College is a huge milestone in people’s lives where life-long friendships are made and major life lessons are learned. During my time at VCU, I have been in the role of writer, intern, club member, editor and leader. I have learned many things in these roles, but the most fulfilling one has been my role as Spectrum Editor at The Commonwealth Times, VCU’s independent student newspaper.
Here are a few significant things I’ve learned in this student leadership position.
- Understand students’ busy lives
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It can be really easy to think people are flaky or careless when it comes to making it to meetings or responding to emails and messages. I think it’s important as the overseer to remember almost every day of a college student’s life is different, and things will pop up in their schedule that have nothing to do with that student’s commitment.
- Respect people’s mental health
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Everybody has those days where the sound of staying in bed and closing the blackout curtains sounds better than getting up, brushing their teeth and getting ready for the day. I advise student leaders to remember everyone is battling with their mental health in one way or another and to give grace to those who decide to open up about these troubles.
- Being stern goes a long way
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When I say ‘being stern,’ I mean setting strict boundaries and deadlines as the head of whatever club or organization you run. This is crucial when it comes to being a student leader. Being in positions like these can be very draining, which means setting the right boundaries for yourself is paramount to a working relationship with other members.
It’s also important to let those under your leadership know when they make a mistake, instead of just fixing it for them. This will ultimately help improve them for future projects.
- Always challenge your associates
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As an editor of the school’s newspaper, I make sure to challenge both my contributing and staff writers. This looks like many things such as giving them a very specific word count, making them find the sources for a story or even asking them to completely look for their own story pitch to write that week.
This is critical for their growth and can look like many different things depending on what organization you oversee.
- Show appreciation to all contributors
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In my position, I make sure to always thank Spectrum writers, whether they write every week, every other week or once a month. Making sure people’s hard work, commitment and visions are seen and heard is important to the entire creative process.
As I reflect on my advice and the last five years at VCU, I realize that two things can be true at the same time: You can respect others’ mental health while also establishing your own boundaries, you can show appreciation while also constructively criticizing those under you for their benefit and you can be a lax leader while also making strict rules to follow. Either way, being a student leader will push you in so many ways, making growth inevitable during your college career.