2022 October 23 – MK Female 14
his is my 6th week of the Greenstairs Leadership Academy program. Today, we started class by doing 2 cycles of salahs and getting into the state of concentration for 6 seconds with connection with Allah. We stayed still with this state of concentration for about 30 minutes to an hour. It was a great meditation exercise to start our class. After our meditation, we started the class off by testing out some surahs so we can be prepared for our last class next week.
After testing out, LG told us that there would be an open house. It means that there will be other families/people that will come to see what our classroom is like. So as a family comes in, LG had us all explain the program to them. In return, the family gave back feedback to each of us about how we projected the program to them. This is where LG puts in a new lesson called “communication”. Communication is an important lesson because everyone uses it to get anything they want. To have a good relationship with someone else, you need communication with them, which is why the topic of communication is important to us.
After the lesson of communication, we had a zoom call presentation of a man in Florida, that wants to spread his PSAT program in our Muslim community. The man had given us his main component of his PSAT program and explained to us the benefits in the program. Some of the main benefits are that students get more prepared for the actual SAT and they give out scholarships for students that do good in the class. At the end of the presentation, LG had everyone ask a question regarding the PSAT program. When the questions were answered, LG had chosen me to explain the Greenstairs leadership program to the man. I tried my best to explain the program by giving the main benefits of joining green stairs. In other words, LG had forced me to speak to a random stranger, probably for the millionth time this month.
Then, we learned the topic of value. In this world, people are set values automatically. A person could have a big value, while another person would have a low value. We, as leaders, need to understand that we are the only people that can set our own values. So we cannot let others bring us down with shame and disappointment, while lowering our values. Especially as a Muslim in today’s world society, it is important to talk out against what we believe is wrong, otherwise we will be pushed around.
Another lesson we learned today was expectations, specifically standard expectations. In LG’s class, he has put basic expectations on us. For example, every time he gives us a lesson, he expects us to write him an essay at a specific time. These expectations are important to follow because as we get older, academic expectations just get higher and higher. Suppose a person does not meet expectations to go to his/her dream school. Obviously the person will not just get accepted in that school because it’s their dream. There are expectations in life that everyone needs to follow, which is why this is a key concept to always remember.
After the lesson, I wanted to present a ten-minute speech about the topic of time management. I presented my topic, basically explaining the literal/basic meaning of time management, as well as the worldly and Islamic perspective of time management. This topic is a very important topic, because time management isn’t something that a person should ever lose. Time management has grown to be such an important aspect in life that some people don’t realize it. So my presentation on time management related a lot to daily lives and how it can improve a person both physically and mentally.
Next, we talked about the topic called yesterday, today, and tomorrow. This topic had a connection to time management. However, this topic was basically about how a person can’t do anything to change the past. We don’t know if we have a tomorrow, but we can change today. This topic is clearly associated with time because time does not wait for you, it can be possible that you won’t have time later, but you can use up your time now to do something better. It’s a simple topic that has such great meaning to it.
One of the last things I remember in class today was about one of our first lessons, which was about potential. I realized that as I explained the program to strangers today, I never mentioned potential. Potential is a great thing a person should and can have. In this class, I have a potential to thrive and apply the skills I learn in the class to the outside world.
Most importantly, if a person doesn’t think that they have the potential to get into a school or position, that person instantly loses. Without believing in having potential just makes you lose what you could have had. Potential is something everyone has, except a person has to develop it to be better than the rest.
I believe that potential is one of the essential things that I have learned in this program. If I did not have potential, then I wouldn’t have even come this far into the program. So today’s class really made me reflect and understand the progress I’ve built so far, as this class is coming to an end.