March 2006

Jackie Knupp ('06) Reflects on Her Jepson Experience and Her Definition of Leadership in Her Prelude Speech


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.