Making a Leader: From the Kitchen

to University
By: Lucinda Elena Gonzales
Tata’s Tortilla Recipe:
-4 cups all-purpose flour
-1 tsp salt
-1 tsp baking powder
-1 cup water
-⅓ cup oil
1) Mix dry ingredients. Add oil and
water. Combine well.
2) Divide dough into equal parts.
3) Roll out small balls and cook on
stovetop as desired.
-Growing up with a family dedicated to serving
others
-Growing up in a university environment
-Large extended family: family is important
-Single mother, woman of color, first generation
college student
-expected to attend university, prepared for it
-University experiences about learning, giving back,
and serving others
-Ready to move forward with the skills I’ve fully
acquired in my time at URI
Collecting the Flour

-Born in a large extend family, but living with just my

mother

-Grew up in University my whole life. Taught about

the value and of learning, and continuing education

-Tata taught me about service to family and

community first, to be committed to growing and
helping others, and building community.

-From him, I learned to appreciate the beauty, and to

always work toward bettering myself.
Mixing the Baking Soda and Salt

-attended leadership institute

-From learning experience, wanted to continue

learning and service

-Worked in catering to gain skills such as:

-Time management
-multi-tasking
-Working in a community environment
-LearnedAawareness, Stewardship, and
Conceptualization

-Used skills refined at Institute to be a valuable

member of the catering team, and continue honing
my skills.
Adding the Water

-In Flite 190, we learned about leadership theory and

was able to take base skills learned in work, and
from family, and added to them

-Values
-Love of Learning, Appreciation of
Excellence
and Beauty, Fairness, Kindness

-Gallup Strengths
-Input, Context, Ideation, Adaptability,
Individualization

-Servant Leadership
-Finally putting a theory to the ideals
held in
Adding the Oil

-URI 101 Mentor and URI 101 Mentor Team

-Learned skills in teaching and lesson
planning
-Program planning, interviewer skills,
working
in a small group, as well as with a
supervisor

Add HDF 291 to minor curriculum

-working with my own identity, thinking in
an
academic setting about my own personal
Identities
Cycle of Socialization
-My own story, validated in a theory
-Identifying my own Target and Agent
identities
Kneading Well

-Taking skills learned in the first two years, and testing them
out through experiential education

-SOLC
-Taking communication skills and adding
them to group functioning, facilitation skills,
and leadership through retreats

-HDF 291 Peer Mentor

-Giving back to RBB Community, expanding
my mentor, teaching, and small group
facilitation skills

-NUFP and NASPA

-Looking forward toward career outside of
university
Divide Portions

-Finding additional opportunities to let out my

creative side, while still working on abilities and
strengths

-Belize
-Comfortable outside my comfort zone

Musically Inclined
-leadership through influence
-self care, doing what I enjoy, finding a
Balance

-Relay for Life

-Using skills to help family raise money
-giving back to my family and
community
Rolling Out

-Japan forced me out of my comfort zone way

beyond what I had before

-Learning to be comfortable with discomfort

-High Context vs. Low Context Cultures

-Using communication knowledge and
skills
to think critically in situations
-be culturally aware of my surroundings

-Intercultural communication and awareness

-Using adaptability to succeed and excel in an

unfamiliar environment
Cooking as Desired

-Coming back from Japan

-Taking my skills learned and reflecting on them

-Moving to an advisor in my organizations, offering my

experiences to new members

-Women’s Center
-In a community of women, using
communication and conflict resolution
skills
-Using all learned skills so far to create
in-depth first retreat for new Women’s
Center
Residents
-Working toward graduation and applying to positions
now
Ready to Eat!

Moving forward to graduation, I hope

to use my skills and experiences to
have a great base from which gain
more experience and work into my
desired field of Student Affairs.

Or, as my Tata always said,

“A good tortilla can hold all the fillings

if you know how to fold it right!”