Leadership

Throughout the first couple of months of this class, I have realized that it is very similar to
The Courage To Lead program at my high school. In this program, we studied different leaders and their traits to find out what made them a good leader. We also discussed being able to follow and listen to others advice. This is very similar to many key points made by the professors of this class. A leader is not just the loudest one or the one that takes over, but s/he is the one who is able to unite the group and make everyone work together as a team to accomplish the task at hand. Leaders have many qualities, yet the "missing basics" that this class has been talking about seem to be directly linked to what it takes to be a good leader. A leader must know how to ask questions and communicate with others. A leader must have "followers" and may have to be a "follower" to others. This is the basis of networking. A leader must be able to explain themselves with brief, to the point statements. A leader must know the names and labels of what s/he is talking about in order to communicate the point. Although there are many other important qualities of a leader, these are some that we have already discussed in class. If one of these qualities is missing, the person will not be an efficient leader and may not be able to be successful in life.

Steam Car

Last Monday we just finished our first project in the class, which was a steam powered car. It was overall a success. There were many different problems and it was slightly more difficult than i expected. It was fun, however, and I feel extremely accomplished that my group was able to create it and make it run smoothly. It may have been the awesome team name of ThunderBEARS that made us able to have such a extravagant car. This project also taught me about teamwork and the necessity of trusting co-workers to do their part so that the whole operation could run smoothly. I have done small projects with my friends, but this was the first organized "official" project that I have done in a group. It was a great experience and I am looking forward to our next project. Our demo day to show off our work is tomorrow, so I am excited to see how our car will match up against others. Until then, I bid you good morrow.