University Honors Program

Eleni Panagiotopoulou
Experiential Learning Reflective Essay Leadership

On April 4
th
, 2014, I attended the Relay for Life at the University of Cincinnati as a team
captain and member of Team Litsa. I created this team for my mother, Evangelia Pragalos, who
was diagnosed with thyroid cancer this year. Being the team captain for this experience, I began
by pre-planning everything that needed to be done by the day of the Relay. I fundraised, added
team members to my team, collected money from team members, I bought sweets and beverages
for our team booth, and I also made posters. The day of the Relay, I had the opportunity of
setting up our team booth, selling sweets and drinks, and walking, etc. For this experience, the
main goal was to raise money for individuals diagnosed with cancer and for cancer research
through individual and team fundraising, and walking. My experience at the Relay for Life was
one of the most exciting and influential experiences that I have ever gotten to experience thus far
at the University of Cincinnati. The most significant part of this experience was being able to
share something like this with my mother, and to be able to see and communicate with other
cancer survivors. Cancer is an extremely difficult disease, and I never really thought much about
it until it occurred in my own life. This experience differed from my expectations; I had not
written a proposal because this is a retroactive experience. But, if I had my expectations would of
definitely changed. When I first became aware of this Relay happening at the University of
Cincinnati, I did not think much of it. I knew that I would want to get involved, but I never had
the motivation to start or even join a team. But, when my mother was diagnosed with cancer, I
began looking much more into programs and fundraisers. I wanted more answers to this disease.
This is why this experience differed from my expectations. It undoubtedly connected with me on
a personal level in which I have never seen before.
Being a retroactive experience, I did not have a proposal for the Relay for Life. But, this
experience did still help me achieve progress towards meeting two leadership outcomes. One
outcome that I made progress towards was the, ability to relate, communicate and work
effectively with peers. I made progress towards this outcome by becoming the captain for my
team. I communicated with my team effectively, through e-mailing and/or text messaging any
important information about the Relay. I also worked effectively with my team. We had
fundraised as much as we could within the few weeks we had, we even sold all of our sweets and
drinks by the end of the actual Relay. This was all achieved through teamwork. This event
showed me the importance of teamwork, and that working as a team provides a better outcome
for the whole experience. Together, with my team, I was able to come up with many great ideas
for fundraising, as well as fundraise a good sum of money. As a team, we were also able to
create posters for the Relay. One mind can only do so much, but many minds can achieve
anything together. Also, another leadership learning outcome that I made progress towards
meeting was the outcome that states, the ability to exert influence and motivation and enable self
and others to meet desired objectives. Continuously, from the time I began the team till the end
of the Relay; I pushed my team to meet objectives. I motivated my part of my team during the
laps we walked and I also motivated the other part of my team that sold drinks and sweets to sell
even more. Through motivating one another, we were able to fundraise $375.00 towards the
American Cancer Society, in a very short time. This to me would of not been accomplishable
unless my team worked together, and motivated each other more and more. Motivation was key
in our success. Not only did this experience help me make a progress towards completing these
leadership learning outcomes, but it also helped me understand the importance of leadership.
Leadership provided me with the satisfaction of directing others as well as myself towards a
goal. Leadership is not always as easy as it seems, but I love challenges.
With the Relay for Life I have developed academically, professionally, and personally. In
my academics, I have been able to become much more organized. By being organized at the
Relay for Life, I was able to create a more effective result. So, I began to organize my academic
work more. For example I began actually using my calendar, I studied more for my courses, and
I organized my time on all aspects of my school. I have seen that by trying my best, I
automatically create a more positive outcome for myself. So, I made a goal for myself: to
educate myself more on a variety of topics, trying my best to further educate myself with certain
topics that I always wondered more about and/or did not know more about. This I believe is the
overall goal of scholarship, and I will accomplish this goal. Also, in my professional life I have
been able to organize better as well. I noticed that the more organized you are, the faster you can
get things done. So, I began getting to work a few minutes earlier every morning. At first, this
was a little difficult for me, but it was worth it. This allowed me to be prepared for the first
client, be organized, and have everything prepared. I have become aware that organization really
helps me develop in many aspects of my life. Lastly, my personal life has also been affected by
this experience. At the Relay for Life, I noticed that I am really into fundraising. Because of this,
I want to become more involved not only in the Bearcat community, but in the Cincinnati
community as well. I have already started looking into clubs and organizations for my next year
at the University of Cincinnati, as well as began looking at volunteer opportunities for this
summer in the Cincinnati community. Becoming more involved will not only help others, but it
will help me create connections with some wonderful people. My Relay for Life experience has
impacted my development in my academics, professional, and personal life greatly; because of
this experience I have grown to be a better person, and leader.
