ANUAR ESCUTIA LEADERSHIP PORTFOLIO
Personal Introduction
I am Anuar Escutia Ponce de Leon, and I was born in Moroleon, Guanajuato a small town in Mexico. Nearly ten years ago, I immigrated from Mexico in search of better opportunities. At this point in my life, I have finished my bachelors in Communications with a minor in Social work. For my future career as a social services provider I decided to enroll in this leadership program because I wanted to be able to become a effective leader to be able to lead a strong organization devoted to advocate for those that have disabilities and their rights. As a result from that program I created this portfolio summarizing the knowledge acquire through my leadership certificate and in my years at UIUC. My passion for a long time has been helping out others be a better version of themselves and having a well-defined leadership skills will help me get closer to obtaining that goal. In addition, the workshops have made me aware of useful skills needed when interacting with others that have multiple backgrounds, ethnicities, culture, religion than the ones I have. The multiple leadership skills will also be relevant when empowering others in order for them to live up to their full potential. Overall, through this leadership certificate, I got to learn how to network with others, transition adequately, innovate in periods of conflict, achieve equity, and lead others to achieve common goals. Please take a moment to browse my work, skills, and professional experience. Contact me directly to learn more.
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My Personal Mission Statement
When I think of leadership I think of someone making a change by leading others by example and working effectively with others. Being a leader is about maximizing others skills and turning their diversity into strength inspiring them to fulfill their lives in some way by a common goal. To be a leader it takes good communication skills to empower beneficial change around the community. Leadership is about commitment, awareness and believing in one’s own self to achieve success but at the same time make a difference in the lives for others.
My whole life I have been encouraged through my parents and church to help out others in need. That has always made me aware of all vulnerable populations so I value kindness and empathy. Plus, in my own life the kindness and empathy of others has made a positive difference in my life. Perhaps I would not be at UIUC if it was not for the giving hands of others so I’m always willing to give a hand to others which has encourage me to become a social worker.
My siblings and I grew up listening to my father say how he never had the opportunity to attend college so he always worked hard to give us that chance. Pursuing a higher education degree has always been an important goal of mine. Growing up with a physical disability made attending college seem an impossible dream. In my country of origin is not common to see someone with a disability graduating from college as they lack of support, therefore, moving to America meant making the best out of the opportunities citizens of this country have.
Leading by example has become another of my values. I intent to show others with disabilities that we should never limit our goals in life because we can accomplish anything and everything we set our mind to. Often times, societies have low expectations of people with disabilities and that is why in my country of origin, like in many others, they will not be supported to obtain an equal education. Therefore, I have decided to dedicate my life to break down the barriers of inequality and defeat the low expectations of the disable community. The next step for me to make this a reality is to achieve a higher education myself and prove that I am as capable as an able-bodied individual.
Becoming involve in this leadership program became a key opportunity for me to develop on my core values that directly relate to being a leader and at the same time I got to gain more practical knowledge that can be useful in my social work field and in my every day life. The main reason I became involved in the program was to become a better person and be a more qualified professional in the future. As an aspiring social services provider, leading others to create change is a important skill for me to have and I believe through the different workshops I went I became more aware on how to do this. For my daily life leadership skills will help me manage and lead my personal assistants in the best way possible in a way that I can help them get patient contact experience as they assist me when accomplishing my daily life tasks.
For my career as a community support services provider, I want to be able to be a effective leader in order to lead a strong organization devoted to advocate for those that have disabilities and their rights. My passion for a long time has been helping out others be become a better version of themselves and having leadership skills will help me get closer to obtaining that goal. Plus, the workshops such as innovation, integrity, imprint and inclusion made me aware of useful skills needed when interacting with others that have diverse backgrounds. The variety of leadership skills I obtained are all relevant when empowering others in the social services practice in order for them to live up to their full potential.
