The current president told me that she would be there the first semester to help me out and answer any questions I had. However, I have to say that I was terrified. As someone who often likes to defer to other people to double-check decisions, the idea of having to be in charge and call the shots so to speak seemed quite frightening. Additionally, as someone who was still technically a sophomore, I felt far too young to be the president of a student organization.

            The old president, true to her word, kindly helped me all throughout the first semester (she had to leave for an internship in the spring) and answered my many questions. As much as this position terrified me and as challenging as it was in many ways, it is now where I draw many of my examples of leadership for interviews and the like. As president, I had to send out notifications and coordinate between different groups. I helped design and plan different events and activities. I led meetings, albeit often rather nervously, especially at first. We had many officers who realized that they were no longer able to commit enough time to the group and left throughout the school year or before. Those of us who remained then had to try to fill those positions or take over the responsibilities for those we couldn’t fill.

            While this was not a position that I would have sought out at the time I was elected to it, I definitely gained a lot of useful experience. It was more responsibility than I had had in an organization before, and I became, at least to an extent, rather accustomed to taking charge of situations. It felt like a crash course in leadership and governance. I have now stepped down and passed the baton on to the group’s new co-presidents (we opted for this new system instead of a president and vice president when selecting a new leadership team at the end of the year). Since then, I’ve been able to help answer a few small questions for them, and it’s been lovely to see them take over and lead the group.