Learning Beyong the Classroom

For my second LEARNING BEYOND THE CLASSROOM experience, I had volunteered at “The Rinx at Hidden Pond Park” in Hauppauge, New York where I helped a children’s coach run practices and help out on the bench of a hockey program which has given a lot to me; as I played there as a youth. The program helped me develop myself as a growing adult in many ways. One way in which I feel I grew as an individual, is in regards to my expanding patience. I was able to connect my found patience to a Cross-Cultural Management class that I took while studying abroad at Bond University in Australia. I was also able to link my evolving leadership skills to BUS 450 class, Business Management, which I am currently enrolled in at Western New England College. Filling in at practices when the coach was unable to attend because of other engagements allowed me to take control of the situation at hand and apply my hockey skills which I had previously learned from people just like myself.

The Cross-Cultural Management class I took while attending Bond University allowed me to gain the importance of patience. When you are doing business in various countries, one must have extreme patience because of many barriers including language and cultural. My LEARNING BEYOND THE CLASSROOM experience was very similar to doing business in a foreign country; many of the players did not have the level of comprehension that I currently posses as they were ten years younger than me. I had to think about what I wanted to do and what I wanted to say and verbalize myself in a fashion that a ten and eleven year old would understand. At times it was frustrating when they did not understand what I was trying to portray to them; but that is where my experience in my Cross-Cultural Management came in handy. I had to step back for a second and remember that not everyone is that same and that different people understand things differently. If one of two kids did not understand what I was trying to say to them I would have to step back and take a deep breathe and relate my instruction in terms they would understand; such as linking my words to video games or something they were regularly familiar with. I feel that a large part of developing patience is understanding that not everyone understands everything the same way; that is the first step to patience in my mind. Secondly, you need to be able to relate what you want to say into words and situations that are familiar to those learning. Without developing these important patience techniques, I feel that I may have possibly flown off the handle if I was in a similar business situation when someone could not understand the point I was trying to drive home.

In my Business Management class we are learning to apply knowledge of all fields, from accounting to marketing, to a given situation. To be able to be a leader, one must be able to take control of the situation even if they are not entirely capable of doing so. When I had to hold my first practice by myself I was not sure that I had what it takes to control eight-teen ten and eleven year olds and actually get them to learn. I thought back on areas covered in class where chief executive officers and top management doubted themselves when given such power and actually turned the company around in a positive light. Teaching the kids and looking back at Business Management, I have realized that I can be a successful leader; it only took one thing, confidence. Once I was confident that I could help these kids and teach them new drills and techniques, it seemed as if nothing could get in my way. The major key to my success of being a confident leader was