What does leadership have to do with the culminating project?

Everything, according to Michelle Simms.

Senior grad projects challenge student to learn new skills, engage their community, and/or contribute globally on a topic of their choosing. According to research, self-awareness is the number one capability for leaders to develop. (Harvard Business Review, 2007).

Self-awareness leads to questions about the future and what it will take to get there. The culminating project is an opportunity for students to ask questions, have experiences, create a personal vision, and grow into contributing citizens.

Students can begin to increase their self awareness by identifying their “motivated skills” these are the things you do because you love them. Sometimes these skills can be so familiar to us we don’t notice them.

We may, in fact, take them for granted or devalue them.

Write down 10 of the most satisfying accomplishments of your life—times when you feel you did something particularly well that you also enjoyed doing. Be very specific in your examples. Once you have your list, examine it for patterns.

- What was the main accomplishment for you?

- What about it did you enjoy most?

- What did you do best?

- What was your key motivator?

- Describe the environment you were in?

- What was your relationship with others?

By reflecting on past successful situations students can tap into passions that are natural motivators and create meaningful experiences.

It is through meaningful projects that students will discover the kind of learning they need to fulfill their unique hopes and dreams that will transfer and build momentum into adult commitments.

The culminating project gives the students the opportunity to shine by promoting real life skills that can help them earn independence and respect.

The culminating project is the perfect format for all of this to unfold all the while augmenting leadership skills.

By: Michelle Simms

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