What: One of the most influential events during my time at Virginia Tech has been my involvement with the Club Golf Team. As a sophomore, I was elected treasurer of the team where I was in charge of the day-to-day financial operations and reporting of the team. Beginning my junior year, and into my season year, I served as the president of the team. This, obviously, the most important role on the team as I was in charge of every aspect of the team. Tryouts, roster spots, tournament coordination, financial operations, merchandising, you name it and I was the ultimate decision maker.

So What: This experience served as a turning point in my leadership abilities. I went from being a very administrative and logistical leader, to becoming more of a empathetic and democratic-type leader. Taking into account the feelings and the ideas of the group of people being led was a much more effective way to lead the team rather than making decisions based on what I thought would be the best.

Now What: While I learned a great amount of democratic leadership these past few years as leader of the team, I also learned that there is no one perfect way to be a leader. It seems like leadership is a very situational-based philosophy. The best way to be the best leader is sometimes by trial and error and other times by past experiences.