Two Significant Learning Goals
By the end of leadership certificate journey I got to understand what it takes to be a good leader that is perceived well by others which will allow me to work well with others around the community. At a future work place as a social services provider I'll have to team up with different professional and clients to make the most ethical decisions. Developing good leadership skills will allow me to be able to make those ethical decisions that will directly aim to impact the lives of other target populations in need. Furthermore, it gave me a better understanding on how to properly express my ideas. Overall, I want to be able to lead my clients in the proper way. In my personal life it will give me the knowledge to make the best decisions in other areas of my life that are important to me such as leading a organization that I intent to create in the future
From the experiences that my coach Jorge Mena has had when working with minority groups I got to develop knowledge by the end of my enrollment in the program. Mena, is the coordinator of La Casa Latina on campus and he helps the immigrant Latino population find their place on campus. First of all, I learned tips he has on how to support others because in my social services field of interest they will be useful for me to know. Plus, it was important for me to get to know how to express myself in times of conflict allowing me to come across in the best way possible. Several times the intentions of others might be well but the way we express ourselves can change whether or not our good intend solution will be taken into a consideration. Public speaking is something I am really interest on I want to be able to speak and advocate for the rights of others with disabilities that often don't have a voice. However, through my coach I got to learn how to properly gain confidence to speak for others that can't or prefer not to do it. Someone that has empathy towards others such the latino population on the UIUC campus had valuable insight for me. Therefore, I strongly believe I got to learn from the experiences my coach has had over the years.
Resume
Anuar Escutia Ponce de Leon
207 E. Gregory Dr. Champaign IL, 61820
aescutiablog.wordpress.com
(224) 223-0185
EDUCATION
Bachelors of Liberal Arts and Science in Communication, Minor in Social Work
Anticipated May 2018 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL GPA: 3.21
LEADERSHIP AND EXPERIENCE
Columnist September 2014 – August 2015
Buzz Magazine
• Wrote movie, entertainment and book reviews weekly
• Used research combined with my own experiences to write a column called "Positive Meaningful Life Lessons" biweekly.
Staff Journalist January 2014 – May 2015
Tartan Newspaper
• Wrote a column about stories in the community weekly.
• Worked with other journalists to develop feature stories.
Professional blogger July 2014 – Present
Universal Life Truths
• Wrote about lessons I have learned throughout my life challenges to teach others something positive that will help them overcome different adversities in life.
Member of the Disability Awareness Committee September 2016 – Present
Beckwith Residential Support Services
• Collaborated annually to organize a Disability Awareness Program.
• Work together with a team in the production of a video that encouraged inclusion.
• Designed a shirt for an event to increase identity.
Panelist August 2017
Mchenry County College
• Discussed my experiences and challenges to upcoming students with disabilities and their parents.
Manager of my Personal Assistants May 2015 – Present
Beckwith Residence Hall
• Interviewed personal assistant candidates, as well as trained them on their routine tasks.
• Used effective communication skills to manage employees in different situations adequately.
Operator September 2017 - Present
La Linea, University YMCA
• Answered phone calls to help immigrants in the community by giving them different resources, referrals
and assisted them with language translation.
HONORS
Joe Blanco Spirit Award August 2015
Jim Hechenbach Memorial Scholarship August 2015-present
Language
Fluent Spanish Speaker
Past Workshop Experience
INCLUSION
FALL 2016
Overall, at this workshop I got to meet individuals from different backgrounds and I got to explore my own identity at a deeper level. Exploring my own identity made become aware of who I am as a person. Plus, I got to learn about the different key experiences other individuals have face which should be acknowledge. Definitely my sense of empathy changed and now I have become more considerate of others beliefs and cultures. At this point I understand that when working with each other we all need to include everyone fairly. Furthermore, at this leadership conference I got to learn that to be inclusive towards everyone around us we need to choose equity over equality. Equity is not about giving everyone the same things but is about being fair to others in relevant ways it’s about providing the right tools to others in order for all us to have the same privileges. For instance, I got to analyze that in my own life as a person with a disability I get note takers, personal assistants, extended time for tests among other services so that I can access a education equally. Those services are key for me to receive my own inclusion to society and achieve more independence. Anywhere we meet different people than our own we should focus on finding ways to be inclusive and we got to take the time become aware of all kinds of people. In the end as a leader or in general I’ll try to promote equity over equality in all situations that I can to encourage a more fair world. By having more empathy I will attempt to understand what others are going through making them feel like they understood and worth of having those feelings.
