Ryan Kwapniowski's FLP Portfolio

Learning from the Freshmen

I think my favorite part about being an executive for this year was taking a step back and realizing that these 72 (approximate) kids knew absolutely nothing about each other, but now graduate from this program with so much more than just knowledge about leadership skills. While the point is to be a learning community to learn and explore the various types and styles of leadership and understand how you can apply those to your own life, it also is a living community where you make lifelong friendships and bonds.

I think the hardest part about the service position was realizing that you can’t do it all by yourself. This position required a lot of trust on the executive team, mentors, and the freshmen in general. I learned that you must trust people and their abilities to get the job done. Service was completely set up by me, but I was unable to be at 12 service sites. I needed to trust the team to pass vans off appropriately, attend service, and portray Creighton and the Freshman Leadership Program in the best possible light.  In the end you can give your team all the tools to become successful, but it is up to them to use them and create themselves to ultimately finish the goal. There comes a point in your realization where you have to recognize that you have done the best you can and trust in others to step up to the plate. I so loved every minute with this position and cannot explain how proud I am of the team.

I think the greatest thing that I didn’t expect to learn from this Freshman class was how to open up and learn to love. I have grown so close to so many of these freshman and love feeding off their creativity and passion for life. These individuals are dedicated and care for me and everyone around them. They truly grasp what it means to live out the Jesuit values and how to be a leader on this campus. I cannot wait to see the amazing things this wonderful class does with their time here at Creighton University.