DeskWho knows if we’re prepared to reevaluate things when the timing is right, or if our life circumstances drive us to explore things once overlooked, but as I ran this morning, I started to think about my story entering student affairs (and came across this old post on Mallory Bowers’ blog earlier today).  Thinking back over my story, I paused at the thought that it was “so similar” to many other professionals that have entered the field…and the trouble with this kind of an impression or undertone in our work; that we are all alike, that there is always “a conversation about ‘exploring an interest in doing what I do for a living’” with a trusted advisor or mentor.

While this may have been a catalyst moment, it’s not the moment- it’s not the whole story. It simply can’t be.  I got involved in the first place because I had a miserable high school experience, and I was lost. I took advantage of college because I saw it as a time to get to know myself, to gain confidence in the leader I was hiding, and to take a bold step by challenging what I thought I knew about the world and my place in it.

Now all of those things make up the frame and approach I have to my work- they are my story.  And while I will always credit my student organization advisor (Chuck Stanley) as the person who enlightened me to a field that I was previously unaware of, but in my own story I found what I had been looking for…an opportunity to create meaningful experiences and self-discovery for students who may be struggling to find their voice, or their confidence, or broadly, to help them discover who they are.

All this to say, we all have a unique story to tell- and the more we settle for archetypes of our own journey, the easier (and more likely) we will be to create them for others where they don’t intend for them to exist.  Everyone deserves their own story, and their own insight. So own your story…your whole story; and encourage others’ to find and share theirs.

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To New Graduates…

May 22, 2013
Brian LeDuc - RWU Commencement 2010

Today I celebrate the three year anniversary of my undergraduate commencement, only days away from an anniversary of earning my Master’s degree, moving into my second apartment with my college girlfriend, starting my first job, and buying my first new car.  I say this not as a brag sheet, but a testament to the notion that there [...]

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Baby Steps

May 17, 2013

It’s easy to get caught up in the day to day activities, never looking around to consider why you’re doing the things that you are…Or why you started.  Sometimes we all need something that snaps us back to refresh why we care about (and do) the things we do. In Switch: How to Change When Change [...]

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My Blog Posts, Your Email.

May 16, 2013

So there’s a good chance that with the recent departure of Google from GoogleReader, your RSS days are feeling a little tired.  In fact, you might be thinking…’Maybe I need to reevaluate the kinds of posts that I read, or the content that I’m interested in.’ That being said, I’m going to share a new [...]

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Reactions from LeaderShape

May 15, 2013

This passed weekend I served as a cluster facilitator for the LeaderShape Institute for the University of North Carolina-Pembroke, providing an opportunity to work with an amazing group of students and staff members from Pembroke and beyond.  Not only was this experience motivating as an educator invested in the vision and insight of the next [...]

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Implications for Student Leadership Development: The way we think about charity is dead wrong.

April 24, 2013

How might we approach community engagement, leadership development, and volunteering with the insight from this talk?

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Getting Students “In”volved: The Sequel

April 1, 2013

A while back, I wrote a post Getting Students “In”volved: A View from Outside the Circle that talked a lot about the typical traffic of student life programs and activities and the challenges of getting a wide variety of students involved.  After reading this post, Natasha, director of Multicultural and Leadership Programs at a small, private, catholic [...]

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Needs

March 8, 2013

Spring Break is coming to a close at Kennesaw State and curriculum planning and design for next year is in full force.  The process of reevaluating current practices, confronting problems in new ways, and  pulling disparate puzzle pieces together to create cohesive experiences framed in the possibility of the future is invigorating to me.  The [...]

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Choice

February 12, 2013

Whenever I talk to students about leadership- okay, about just about anything really; I drive home the fact that ultimately, leadership is a choice.  Sure, many in leadership circles will describe it as a process…or a lifestyle; and I don’t disagree. But at it’s most basic and practical level, you need to make the choice [...]

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Network

February 11, 2013

I get it.  Some have the impression that “networking” is at best nerve-wracking, and at worst, evil and disingenuous.  The reality is, your network is simply a reflection of connections in your life who you share experiences with that may also benefit your professional pursuits. The line between friend and colleague doesn’t need to be [...]

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