AguaClara Student Leadership Roles

Every student that works with AguaClara plays a vital role to the success of the project. We are made up of highly motivated individuals, working toward a common goal. As this team continues to grown, we require the leadership efforts of each of these students. The program is directed by Monroe Weber-Shirk and lead by a Student Team Leader. Each subteam is also lead by a student subteam leader. The students in these positions help lead AguaClara through the team goals each semester.

The primary objective for the leaders in the AguaClara team are to develop a creative, collaborative environment where each team member can fully engage, learn, and contribute to making the world a better place.

In order to help students understand the responsibilities associated with these positions, we have developed the following pages as guidance.

Leadership model for AguaClara

"James Sipe and Don Frick, in their book The Seven Pillars of Servant Leadership, state that servant-leaders are individuals of character, put people first, are skilled communicators, are compassionate collaborators, use foresight, are systems thinkers, and exercise moral authority.

Unlike leadership approaches with a top-down hierarchical style, servant leadership instead emphasizes collaboration, trust, empathy, and the ethical use of power. At heart, the individual is a servant first, making the conscious decision to lead in order to better serve others, not to increase their own power. The objective is to enhance the growth of individuals in the organization and increase teamwork and personal involvement." from wikipedia

"Servant leaders create a sense of shared vision with the people they lead. The servant leaders and the people are co-creators and co-owners of that vision. This involves a multi-directional process that is primarily about listening, not speaking. The paradox of listening is that people who listen well can be very persuasive."

"When the leader is intrinsically motivated by the mission, vision, and values of the organization, and by interests that are not self-serving, then others become intrinsically motivated as well. Research shows that intrinsically motivated workers get great results. The giving and serving nature of the servant leader inspires others to give freely, to serve each other, and eventually to emerge as leaders themselves."

"Power is the ability to act, a means of accomplishing a mission. For the servant leader, power is a means to generate more service for the benefit of all. Power is not an end unto itself for the leader. Power is freely given and shared instead of taken and, counterintuitively, it grows exponentially. People are thus empowered to play their roles and to do their jobs more successfully."

"Given the relational nature of leadership, the Golden Rule should be tempered by the Iron Rule, which suggests that the leader does not "do unto others" what they can do for themselves. Servant leaders delegate responsibilities to others, which includes providing support and feedback."

quotes from Dan R. Ebener in Sojourners

Leaders guide novices on their journey to becoming experts

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