The Rotunda

Issue date: 3/3/10 Section: News

Media Credit: Nicole Dales

I think taking leadership and responsibility within an organization fantastic, but I also think it needs to be a personal decision and not something forced on somebody,

I am the president of Circle K, a community service club at Longwood. Circle K is a branch of Kiwanis International, and it is a lengthy process to get charted at a school. I started the charter process for Longwood's circle K in April of 2009, and finally got everything submitted in December and we recovered our official charter in January.

Circle Ks at various schools work together a lot, and there are tons of district officer potions that are available through Circle K. The next position up from where I sit is Lutinent Governor. If I had run I would have been the Lutinent Governor for the Foothills Division, which encompasses the Circle K's at Longwood, Hampden-Sydney, Randolph, Lynchburg College and Liberty. Seeing as I am the president and chartering member of Circle K at Longwood, I do have the typical background that one would find in a good candidate for Lutinent Governor.

This past weekend was the District Convention for Circle K. That meant all of the universities and colleges in the Capital district (Virginia, Maryland, DC and Delaware) were invited to come together to participate in workshops, exchange service ideas, and elect a new district board for the 2010-2011 school year. This is where they elect new Lutinent Governors for the year.

Upon my arrival at the district convention, I ran into a lot of people that I had seen at the International Convention back in August in Alabama. Friday night was just a night of reconnecting and getting settled in for the weekend.

Saturday was heavy on the campaigning. We had caucus sessions and a House of Delegates meet. We had a second House of Delegates meeting on Sunday to officially elect the new board, so Saturday was heavy on campaigning. I had several people approach me and ask me to run for Lutinent Governor, and one seemed to be legitimately upset that I was choosing not to.

It got me to thinking. Do I have a responsibility to take on more leadership roles within the organization? I feel that staying with my home club, especially during their first year as a chartered club, is exactly where I should be and what I should be doing. Being in a convention where tons of people where seeking higher office, however, started making me feel like maybe I was not doing the right thing.

Continued...

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