Scholarship / Chevening leadership and influence. "I's a skill I have shown and developed throughout my life" [2]

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LEADERSHIP & INFLUENCE QUESTION

Chevening is looking for individuals who will be future leaders or influencers in their home countries. Explain how you meet this requirement, using clear examples of your own leadership and influencing skills to support your answer. (minimum word count: 100 words, maximum word count: 500 words)

580 words

my ability to lead

Leadership is a skill I have shown and developed throughout my life, in both personal and academic levels. Due to my discipline, I have been recognized as a model of commitment and responsibility, setting high standards and positively influencing those around me. My dedication and outstanding performance during my years studying Visual Communication Design, led me to be the recipient of the Order of the Javeriana University Merit Award, given to the student with the highest GPA amongst the design department along with his or her graduation diploma.

From my first day in college I was participative and proactive. Besides getting the highest grades, I always aimed at having a positive impact within the student community. With that in mind, I used my visual communication skills in aspects such as the design of graphic campaigns aiming to stop people from smoking in common areas, thus promoting cleaner air in campus. Additionally, for two years I was in charge of the visual development of concepts to communicate social values amongst students, teachers and staff, involving topics such as the importance of building cross-cultural relationships and the pursuit of social innovation.

Furthermore, I became a monitor in my favorite class: Brand Design Strategy, in which I had the opportunity to assist others throughout their creative processes, by using verbal communication skills to transmit my passion for design. It was thrilling to realize I was able to boost creative confidence in those who listened to me, which became my biggest motivation, earning me first place in a speech contest in which I talked about one of my city's main issues. In that contest, the jury emphasized on how my speech was the best at attracting the audience's attention, making them listen and reflect about my ideas.

During my studies, I became the student's representative of the design faculty for the Institute of Intercultural Studies of my university, an entity I was very interested in, due to its various initiatives regarding peace within cross-cultural scenarios. It was for their achievements in this topic that it was given the PeaceJam award in Monaco.

While working hand-in-hand with psychologists and anthropologists, I single handedly provided the design perspective and skills to create together didactic and user-friendly tools which would generate dialogue for conflict resolution. These projects involved multiple cross-cultural actors with different ways of thinking, which increased our knowledge of user-centered designs and helped us generate relevant and inclusive products which avoid conflict in all of their contexts.

As a final stage of my studies, I was picked from the students in my degree, to be a part of the Me310: Global Design Innovation Course of Stanford University. Through this 8 month course, I worked with Colombian and Irish engineer students in a project aimed to design learning environments for 2025 for Trinity College, Dublin. Thanks to this project I had the opportunity to visit Ireland and to meet and study our users: the Irish students, carrying out a research based on design thinking methodology. Being the only designer in a group of engineers who provided the functional aspects, allowed me to complement the process by stirring reflection and discussion with my creative ideas. Finally, we built a system based on spaces and tools, booked through an app, which was presented at StartX, the most important startup incubator at Stanford University. Being a part of this project gave me a more global perspective of the role of design in public issues such as education.