INTEGRITY
SPRING 2017
This specific workshop explore a concept that is often not discuss in any of the classes I have had at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. This concept should be discuss in order to make us more adequate and honest professionals. Integrity is about knowing how to do what’s right at different given situations. At the conference we viewed various situations in which the smartest professionals lack integrity made them loss everything. Being a educated professional but lacking of integrity can make all those years of studying useless. Integrity is about having honesty which is the best policy. To have integrity it takes someone trustworthy that genuinely cares for others more than for themselves. Plus, the activity that involved all us attending the conference was very insightful which allow it me to realize the aspects I value the most about my own life. At this activity they gave each of us in the conference three cards with different values and fake cash. After that they gave us certain time to exchange values or buy our most important values of each other. In that moment that we had to pick and choose values I became aware that without my family I couldn’t have done anything I realize so I try to change my success value for a family the whole time and I couldn’t accomplish that goal. After all family is what has gotten to be successful. Acceptance was another one value that I was looking for as accepting myself and others is useful in order for me to work empowering others. Overall, this workshop made consider what influence integrity has in our lives and got to identity the key values that have lead into a right path. Becoming aware of those positive values will help me fully embrace them and make the best out of them.
INNOVATION
SPRING 2017
The innovation workshop made me consider that everyone is innovative in their own way and the way we all should work together in order to accomplish any tasks. The KAI Inventory survey made me acknowledge where I stand up in the strong innovation and strong adaptation spectrum. It is important to know if we like to do things better or if we like to do things differently thinking outside the box. For me I discovered that I stand in the middle first I like to listen to what others suggest then depending on that I will choose to either try to make things more smoothly or completely change everything. I don’t necessarily do what other people want but I do take a moment to consider their feelings in any kinds of situations that I encounter. In the program we had a activity that arrange everyone attending into groups depending on where they stand on the innovation spectrum. In this groups I was able to find other individuals that have my same thought process making me feel like I’m not alone. Each group share descriptions of who they are when it comes to being innovators. In the end, the host of the event explained that we got to find people that stand anywhere in the spectrum to be able to get the perfect balance when it comes to improving or changing aspects in our society. Strong innovators will empower strong adaptors to pursue a change but adaptors will help them consider all aspects of that change to make sure it will be a effective decision. Another activity in the conference that portrayed a general picture of innovation was the marshmallow towers. In this activity we were provided 25 pasta sticks, a string, a piece tape and marshmallow. All of those items where given to the members on our table with the purpose to create the highest free standing tower and the marshmallow need it to be at the top. We had ten minutes to complete the task it was challenging to come up with a base for our tower. In our group we had a main leader guy that gather up everyone’s ideas. Some people gave all sort of ideas and I just added suggestions such as sticking up triangles built of pasta sticks to generate a base. No one in our groups consider that the marshmallow would be too heavy until we place it at the top. Once we place the marshmallow at the top we had to seek out ways to make sure it would stay still. Therefore, that marshmallow help me become aware that in anything in life we will find a marshmallow that complicates things and we got to keep that in mind always when it comes to innovating. Overall, in the future when developing my own organization or in the work place as a social worker I will think about the way to deal with potential marshmallows that may come my way. Furthermore, I will make sure to balance my decisions based on strong adaptors and innovators working together to find a adequate integrative solution.
IMPRINT
SPRING 2018
The imprint workshop made me aware of how to transition through different inevitable phases of my life in a much more adequate way in order to thrive in life and I got to learn proper ways to network with those around me. This specific I-program made come to the realization of different models and components to consider before trying to make transitions in our life. I got to learn that the elephant model is important to keep in mind during any transition time. This model suggests that we need to direct the elephant’s path and motivate the elephant so that we can keep on going no matter what goes through. Some of the strategies that were encourage through my leadership coach was to keep in mind the outcomes of the transition and to make a vision board to remind me exactly where I want to end up at once I finish my long transitioning path. The last part of this model was about finding a support network that will keep us on track and in the direction that we want to take. Lastly, networking skills were discussed in the program and I got to identify those individuals that will help me after college to stay in contact with. As it was suggest it by one of the leadership coaches that I got to network with at the event we should thank those individuals after they send out any letter of recommendation and even after they send out the letter we should still reach out to them to let me know how we are doing. Before coming to the imprint program I hadn’t consider how to make my transitions easier to deal with. Now, I can say that I am more than ready to transition out of college by envisioning that great outcomes I will have by having a job that I love, living independently, living in a fun location, and helping out others through my profession or volunteer work. Also, I have thought about those in my support system that will help me on my journey towards becoming a successful social worker that loves his job and lives independently in Chicago.
