Leadership Opportunities in your Career - Dr. Ben Wilson

Dr. Wilson spoke about the effect working in Student Leadership at BYU had on helping him become a "grown up." Please describe the ways that your involvement has helped you develop as a leader from when you started serving until now.

WOW - this experience has changed me and helped me to become more of the person I want to be in my life. To highlight a few of those ways -

• I am more able to love others. Many of my experiences in this organization have helped me to see the value that people can bring to life. I have been enriched on many occasions by my opportunities to associate with people, on a daily basis, that make me want to be a better person.
• BYUSA has helped me to understand why I want to be able to serve all of my life.
• BYUSA has helped me to better organize my life and maintain balance. I have had great leaders that have helped me to understand that I won't be able to serve others effectively if I am unable to first keep my life in order.
• BYUSA has also helped me to recognize how to choose my battles. There are some disagreements that simply aren't worth it. I need to be perfect at the important things, so I can be open to inspiration in difficult conversations.
• I am a completely different person in terms of confidence. I now understand that I have the capacity to have a vision for my life and make it happen. I am able to work hard and succeed at the things most important to me if it is my desire.

Dr. Wilson shared his experience serving an internship in Jerusalem. This experience was not part of his program, but was approved because he was willing to do additional work to make it possible. Please describe the ways you can be effective in advocating for change or making improvement in existing programs.

Through my experience in BYUSA, I have learned that change doesn't always happen on our timetable, but there is great power in effective information. By gathering information and relaying it to the correct people, we are more able to make a significant change on campus than we would otherwise be.