To be an effective captain/leader for the Relay for Life I relied upon a theory and also a
reading. The main theory that I relied on was the Path Goal Leadership theory, which was
developed by Robert House. This theory essentially claims that leaders adapt to behaviors that
will play to the strengths of their subordinates and compensates their weaknesses. With this
theory, the leader is assumed to be flexible in their style. Thus, changing according to the ability
of their followers in order to achieve the organizational goals. Robert House uses four styles of
leadership that leaders can adapt to. These styles of leadership include directive, achievement-
oriented, participative, and supportive. I chose to focus on all of these styles in order to become
an effectual leader. I began this experience by explaining to my team what to do and how to do it
(directive), I set challenging goals for my team and expected them to perform to their best to
achieve it (achievement-oriented), I consulted my team for suggestions about the work to be
done and proceeded to ask them to fulfill it (participative), and I also watched out for the needs
of my team and supported them while they fulfilled the tasks (supportive). This theory along
with the styles of leadership helped me see the importance of balancing in leadership. Perfectly-
balancing these four styles of leadership creates an extremely successful result. Additionally, I
used a reading for my experiential learning. This reading was the book, Cancer: Conquering a
Deadly Disease, by Alvin Silverstein, Virginia B. Silverstein and Laura Silverstein Nunn. I had
already bought this book online from Barnes and Noble a few months before the Relay for Life
to become more knowledgeable about my mothers condition. Because of this, I believed that this
book would be a perfect contribution to my experience. This book helped me understand and
provided me with much notable information about cancer. Cancer: Conquering a Deadly
Disease explains the various forms of cancer, their symptoms, possible causes, and treatment. It
also discusses research being conducted to find better means of preventing, detecting, treating,
and curing cancer. I really enjoy this book because it provides you with so much information on
a vast topic. Throughout reading this book, I was able to use the information I found to provide a
better case to individuals when I was asking for donations. It is never a good idea to be
unprepared when trying to present to others information. So, I tried my best to become informed
as much as I could. This magnificent book contributed to my learning tremendously because I
learned so much more than I ever thought I would about cancer. This reading not only helped me
very much with my experience and also with my personal life.
From this experience, I have learned that everyone has a fight in them. It is just a matter
of how much you are willing to go for it. I thought about all of the times that I thought I had it
bad, but looking at those survivors at the Relay showed me that whining and being negative
will not get you anywhere. This experience has made me look at my own life from a different
perspective. I have integrated what I have learned from this experience into my own personal life
by just trying to be more positive about everything in my life, because no matter what someone
in the world always has it worse. I try and make the best out of everything, and I always try and
keep a smile on my face at all times. I am blessed enough to be alive, so why not be happy and
smiling? Furthermore, I have also made a few connections between this experience and other
experiences that I have had both within the classroom and beyond. In the classroom, I have
always tried to stay on top of everything. I always turn in my assignments on time, study to my
highest degree, and I try my best to finish my courses with an excellent grade. Also, being a
receptionist at a salon, I have seen a connection between my job and this experience. With my
job, I always have to stay on my top game. I have to create schedules, manage money, open in
the morning and close at night, etc. This is what I had to do with the Relay. For the Relay, I had
to organize everything that my team did, I had to manage everyones money that was a member
of my team, and I also had to make sure that my team was fully equipped with everything by the
day of the Relay. From this experience, I have learned many things and I have been able connect
many things in my personal life with this experience that I had never really noticed before.
Sharing your learning with others and disseminating your work is vital to get your overall
point across. I accomplished this through fundraising. While fundraising, I was able to explain to
people the difficulty of cancer on the individual, explaining that even a small amount of money
donated will help cancer patients and cancer research. I had asked my boss for approval to ask
for donations at work, so I began talking to everyone that walked by the front desk about the
Relay and what it was really about. I informed others about cancer and asked for donations at
family events and at my sisters soccer tournaments as well. My audience for this project was
anyone who was willing to listen to me. I knew that young children usually would not be able to
donate, and also did not know much about cancer. But, teens and older people would know much
more about this subject. By explaining to people the effects of cancer, and the money that is
needed to help cancer patients and cancer research, I was able to create a great sum of money for
the Relay for Life in a short time. I believe that I taught my audience much more about cancer in
a short amount of time, I tried my best to make my point simple and clear. I also believe that I
showed others the importance of giving back to those in need; not only for cancer, but for many
various types of fundraisers. From this experience I gained many things from sharing my
learning. One thing that I found very interesting was how awesome that it was to share
experiences and stories with other people. Another thing that I also gained was connections with
some delightful people. I gained so much more from this experience than I ever thought I would.
I plan to become engaged in the Relay for Life for many years to come. Being a student, I
have had many opportunities to give back to my community and many organizations. Helping
out not only helps me learn more about my community and the rest of the world, but it also
strengthens and brings people together. Through the Relay for Life and through volunteering in
general I have found many new friends. I never thought I would create some of the best
friendships that I have through fundraising and volunteering. Nothing makes me feel more
blessed than helping others. I love being a leader. As a leader, you have much more
responsibility, but to me that is something that I love. I love testing myself with harder projects. I
believe that being able to experience leadership at any point in your life will help you grow as an
individual.