Six Leadership Competencies:
LEADERSHIP COMPETENCIES
DESCRIPTIONS:
Personal/self
1. Self-management: In terms of self management my leadership goal is to be able to organize my time more effectively by organizing my day in way where I can get more tasks done. For instance, I want to make time to read, write, and complete my work. To accomplish my self management goal I got to ask my coach if he had any time management tips for me. Furthermore, during the program I got to set my self some goals each semester like attending a I-program and writing down useful knowledge that I got out of the program then discussing it with my coach. Setting up those goals and discussing the process with my coach made me maximize my learning throughout my certificate process.
2. Reflection: In order to accomplish the leadership goal of being able to become better at reflecting from my experiences at UIUC. I decided to spend more time reflecting on the experiences that I encountered in terms of volunteering work, I-programs, classes, and my RSO’s. At the end of each semester I evaluated useful knowledge and awareness that impact it me throughout the semester. Plus, I dicussed with my coach those experiences as my way to reflect with someone else about those moments that impact me and analyze there insight to my experiences.
Interpersonal/Team
3. Relationships Management: Having a relationship management leadership objective is fundamental for my success after college. I believe that networking and building strong relationships with other students on campus can help me out as I transition out of college. The way I can accomplish this goal was by getting more involve in my RSO’s letting others know that I trust them and pushing others to accomplish different tasks. I also got to invite new students into my organizations to foster a greater sense of community. In addition, I always encouraged honest communication among everyone I came across in order for them to build me into a better person and I always carefully listened to the ideas of others.
Organization
4. Diversity Advocacy: Diversity advocacy is a leadership objective that will be both beneficial for me and for others around me. A leader usually benefits himself but others at the same time. In terms of my own diversity advocacy I got to get to know all ethnic groups around campus and I became more aware of others. At the same time I got to work at the YMCA to support all kinds of immigrants. With my coach and I got to reflect upon that experience. At my student organizations I served as a advocate and included all kinds of individuals to join. Plus, I got to attend a inclusion I-program to learn more about including others in this diverse world.
5. Innovation: For innovation my main leadership objective is to be able to become more innovative in my way of thinking and try to develop a way to help out my disability community to advocate for equality. Therefore, in this program I got to achieve this goal by taking a innovation I-program in order to develop my thought process in a way where I can benefit the community. I also reflected upon the program and discussed with my coach in what ways I can tie it into my social services organization plan. Furthermore, I developed a plan for the future where I can raise funds to make buildings more accessible around the world and to help people with disabilities in poor disadvantage countries.
Community/Society
6. Social Justice: Social justice is a key goal in which I got to develop on as leader. My overall objective is to promote equality at a personal and institutional level. On my time on campus I got to fight to obtain the same education opportunities as everyone else without having my disability get in the way. Furthermore, at La Linea I got to help any immigrants achieve the social justice that they may need by offering them the best resources around the community. Also, in the future I will try to create a organization to improve inclusion and disability awareness. In this organization I will raise awareness as well as funds in order to donated to organizations that help others in the disability community. To make this experience more meaningful I reflected about this concept writing it down and talking about it with my coach.
