by Sophie Nilsson
Introduction
This summer, I designed my own life design experience by preparing the club I lead for the upcoming school year. In 2022 co-founded a chapter of Morgan’s Message, a nonprofit organization, at Johns Hopkins. The organization aims to end the mental health stigma within athletics by fostering vulnerable conversations and prioritizing mental health education. My goal for this summer was to plan events and programs for the school year.
Key Experiences
My main focus of the summer was to plan the first-year student-athlete event. Last year Morgan’s Message and other student-athlete organizations hosted an event for first-years to get to know their peers and resources. During the event, the first-year athletes played yard games and ate pizza with their class, before gathering to hear student leaders talk about their on-campus organizations. For the upcoming year, I reached out to the athlete mental health staff and a DEI representative to attend the event. My goal with inviting these professionals is to allow the first-year students to familiarize themselves with the staff in a relaxed setting. I am hoping that the event brings the athletes together and provides them with comfort for their incoming time at JHU.
I also have focused on creating a new program for helping injured student-athletes travel around campus. Currently, it is difficult for immobilized athletes to get across campus due to hills and stairs. There are escorts available through campus security, but the timing is unreliable and they can only drive on roads that do not get close to campus. Originally, I thought about creating a volunteering group, where fellow athletes could carry the injured athlete’s bags and walk with them to class. This could create an opportunity for athletes to connect outside of their teams and have the injured athlete feel supported. However, it would have been a logistical nightmare to plan out scheduling for each individual. Right now, we are working on getting golf carts for injured athletes to ride around campus. Our goal is to offer transportation for injured athletes as soon as possible.
Skills and Knowledge Gained
From these experiences, I learned more about my leadership style and the power of delegation. When the club first started, I felt uncomfortable sharing tasks with the executive board because I wanted them to be done in a certain way. Now, I feel that I have built a system of trust and can rely on the board to get things done. Since it will be my third year in my role as president, I feel more confident in understanding who is helpful and the timeline for getting things done. In letting others take over, I realized that I enjoy managing and organizing tasks for others. I also think that the hands-off approach aligns with me because it allows me to teach others when they need help while allowing them to learn by doing.
Impact of OKRs
The OKRs were helpful in setting up a roadmap for my summer goals, and made it clear what I wanted to spend my energy on. I felt that in doing the exercise, the goals that were the hardest to write for were the ones that I was least passionate about. I have found that my time is more limited than I expect, and I have to limit my goals to what is important to me. When I reflected on the OKRs, I realized how my priorities had changed to be more skewed towards my main goal of the summer, which was to prepare for graduate school applications in the fall.
Lessons Learned
Through my summer experience and the LDL course, I learned that passion can only take me so far without adequate rest. I need to be realistic with my goals by factoring in rest for my body and mind. I learned that our passions develop over time, and they will stop growing if self love and care are not present. It can be scary to accept that passions change, but I have learned to trust that the change can be a great growing opportunity.
Future Applications
The main future application that I gained from this summer was the way that I learned to lead others. I wondered how the people in leadership positions are able to delegate and get projects done effectively, and I found that I am able to mirror the way they work by giving clear directions to the people that I delegate tasks to. Also, this summer I learned how to connect my interests in a cohesive way. This is a helpful skill in applying for graduate school because I can tell a story of how all of the things that I do are connected to a common goal. Overall, I learned quite a lot about what to prioritize and how to delegate tasks to others.
