My experience with Experiential Learning Program (EXL) began in the fall of 2007. This was a turning point in my collegiate career. The EXL Program has allowed me an opportunity to serve in leadership positions, do volunteer work, and most importantly gain real world experience to add to my resume. One of the first EXL courses I enrolled in was Leadership Theories Practices. In this course, I learned the many different theories that can be applied to leadership. It was these same theories that we learned about that I was able to apply to my class project. For this project, I worked with an elementary school and helped plan a community festival. I was able to bring in various student organizations from MTSU and get donations from community businesses. The event helped raise over $500 that went to the school’s enrichment program. Another memorable assignment with the EXL Program came in my Special Topics in Communication: Event Planning course. In this course I had to serve in a leadership capacity of a special event and work a minimum of 20 hours. For this project, I worked with my fraternity and served as the Executive Producer of our annual fashion show. This event is special not only because it is a signature event of our organization but it also benefits our national philanthropy. I worked tirelessly for several months to ensure the success of the event. The end result was a show with over 700 people in attendance and a substantial monetary donation to St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital. Most recently, I was able to take the Org Communication Communities. In this course we afforded the opportunity to work with VSA Arts. For my first assignment I chose to volunteer to work with special needs students at the Country Music Hall of Fame. During the course of the day we worked with the groups getting them to the various stations and handling any issues that may arise. The second event we worked with was the class project honoring MTSU veterans. Each student in the class had a role in the project. My specific role was to emcee the program and be available to assist in any way possible on the day of the event. In closing, the Experiential Learning Program has not only provided me with an education but it has also provided me with valuable experience that I can take with me well beyond my college career.
