Your Credibility – Your Whats
You have spent some considerable time at Lehigh, and specifically in the Impact Fellowships, on many whats. Your whats include lab research, formal presentations, writing research papers, engaging with people in other cultural contexts, building prototypes, designing and building systems, raising funds, hiring employees, etc. The whats you have collected along the way are critical to your credibility when you are entering the workforce or applying to the best graduate and professional schools. They signify a credible currency to which organizations can assign value. Create a list of your Whats that are truly reflective of your Why & How. You did these things because you believe (Why) and you acquired them in the following (How) manner. These are examples you can use in interviews.
| What Have I Done | List of Experiences, Accomplishments, and Lessons Learned |
| Degrees, Minors, Certificates, Fellowships | product and graphic design, bachelors, marketing and psychology minor, Posse Fellowship, certified food safety handler, LUAG Museum Educator, LVSIF, LUSSI, CITI certificate, Deans List |
| Research Experiences | Centennial and LUAG |
| Inventions and Innovations | Art and Educational Materials |
| Formal Presentations
(at Lehigh and Beyond) |
Conference at Villanova |
| Awards and
External Recognition |
Deans List |
Articulating and learning from IF-related Experiences. For each of these prompts, we want you to identify one and only one specific and compelling event/incident/experience/moment and identify exactly how you grew personally and professionally through that moment.
| Teamwork Experience
(and Lessons Learned) |
Communication is key to a collaborative work environment, everyone has different strengths and weaknesses that they bring to the table. |
| Leadership Experience
(and Lessons Learned) |
It is okay to not have the answer to everything and to seek help when needed. |
| Dealing with Chaos, Ambiguity, and Uncertainty (and Lessons Learned) | Oftentimes when there’s chaos or ambiguity present it is because we are focused too much on the bigger picture end goal rather then the concrete steps to reach that said goal. |
| Personally Challenging Experience (and Lessons Learned) | My biggest personal challenge was balancing my other priorities along with this project. Oftentimes projects relating to my major would take priority and this project would be on the back burner. |
| Cross-cultural Experience (and Lessons Learned) | Art education is vital to developing one’s identity and sense of self. It helps kids explore their creativity in a way that math or science cannot provide. This project was vital in helping me see that. |
| An experience that helped you connect your IF work to your discipline / major. | As a Product and Graphic design major and intern at LUAG, my interests lie heavily in the arts. Moreover, this experience helped me connect my art to art education and opened my eyes to the inequalities within art education. |
| A moment that boosted your sense of agency and self-efficacy – you felt like you could speak for yourself, get stuff done, take on the world and make it better. | When the kids at Centennial got the chance to experience the work we had done and when we got positive and negative feedback from everyone at Centennial. |
| A moment where you felt like you were making the future – like you were creating something that had never before existed and would (or could) influence your future and that of others. | A moment where I felt like I was creating something that had never existed was when we would attend conferences or even just talk about the work we were doing and gained so much attention and interest in our work. We got most of our partnerships through casually talking about our work to others. |
| A moment where you felt like you truly have a strong sense of purpose and belonging in this dynamic, globalized, interdependent world. | This project made me gain a deeper appreciation and knowledge about arts education and what is the most effective way to spread art education to others. |
Draw Your Life
What’s Your True North?
Create the story of your life. How do you want to contribute to the world through your talents, passions, and unique strengths? Think about your values, the roles you play, what gives you a sense of purpose, and ultimately, what you have to offer by being your best, authentic self. Draw a picture of your life as you envision it. Be remarkable. Be yourself.
