"Leading with Lollipops"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVCBrkrFrBE 

I recently viewed an inspirational and thought-provoking TED Talk by Drew Dudley called “Leading with Lollipops.” This has been one of my favorite TED Talks I have seen because it immediately made me more open-minded and and optimistic. Drew Dudley is the former coordinator of one of the biggest leadership development programs in Canada. He has given countless speeches on five continents empowering people to become leaders. He has explained that “I’ve never thought of what I do as ‘teaching’ leadership … For me, it’s always been about trying to find a way to help others explore the concept – what it means to them, and to their communities.” (Dudley)

His individualized concept of leadership is apparent in his TED Talk. “Leading with Lollipops” is a short speech about the how being a leader does not have to mean changing the entire world, but instead how leadership can be seen through small acts we perform everyday. The speech revolved around one pivotal story that he told about how he made a huge impact in someone’s life without even knowing it.

He told a story of his last day at Mt. Allison University when a girl came up to him and told him that he had been a very important person in his life and she was going to miss him. He did not remember his interaction with this girl, but she explained to him that four years earlier she came to the university and was having doubts about staying there. At the moment which she decided to go back home, Drew came out of the Student Union building handing out lollipops for an organization called Shinerama. He said to the student next to her, “You need to give a lollipop to the beautiful woman standing next you.” He was embarrassed and Drew made a joke about taking candy from a stranger. The woman’s parents laughed and so did she and she explained that in that moment she knew she could not quit because she was where she was supposed to be.

Drew explains how he is astounded that he does not remember this moment which impacted someone’s life immensely. This proves how leadership and making a difference in people’s life does not have to be a grand act, but we can be leaders in small interactions. Not to mention, the woman is dating the embarrassed man from four years earlier when they met because of that lollipop!

This speech is not only successful in the storytelling, but is also successful in the manner in which it was presented. Drew maintained a positive connection with the audience through humor and eye-contact to keep them engaged. Although he spoke quickly, he had great enunciation which allowed me to listen to everything he said with ease. His speech also flowed smoothly from one point to the next making it easy to understand his story and lesson. His personal story also added ethos and pathos to his argument.

Drew’s speech made me realize I can influence people’s lives and not even know it. I do not see myself as a leader but I am beginning to see that I can lead others in small ways. For example, when I volunteer at the Lexington Public Library, I sometimes see it as a small job, but I may be influences the children I work with more than I know.

You can visit this website to learn more about Drew Dudley and his work: http://drewdudley.com/meet-drew/

Figure 1: https://twitter.com/nuancedrew

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? By: Bill Martin Jr./ Eric Carle

There is a video that explains the importance of reading to your children at an early age. Follow the link to watch this clip. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbQsYNoTCCA

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? is one of the first books my parents read to me. It was always one of my favorites and I remember snuggling up in my bed and reading to my little sister when I got old enough to read simple books like this one. It is extremely important to read to young children and assist them with developing their skills. I have seen firsthand the struggle kids face when they do not have the opportunity to read with parents one on one. 

Homework Help at The Lexington Public Library

an additional achievement gap video

Volunteering Experiences

                  Since I have begun volunteering at the Lexington Public Library, I have met many vibrant, young individuals and I have had the chance to actually get to know some of them. It is possible for me to become familiar with the personalities of some of the kids because of how often they are there. The same children attend the homework help program at the library each day, which makes it easy to recognize their faces and remember their names after only a couple days of volunteering. Of course, this also means that the children are all friends and hangout and play at the library together. The library staff and other volunteers have also become familiar to me, as the same volunteers are always there to help. I can tell that the volunteers that have been there for a long time have developed real relationships with the children. The volunteers are seen by the children as someone they can look up to, learn from, and even play with when their work is done for the day. All of this creates a warm and friendly atmosphere at the library. Somehow there is an understanding among everyone there that even an outsider, like me on my first day there, can recognize. The Lexington Public Library really does feel like a little community.

children and volunteers interacting at a library

                  I want to be a part of the community at the library. For this reason, I try hard to get to know the students that I work with. I want to make the children comfortable with me and I hope that they have fun and learn when I am helping them. The first person I ever helped at the library was a funny, bubbly, and sweet girl. I helped her to complete her math homework and showed her easier, faster methods to use for that particular kind of math. While we were working, we were also able to make conversation, joke around, and have fun. Later in the afternoon, after we had finished her work and I had already helped several other students, she came back to me and asked me to play a game with her and her friends. It made me really happy to know that she enjoyed our previous interactions enough to ask me to play a game with her. This is just one example of a child that I was able to get to know just by helping them with their homework. Volunteering at the Lexington Public Library has been a great experience so far.

math homework

Murphy's Law

I love working with kids, so being assigned to volunteer to work at the Lexington Public Library as a tutor for elementary school children sounded like something I would would really enjoy participating in. My first experience at the library was most definitely a flustered one, but it was enjoyable none the less. I had planned to go for a couple hours, but as Murphy’s Law will have it, when I got to my car that afternoon it was dead, and I had to wait an hour and a half before someone showed up to jump my car. I had gotten so far as to revive my poor car, so I figured I would at least go introduce myself at the library because there was no use in walking all the way back across campus for nothing. It also just so happened that I left to go to the library at five that afternoon, and, having to travel through downtown to get there, hit five o’clock traffic absolutely perfectly and a ten-minute drive turned in to a half-hour drive.

By the time I finally got to the library, I was only able to stay about fifteen minutes. I walked in with a big smile – despite my previous setbacks – introduced myself, and asked what I could do with my fifteen minutes’ time. I expected them to be happy and appreciative that I had made the journey at all, rather, they looked at my like I was silly for even coming and responded “Nothing, you can go home.” A little bummed, I laughed it off and was on my way out the door when the most adorable little girl named Lexie walked up to me and gave me a drawing she had made. She did not know me, but that’s the thing about kids, they don’t need to know somebody to love them. No matter what kind of day you have kids always seem to bring some kind of light when they enter your life, and that is what makes working with them and serving them so worth it.

            

My following experiences at the library have been more productive and include helping kids with math and reading. However, my first trip was definitely one for the books and something I will probably laugh about and remember for quite some time. I am excited to continue to serve there and fingers crossed my car stays alive and well for the remainder of the semester.