"Combining the flavors of Leadership, self-development, and Global engagement through UNISA+"

The importance of integrating extra-curricular activities is extremely crucial for the development of every individual, which enables to deal with multiple challenges in life. A person not only needs to be physically strong but also mental power is important, focusing our attention to stressful situations and be able to manage it through several hurdles in life. Thus, the UniSA+ award program provided me with the opportunity to participate in multiple programs which enabled me to differentiate myself from other graduates. Moreover, UniSA+ award program combines knowledge, experience, and skills that are the main aspects a student must have and is what employers seek for in fresh graduates. Thus, the reason I enrolled in this program was to grasp a golden opportunity and be enrolled in activities where I can pursue relevant knowledge an build myself as a well-rounded professional individual, as a step towards indulging into the corporate world. 

The UniSA+ award, its name suggests a form of student recognition for completing a set of tasks across multiple aspects, and that is what I had expected. However, after going through some depth to learn about it, the program actually does more for students than what I had expected that is enable students to recognize their leadership skills, volunteer in global and social activities, and have great focus on self-development. If we talk about leadership, there were programs that were solely base on leadership or enterprise focus, whereas, global and social activities were based on students completing 120 hours of voluntary-based activities across three categories: professional engagement, Global student, and Community culture respectively.

I believe the most credible experience I gained from the UniSA+ award program was through a leadership program called “Bupa Ambassador Program”. The program fell under the leadership category, where students need to be assisted to get their health cover cards and to process reimbursements. Also, one of my duties was to arrange workshops with guidance from coordinators that provided an opportunity to delegate tasks to my subordinates to make workshops successful and entirely for the benefit of students. 

Since the program was health-based, letting students know exactly what they wanted to know such as healthcare policies, insurance benefits, health services, and several other forms of information was accounted for, which greatly helped me to raise my voice and enhance my vocal skills. What makes this experience more valuable was the desire to shift from a technical forte to making my vocal skills a strength which I lacked previously. This further motivated me to enhance my knowledge about leadership styles and how a style can promote motivation, satisfaction, and commitment which is imperative in the corporate world for an individual to succeed. Time management was one of the hurdles I placed when enrolled in the UniSA+ award program. However, talking about impact on studies, it didn’t affect studies but giving time towards studies sometimes seemed to be quite daunting. In terms of life, the award program helped me shape myself as a well-rounded individual where I was able to develop my skills across various areas such as leadership skill as aforementioned above. More importantly integrating these skills in my work life aided me into explaining things quite well to my subordinates and delegate responsibilities, creating a positive influence and satisfy organizational needs. 

My future goal is to visualize myself as a CEO of a company that indulges in a leadership style, creating an example for generations to follow. However, to be able to achieve higher aspirations, gaining experience from well-established people is needed and absorb whatever it takes to succeed in my future ahead. More importantly, I don’t want to establish myself as someone who is a strict dictator, such that my employees are frustrated, resulting in a lack of inspiration and motivation. But, want to create an image of myself as a transactional or transformational leader who isn’t willing to give up at any costs, and willing to sacrifice for the good of the organization. 

The UniSA+ award program itself is very well structured, targeting areas of growth of a student’s overall stature, focusing on key areas that are directly linked with improving oneself. For instance, I had enrolled in a program called UniMentors, where I had to communicate with freshly enrolled UniSA students and obtain feedback. Having regular contact with my mentees was a way to enhance my communication and writing skills as well, since I had to contact them through email or schedule meetings throughout my study period. These skills I believe are crucial for me to achieve my goals and milestones that adopts a combination of corporate flavors such as leadership, communication, critical thinking, read people, and several other skills that form a concrete backbone to excel in future. 

I will personally advise students to indulge in all programs or activities provided by this award program so that students can get all combination of flavors. Also, when starting the program I would advise them to manage their time appropriately since sometimes enrolled in a study period in parallel with volunteering activities can prove to be stressful, hence can affect a student’s study life. However, I would also advise them to enroll in a leadership program to be able to recognize their capabilities and build them from ground work, because at times many people lack the capability to delegate and run their brigade which further, hinders their ability to exploit their capabilities. 

Concluding, the UniSA+ program has been an exceptional help towards my self-development from where I have been able to think from a new perspective of life. It has helped me to become confident, achieve a greater sense of direction and believe that I can be a leader one day and fulfill all my goals and aspiration in the near future. More importantly, engaging with people of different cultures even excited me more since I always lacked the capability to interact with people, which the award program has helped me break the barrier and overcome my fears.