16 Chapter 16

Sam Ziemke

Spring semester of 2017, I enrolled in the course, Change Leadership. As a graduate student, I was already a year and a half into my studies and felt confident in enrolling. I had this course and one other as my class load on top of my full-time job at the university. I had heard speculation about the course, more so about the professor, Dr. Holmes and how she expects a very high level of performance out of her graduate students. The speculation was affirmed after my first meeting with her prior to the first class period. I had proclaimed to Dr. Holmes that I would not be attending the class that night due to the harsh incoming weather conditions and the fact that I commute to and from La Crosse. With a perplexed look on her face, she proceeded to inform me how she was a “child of the south” and didn’t know how to sympathize with me. Long story short, I attended class that night and our relationship has been great ever since.

In this course, you will be challenged in multiple facets. The level at which you are expected write at will come as a shock to most who aren’t aware of Dr. Holmes standards. Remember one thing however, that you are a graduate student voluntarily furthering your education and that you should be writing at a high scholarly level. If you need help remembering this fact, Dr. Holmes will gladly remind you. Now approaching the end of this course myself, I can honestly say that I have become a much better writer and actually enjoy writing more because I know what I am producing is quality, scholarly material. Dr. Holmes is to thank for that.

In class, you should know that everyone including Dr. Holmes is there to help you; not criticize you. Constructive criticism is the name of the game for certain portions of this class and its up to you to thicken your skin and learn from these inevitable moments. Going into change leadership, I was nervous about being critiqued in front of the class. Understand that it is not only you being openly critiqued, but everyone is. You learn from seeing your fellow classmates be critiqued as they do from you as well. Anything and everything in this class in done with the intention of helping you and developing you into a successful leader. Why not learn all you can?

My advice to you when entering this course is cut and dry. When writing a scholarly paper, be sure to chip away at it a little bit every day. This makes for quality work and much less stress for you. Your resources are abundant here, so use them. Get familiar with your classmates and other students in the program, as they will serve as fantastic sources of help and advice. By doing so, you will develop new relationships and expand your ever-important network.  Also, be sure to make an effort to stop into the Leadership Education office and get to know your professors, because you will be seeing a lot of them and they serve as the best resource for help in this program.

Go into Change Leadership with an open mind and leave your ego at home. Take advantage of this course and you will come out a better writer and further developed leader. Each class period is an opportunity to get better in what it is you want to do in life, and if you are not getting better, you are getting worse.