{"326201":{"#nid":"326201","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Student Spotlight: Mindy Kao","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp class=\u0022Body\u0022\u003EWhen I reflect back on my decision to pursue a Minor in Leadership Studies, I cannot help but feel an overwhelming sense of gratitude.\u0026nbsp; I say this because, in pursuing the minor, I not only gained a wealth of knowledge and understanding about leadership, but I also grew to know myself and my place in the world, and it opened doors to opportunities that I otherwise would have never had.\u0026nbsp; In short, the program exceeded all expectations.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022Body\u0022\u003EMy journey with leadership studies began halfway through my fourth year at Tech.\u0026nbsp; At that point in my college career, I had finished over half of my curriculum, completed a co-op with the Center for Transportation and the Environment, studied abroad in Australia, and held numerous campus leadership positions.\u0026nbsp; Despite this wealth of experiences, I couldn\u2019t help but feel as if something was missing.\u0026nbsp; I realized that although I had accomplished many tangible goals, I still sought a greater sense of purpose and desired to know how to better impact the world around me.\u0026nbsp; That fall, I decided to begin studying leadership in the hopes of getting closer to the answers.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022Body\u0022\u003EA year later, during the fall semester of my fifth and final year, the Leadership Education and Development (LEAD) Office held a leadership retreat for all leadership minor candidates at Camp Twin Lakes (CTL), a camp for kids with serious illnesses, disabilities, and other life challenges.\u0026nbsp; While we were at CTL, I met several people on program staff and was struck by their authenticity and dedication to growing kids in their confidence and capabilities.\u0026nbsp; Not only did they provide a special population of kids with the opportunity to engage in activities usually made impossible elsewhere by their condition, but they were also deeply invested in building their confidence and independence.\u0026nbsp; This intentionality continued to make an impression on me long after the retreat.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022Body\u0022\u003EThe next semester, I was pleasantly surprised to see that CTL was to be one of the sponsors for the leadership minor capstone course projects.\u0026nbsp; Having gotten to know some of their staff and their mission at the retreat the semester before, I knew that I wanted to work with them.\u0026nbsp; This eventually led me to applying for a position to work on the farm that summer.\u0026nbsp; Thankfully, I got the position and immediately accepted.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022Body\u0022\u003EThe decision to work at camp had been an atypical one.\u0026nbsp; As an undergraduate environmental engineering student that was planning to pursue a master\u2019s in city planning, this decision seemed totally unrelated to my career.\u0026nbsp; However, I had always had an interest in farming; growing up, my dad was constantly dabbling in farming, and I had once tried to start my own vegetable garden.\u0026nbsp; Agricultural issues, such as GMOs and sustainable farming, always interested me, and I read books like Michael Pollan\u2019s \u003Cem\u003EOmnivore\u003C\/em\u003E\u003Cem\u003E\u2019s Dilemma \u003C\/em\u003Eto gain a greater understanding of those issues.\u0026nbsp; Thus, when the opportunity to work at a farm presented itself, I decided to take a step away from all of the career-focused decision-making that I had done thus far and do something that would hopefully be more personally fulfilling.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022Body\u0022\u003ESo after graduation, I began my summer adventure at Camp Twin Lakes, where I would help lead camp programs at the farm and assist in the daily care and maintenance of the farm.\u0026nbsp; It took no time for me to feel at home at the farm and form close bonds to the other people working there.\u0026nbsp; Not only did I meet countless inspirational kids, but I also met passionate doctors and nurses, proud parents, and selfless volunteers that believed in camp as a place for these kids to leave behind their diagnoses or challenges and be a kid.\u0026nbsp; Some days were difficult, but they were made easier with the endless encouragement of those working at the camp.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022Body\u0022\u003EFinding the words to describe the personal impact of my experience at the farm is always difficult.\u0026nbsp; I undoubtedly achieved what I set out to do and learned an incredible amount about farming while also serving the camps that came throughout the summer.\u0026nbsp; But there is a more abstract quality about it that hooked me, which I can only describe as the collective, unbreakable commitment to bettering the world.\u0026nbsp; Being immersed in an environment where each and everyone\u2019s sole purpose is to serve and grow kids affected me in a much more profound way than any of my other college experiences.\u0026nbsp; To be my true self without concern of expectations or failure, to build meaningful relationships, to learn and grow daily, to understand myself- those were all personal outcomes that I gained through camp.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022Body\u0022\u003ESo when I think back on that initial decision to pursue the Minor in Leadership Studies, I cannot help but feel incredibly thankful.\u0026nbsp; Through my experience, I have found that when you take a step towards greater self-awareness, you open yourself up to unthinkable opportunities.\u0026nbsp; Though I had not known it then, studying and gaining leadership is not so much about building some outward skills so that you can have greater influence over people.\u0026nbsp; For me, leadership brought me to understanding what I value most in life and gave me the courage to seek those things out.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022Body\u0022\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"When you take a step towards greater self-awareness, you open yourself up to unthinkable opportunities"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EWhen you take a step towards greater self-awareness, you open yourself up to unthinkable opportunities\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"How the GT Leadership Minor Opened the Door to Unthinkable Opportunities for Mindy Kao"}],"uid":"27965","created_gmt":"2014-09-17 13:31:44","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:17:07","author":"Stacey Doremus","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2014-09-17T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2014-09-17T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"326211":{"id":"326211","type":"image","title":"Mindy Kao at Camp Twin Lakes","body":null,"created":"1449245041","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 16:04:01","changed":"1475895037","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:50:37","alt":"Mindy Kao at Camp Twin Lakes","file":{"fid":"201810","name":"mindy_and_the_bees_final.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/mindy_and_the_bees_final.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/mindy_and_the_bees_final.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":188916,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/mindy_and_the_bees_final.jpg?itok=srtHGWZ6"}}},"media_ids":["326211"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/leadership.gatech.edu\/","title":"LEAD Program"},{"url":"http:\/\/www.camptwinlakes.org\/","title":"Camp Twin Lakes"}],"groups":[],"categories":[{"id":"129","name":"Institute and Campus"}],"keywords":[{"id":"21771","name":"LEAD"},{"id":"103601","name":"leadership stories"},{"id":"12724","name":"Minor in Leadership Studies"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EStacey Doremus\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["stacey.doremus@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}