My first year at Minnesota State University, Mankato, was during 2020-2021. This year was very difficult for a first year of college. I did not have a lot of outlets to find new friends and make connections, so my sophomore year I decided to join the Maverick Machine Athletic Band. I played flute and piccolo in both the marching band and the pep band. Throughout the year we played for various events both on and off campus. It was actually through band that I met my best friends and rediscovered my favorite sport in the world, ice hockey. The band has many different opportunities for leadership. One opportunity is to serve as a section leader who, oversees taking attendance, relaying information about practices and games, and ensuring that the section knows how to play their music. Other opportunities include president and secretary of the band. I did not have much interaction with the everyday workings of these positions. While I did not take any structured leadership roles, I was honored with the position of honorary flute spirit coordinator. In this position I was in charge of ensuring that every member of the flute and piccolo section made it to the off-campus hockey games. I often did this through offering rides from school to the arena as well as leading chants at the various sports games.

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Something that went well is that I was able to observe other people’s leadership styles through the band side of things, and I was also able to make sure that everyone made it from the school to the hockey games. My Strengths Finder assessment told me that I was analytical, and I feel that this strength played well into this position. I was able to look at the number of cars and people available and determine the number of cars that were needed to get everyone where they are going. A thing that did not go so well is that I found that there are certain people whose personalities do not mesh with mine. In one case the person I did not mesh with was in charge of me, and I had to learn how to set my feelings aside and just take direction. This relationship was particularly difficult because I cannot keep my mouth shut, and I am very vocal about my dislike for things. It was also hard to get along with a person who put their ability to play the music above being able to experience the group. There is yet another person who would not listen to anyone who was trying to give her advice about marching pictures so that they could be clean. As a person who likes hard cut lines when it comes down to the procedure, my personality clashed with the other person’s. I believe that this will help me inside college to search out for more ways to help people and better myself.

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An example of something I learned while in this group is that you never know what a small simple gesture could mean for someone. While I did not think of it as anything big, I started offering and organizing rides right away at the beginning of the hockey season. One of the freshmen did not have a car on campus and was extremely worried about getting to and from hockey games. Without even knowing it, I alleviated their fears. I was also able to set up a schedule for drivers so the other people with cars knew when they would have to drive and have their cars all gassed up and ready to go.

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As for the future, I do not see the Maverick Machine leaving my life until after I graduate. One thing that I learned in the Machine was how to work with people whose personalities clash with mine. I will definitely take this skill and use it both in my next steps in my major, throughout jobs, and in my future leadership endeavors. It is possible that I look for more leadership roles inside the group, but the time commitment is not exactly something that I can sign up for with a heavy credit course load. The workload would cause me to take a step back from my jobs and school work which is not something that I am willing to do because obtaining my degree is of the upmost importance for me.