Transformative Volunteer Experience
LA LÍNEA AT THE YMCA
FALL 2017-PRESENT
For my last two semesters I have been volunteering at La Linea in the University YMCA where I have been given the opportunity to help the immigrant population across the Urbana-Champaign area. At La Linea basically I served as a phone operator in a community service line that strives to advocate and help out any kind of immigrants that may be struggling. Usually when I volunteered there I got to answer phone calls to help immigrants in the community by giving them different resources, referrals and at times I assisted them with language translation. Seeing their excitement when I give them resources or helped them translate has given me a great satisfaction reaffirmed my choice of working in the community support services field. My own life experiences have given me the drive and eagerness to help others and to want to make a difference as a leader. Throughout my time at La Linea I brainstormed innovative ideas and ways in which we can offer better social, and emotional resources. Also, I fallowed up with clients to make sure our service was providing them with the right tools they may need to succeed in this country. In the end my goal as leader to encourage others to change themselves was fulfilled through volunteering at the YMCA.
DISABILITY AWARENESS COMMITTEE
FALL 2016-PRESENT
Over my time at UIUC I collaborated annually to organize a Disability Awareness Program. In this program we made other students and faculty on campus aware of others with disabilities. Throughout the program current undergraduate students with disabilities and alumnus explain the way UIUC supports individuals with disability breaking down the tangling barriers of inequality. In this committee I got to work together with a team of students in the production of a video that encouraged disability inclusion. One of the years I designed a shirt for the event to increase identity among the members of the committee. Being a part of this committee helped me make a difference in the disability community by increasing inclusion and support for those with disabilities. As a leader being able to create positive change in the community is important. Doing it with a team and encouraging others to help out in the process made it much more rewarding when I saw the positive results in the end.
Academic Experience
CMN 321
SPRING 2016
The strategies of persuasion content was very useful for me but it was kind of complex. In this class I got to analyze famous speakers and leaders that have influence our society. I got to explore and read the speeches of my favorite speaker of all time Martin Luther King. His work taught me that anaphoras can make statements more meaningful and powerful. Another aspect that I got to learn about is that looking professional communicates effort and it can make any speech more believable. The concept of enactment help me understand how I can use myself as the prove of a argument to make my speeches more powerful and influence the audience in a more adequate way. When through our actions we can proof a certain argument we may come across as more knowledgeable. Therefore, the content in lectures made become more aware of how I can get people buy my arguments in order to influence others in society as a leader. Acquiring more knowledge on how to properly persuade others will become useful when I create a fundraising organization in the future. For any fundraising having the ability to convince others that my cause is worthy of investments will be fundamental when leading that organization into a social change.
SOCW 200
SPRING 2017
This introduction to social work class show me the way I can become a leader through the profession of social work. It ended up encouraging me even more to pursue a job in the community support services field to create positive change in our society. Overall, the lectures content helped define the idea of privilege and how getting rid of it can be a milestone when generating positive change. As mentioned in class privilege is create it when one group has something of value that is denied to others simply because of the groups they belong to, rather than because of anything they've done or failed to do. In reality is simple we are all equal and we deserve the same treatment no matter what's are background. Inequalities should only be based on negative individual actions not on who we are as people. Throughout the content professor Larrison emphasized on explaining that way in our society there are many groups denied of value based on diversity. Basically she gave me awareness of the societal differences among groups which, include age, class, color, culture, [dis]ability, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, expression, immigration status, political ideology, race, religion, sex and sexual orientation. As I belong the target group of the disable community becoming aware of the issues this group has had to overcome lead me to want to create social change as a leader by developing a fundraising organization in the future. My main aim with that organization would be to get others in developing countries to have equal opportunities as well. To accomplish this task I would like to create a fundraising organization to raise money, social empathy and awareness towards those with developmental disabilities. Increasing social empathy through speeches that illustrate the effect of having disability equity to local businesses, and the government is essential for this developing countries. In order for other countries to modify the support giving to the disability community social empathy is needed. People that hold power in any country should be aware of the realities of all minority individuals in order to help them out. Therefore, through my organization my goal would be to make others become more aware of those needs people with disabilities have so they can help out my cause. The way this fundraising organization would work is with a team of professionals I want to be able to bring funds obtain from businesses, churches and fundraising events to other countries. Those funds will allow the governments in these countries to create ramps, give personal assistants, social security aid, wheelchair accessible vans and better medical insurance services. All of the funds raise will allow more people with disabilities to obtain jobs plus live more independently rather than wasting their talents in their current countries.
SPANISH FLUENCY
CUSTOMER SERVICE
PROJECT MANAGEMENT
"It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop"