March 2006
Truman scholar and
senior Jackie Knupp shared her reflections on her Jepson experience
and her definition of leadership with Jepson initiates during the
Prelude ceremony on November 16, 2005. The following is a transcript
of her speech.
On March 9, 2005, I walked
into the Dolly Madison Courthouse in Washington, D.C., for an
interview [that would help determine whether I would become a Truman
scholar] and greeted the seven panelists who would question me for
the next 20 minutes. During the interview, one panelist asked me to
concisely define leadership and told me to take my time answering.
Thinking to myself, of
course I can define leadership, I am a Jepson leadership studies
major, I overconfidently responded, “I don’t need to spend a long
time thinking about it. Leadership is service to society.”
Chuckling, he replied, “So the man on the street corner picking up
trash is a leader?”
I realized this question
was going to prove more challenging than I had expected. I responded
by defining service, at which point we bantered back and forth as he
prodded me to think through my answer more thoroughly. I smiled and
adjusted my responses accordingly.
A few weeks later when I
heard from this panelist, I thanked him for the interview questions
he had asked and told him that I had since thought more about
leaders. I described a friendship I had developed with a custodial
worker who cleaned my hall bathroom. I told him how she was always
cheerful in her work and how her smile and laughter seemed to lift
up the spirits of her coworkers. I explained that I was realizing
that leaders come in all shapes and sizes, with and without titles,
and that when someone inspires others to excellence, they are
serving society and, as such, are genuine leaders.
In many ways, this
interview process typified the kind of experiences I have had in
Jepson: hard thinking about leadership in an academic setting; a
sense of responsibility for my own education; greater understanding
of the social issues facing our generation.
When it comes to hard
thinking about leadership in the classroom, what has been most
rewarding for me is finding my academic niche and being able to
connect my passion for medicine with leadership in writing an honors
thesis. Through the Jepson School I have also met many high-profile
leaders outside the classroom, from former British prime minister
Margaret Thatcher to last week’s Forum speaker, Dr. Leon Kass.
While these experiences
have been of great value, I have found that the chance to informally
interact with professors, my fellow Jepson students and the Richmond
community has also taught me volumes. It is experiences like hanging
out at a professor’s home with my fellow classmates, serving on a
student-faculty committee or asking advice from a faculty member
that allow me to gain a more complete picture of who my professors
are as persons.
It is at late-night study
parties, during group projects and from casual conversations about
class readings (highly coveted by professors, I might add) when I
continue to realize that my peers are a wealth of resources. And
through outside experiences complementing my academic learning, I
have discovered more about leadership, life and myself.
One pivotal outside
experience happened through one of my favorite classes I have taken
at this University: Justice and Civil Society. As part of this
class, I volunteered at the Medical College of Virginia (MCV) in the
terminally and chronically ill pediatric ward.
My first week on the
ward, I played with a two-year-old boy I’ll call D, who became
enthralled with my freckles. At one point while we were playing, he
asked, "What are all those dots on your face?" When I explained that
they were freckles, he replied, "I HATE those things."
Quite a humorous start to
one of my favorite friendships at the hospital. During Halloween,
another volunteer and I recruited our Jepson classmates to throw a
party for the ward. D wasn’t feeling well that day and looked like a
forlorn Sponge Bob Square Pants. A classmate pulled him around in a
wagon while I held little D's hand and IV pole.
Through our various
community experiences, classroom discussions and analyses of
challenging social texts, my classmates and I realized how much
socioeconomic factors affected the well-being of community members,
from their education to their safety to their health. Additionally,
volunteering at MCV specifically furthered my passion for medicine
and got me interested in public-health issues.
Now when I see D at MCV
each week, he is no longer bothered by my freckles. He has graduated
from Tigger to tigers, and we discuss his bulging biceps and what he
wants to do when he grows up. A couple weeks ago, he ran almost
faster than I could keep up to this year’s Halloween party as an
intelligent-looking Harry Potter.
Experiences like this one
have broadened my perspective of the community in which I live and
focused my picture of the kind of person I want to be. Your
professors might emphasize the importance of classroom academics on
your education, and they would be absolutely correct in so
doing. But they also understand how these life experiences you bring
to the classroom shape much of your education.
So congratulations on
your acceptance into the Leadership School—you are now sitting in
the driver’s seat of your education. I urge you to embrace the
academic challenges put before you—research with a professor, engage
in conversation with your peers outside the classroom, consider
writing an honors thesis.
You’ll find that you will
learn about leadership and life in surprising places. Think about
how your study of leadership is uniquely preparing you for your
future aspirations. Be able to articulate what it means to be a
leadership major—to yourself, your friends and family, this campus,
graduate schools and employers.
Take advantage of the
extra opportunities afforded you as a leadership student—your
education is much more rewarding when you’re invested in it. Develop
your passions. Discover more about our world. Decide how you
are going to make a difference. |