve my verbal communication skills but my written as well when I became a Staff Writer for HerCampus.
Civic Responsibility: Through my experience as a member of the Greek community, one of my major take aways was realizing the importance of philanthropy and giving back to a community in need. My senior year, I got to fundraise over $2,000 for the American Cancer Society when I participated in a contest to be the next Relay for Life Ambassador on campus and even though I did not win the title, I fundraised over $1,000 more than the competitor in second place for fundraising. Lastly in terms of GL activities, Alternative Breaks helped me fall in love with traveling with a purpose and supporting organizations that are striving to help those in need and make a positive impact on the community.
Group Dynamics: Working as a Panther Camp Facilitator taught me a lot about not only working with a group but leading one. I worked in a team with over 40 individuals with very different personalities. We respected each other and listened to our ideas as we put the camp sessions together. In SGA, I also learned a lot about group dynamics as we all had different positions that dealt with different problems on campus that were oftentimes interconnected and we had to work together to solve.
Interpersonal Interaction: As a Peer Mentor I learned a lot about interpersonal interactions. I would work with groups of 20-30 freshmen students to guide throughout the Student Life Skills First Year Experience Course It was important to keep morale up, engage students, and ensure everyone's voice was being heard.
Learning and Reasoning: Part of learning and reasoning is understanding how to solve problems effectively. When dealing with international finance management, you have to evaluate all options and decide which route will provide an arbitrage opportunity and were you will most likely gain and not loose money. This class really helped me develop my critical thinking skills in a global setting.
Personal Behavior: Being a student leader on campus, watching my personal behavior was always important because I always represented the offices that I was involved in and the companies where I was interning. However, I grew the skill of personal behavior the most through my international exchange. To succeed abroad and make the most of of my experience I needed to be resilient, take initiative, and stay motivated. Even in times where I missed my friends and family back home, I took advantage of all the opportunities available abroad always pushed myself out of my comfort zone.
Self-Awareness and Development: Self-Awareness to me means always standing by my values. One of my most important values throughout my whole life is to have a global awareness and to respect and value other cultures. An opportunity where I pushed myself out of my comfort zone to reinforce this value is when I traveled to India and Dubai and I pursued having a deeper understanding towards their religions, rituals, and way of life.
Strategic Planning: When practicing strategic planning the most important thing is to be able to articulate goals effectively. Through my time at SGA I had a series of goals I needed to meet by the end of the year and I had to keep myself in check and ensure that I was meeting the needs of the student body.