I had the pleasure of serving as a First-Year Interest Group (FIG) Leader during Fall Quarter 2023. I went through an extensive interview process and enrolled in a course in Spring 2023 to prepare for the Fall. Throughout the quarter, I taught 17 freshmen for one hour once a week to help aid them in their transition to UW. First-Year Programs (FYP) had a set curriculum of topics for us to follow, but the activities and smaller logistical things were at our discretion, so we all got to have a little ownership over our teaching plan. 

Facilitation: The nature of this "class" was for the FIG students to learn more about the resources available to them at the UW, but also to create community. I was tasked with facilitating and leading each week's discussions, presenting course content, and generally keeping the class engaged. As FIG Leaders, we spent a lot of time in Spring 2023 learning different facilitation techniques and practicing for our FIGs in order to give our students the best experience when adjusting to the UW. This was probably one of the biggest challenges of being a FIG Leader because it's hard to prepare yourself for blank stares and unengaged students, but I'm glad I got to practice different motivation techniques and creating engaging activities to minimize it as much as possible as the quarter progressed. 

Others' Circumstances: Part of being a FIG Leader was needing to be adaptable and empathetic to my students' needs and circumstances. I met with each student 1-1 to get to know them better and try to tailor the course content to their needs—  for example, one of my students was a commuter, so I tried to plan a bowling night and made sure to include times that were earlier in the day so she wouldn't have to take the bus home so late. Another example was when I was chatting with my students and I heard they were really stressed out from the classes they all shared. I decided to rearrange my teaching plan/curriculum so that we could have a coloring de-stress day. We played fun music and colored together, and they got to vent about their classes. I'm glad I got to adapt to their situations and care for them in these small ways. 

Responding to Change: This is tied to the previous competency, but being adapatable is extremely important as a FIG Leader. I had to learn a lot about how to have backup plans, prioritizing tasks when things do end up needing to be changed, and how to smoothly take action without panicking. Throughout the Spring preparatory section of FIG Leader training, we discussed being flexible and wrote in contingency plans ("What to do if running out of time" and "What to do if have extra time") but actually implementing these plans was harder than you'd expect. I learned that just because you make a backup plan or account for it does not mean everything will still go according to that plan. I did have to shift around some deadlines and swap different class modules but I was able to accept that it wasn't going to be perfect but to try my best to disrupt my students as least as possible. 

Acts2Fellowship (A2F) is the Christian fellowship I've been involved in since my freshman year. It has been pivotal to my college experience and through the years I've gotten increasingly involved and taken on formal and informal leadership roles. My involvement this past year as a student mentor really challenged me to reflect and put my best self forward for the sake of the underclassmen who looked up to me. This "student mentor" role entailed co-running my own Bible study of freshmen, teaching a course on Christian Foundations with the sophomores, and generally helping out more (helping cook dinner before large group Bible studies, staying later to clean, etc). 

Facilitation: The facilitation in this experience came from running the two different underclassmen small groups. For weekly devotionals with the freshmen, I often would read the passage out loud and guide us through the discussion questions. While I might've added my own opinions here and there, it was only ever to give another perspective that maybe they hadn't thought of yet or to provide historical context that they might've not been aware of. For the sophomore group, it was to guide them through the course material effectively and to answer any and all questions that they had. I would often prepare questions or an activity to try and keep them engaged in the material.

Self-Understanding: Through A2F, I reclaimed my faith. I grew up in church but I hadn't truly sorted out my beliefs until college when I set aside time to investigate Christianity and really dive deep into its different beliefs and where I stood. It took a lot of time, effort, and lots of love from the people at A2F to help me sort out my beliefs. Reaffirming my relationship with God really helped me realign my life goals and my worldview. I gained a better understanding of myself and this helped give me a purpose in life that now guides me.

Positive Attitude: There are many ups and downs when it comes to ministry, and I found the importance of a positive attitude and how it goes a long way. Through different discouraging moments (like when freshmen who were initially part of our group stopped coming), I found a lot of solace in reflecting on the good and maintaining optimism— like how thankful I was for the freshmen who stayed, and how thankful I was that our smaller group meant I could get to know them better. There wasn't a reason to keep thinking negatively about "what ifs" but to show gratitude for wat we did have and to think positively about the future. 

Personal Values: Given that my Christian faith is the foundation of my beliefs and core values, serving in these capacities within my Christian fellowship, really allowed me to act in alignment of my personal values, and really helped me sort out what those values really are. Through acting out my personal values, I have really gotten to love others and pour out good works for their benefit, while growing and learning from those works and benefiting personally too.