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- BLI announces a new Access Opportunity
- Barger Leadership Institute is moving!
- BLI Announces New Partnership with The London Idea
- Former Jet Blue CEO donates $10 million to Barger Leadership Institute
- BLI Hires a New Assistant Director
- BLI to Co-Host ‘Extreme by Design’ Film Screening, Discussion
- BLI awards Small Grant for Halfway Hijabi event
- BLI Launches New Capstone Experience
- BLI Launches New Fellows Program Structure
- Keep Calm and Lead On
- BLI Fellow Wins Wolverine Tank Pitch Contest
- BLI Congratulates Mya Haynes
- BLI Alumni Receive 2015-2016 Fulbright Honor
- The 2018 London Ideas Project is Announced
- Congrats to BLI partner Sandra Levitsky for being awarded the Golden Apple!
- Congrats to BLI Fellow and Peer Facilitator Elisabeth Benham
- Tales of Leadership: The Advanced Fellows Journey
- Welcome to the 2018 Capstone Cohort!
- BLI welcomes new director!
- BLI Across the Pond
- BLI Hosts Voting Guru Nancy Thomas
- Ram Mahalingam's award winning film to be screened at two film festivals.
- The Capstone Experience with the Migrant Education Initiative
- The Mindful Leader - Becoming an Engaged Leader
- A Weekend of Mindful Leadership
- Introducing the 2019 Capstone Teams
- The Peer Facilitator Experience
- Dinners with...
- BLI Students Start Small and Dream Big in Detroit
- From Freshman to Senior Year -- Four Years of Leadership Learning
- BLI Speaker Series: Food For Thought
- BLI Director, Ram Mahalingam featured in the Record
- Capstone Bootcamp 2019
- In a Distracted World, Solitude is Practice for Tomorrow’s Leaders
- A Conversation on Mindfulness, Bias and Racial Justice — a podcast with Ram Mahalingam
- The Mindful Leaders Retreat — Laying a Foundation
- Being a good leader is knowing when to practice gratitude
- Channeling Mindfulness
- Compassionate Leadership: Creating a Just, Inclusive and Mindful Society with Mirabai Bush
- Dinners With...
- Announcing Capstone 2020 Teams!
- Meet our 2020 Leadership Lab Teams!
- Leading Mindfully
- A Senior's Reflection on Peer Facilitating
- Expect Challenges
- Reflecting Back and Looking Forward
- From Leadership Lab, to Peer Facilitator, to Program Assistant
- Project Healthy Schools Global
- Learning to be an Effective Leader
- Leading Life with Dignity: A Challenge of Our Time
- Pause, Reflect, and Create
- What's Happening in the Lab?
- Capstone 3D Virtual Gallery
- Announcing the Break Away Podcast!
- BLI Advanced Fellow featured in M-LEAD's Leadership Lens Series!
- Two BLI Advanced Fellows Receive the Renowned MLK Spirit Award
- Stand Against Asian Violence
- BLI Hosts Alumni Panel
- Announcing the BLI's 2021 Capstone Cohort
- BLI Offers COVID-19 Hardship Grants
- ALA 175: Foundations in Leadership
- The Peer Facilitator Leadership Experience
- What's Happening in the Lab
- Capstone Boot Camp 2021
- Mindful Leader Reflection
- Learning to Lead with Compassion: A Mindful Leadership Retreat
- Okanagan Charter
- Foundations in Leadership, a Peer Facilitator Perspective
- Heart-Centered Leadership with Rebecca Irby
- Announcing the 2022 Leadership Certificate Cohort!
- Welcome the 2021-22 Mindful Leader Fellowship cohort!
- BLI Peace Leadership Retreat in Detroit
- BLI director awarded the Harold R. Johnson Diversity Service Award
- Seithur Sanitation Initiative receives the MLK Spirit Award
- The Michigan Difference Student Leadership Awards
- Feedback is Love
- Deepening the Foundations for Equity and Renewal
- Creating Leaders – Being a Peer Facilitator at the BLI
- M-LEAD Leadership Lens Feature: Kaitlyn Colyer
- M-LEAD Leadership Lens Feature: Mya Harris
- What's Happening in the Lab
- The Leadership Certificate at the University of Michigan: Cohort 1
- Color of Care Reflection
- Mindful Leader Retreat Recap
- Social Transformation, a Passionate Community of Scholars
- The Michigan Difference Student Leadership Awards
- Break Away Podcast
- BLI Weekend in Detroit
- Leadership Lens with Olivia O'Connell
- Leadership Lens with Becky Woolf
- Leadership Philosophy Reflection
- Senior Reflection, Renuka Murthi
- Dignity and Well-being in the Workplace: A French Perspective
- BLI – Year One
- Teaching Leadership, a Senior Reflection
- Archived News
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Being a Peer Facilitator for the Leadership Labs at the Barger Leadership Institute was incredibly valuable for my growth as a student, a leader, and a professional. After my experiences in training and in the Lab, I feel more confident in my problem-solving and teamwork abilities and feel more prepared to enter the “adult world” post-graduation.
At the start of every semester, the Peer Facilitators have six weeks of training. Training covers everything from team bonding, how to teach the curriculum, personal reflection, to learning more about campus resources, and everything in between. During this time you learn how to better guide and be a resource for project teams from guest presenters, using case studies and facilitating your own training session. One particularly beneficial presentation was the Ginsberg Center presentation called “Entering and Exiting Communities,” which discussed how to best work with populations respectfully and consult your own identity and power in the relationship. I found this presentation particularly helpful personally, given my aspirations to be a public servant post-grad, and for properly advising my teams. My favorite aspect of training was building relationships with the other peer facilitators and with my teaching team, allowing us to better solve problems and lead classes together.
After six weeks of training, we hit the ground running with the Leadership Lab. I find the Leadership Lab to be very rewarding, as we get to see teams grow together and projects develop from just ideas to tangible products. I am inspired by students’ motivation to make a difference in their communities. This semester, I had the pleasure of mentoring a team that had a great, long-term goal of educating returning citizens on overdose prevention. Throughout the Lab, I helped them break down their ultimate objective into smaller actionable goals, or “small wins.” I was so impressed by their work and their positive group dynamics time and time again, even with having to meet remotely. I am looking forward to what they will accomplish in the future. Maybe they will go on to be in the Capstone program!
Overall, this year as a Peer Facilitator was incredibly rewarding and fulfilling. Through the BLI, I was able to create a new community on campus, even as a senior, and grow into a more confident leader. I developed my public speaking, communication, and organizational skills, among many other skills. While my role was to teach and guide students in the Lab, I believe that I learned a great deal from the students and the development of their projects, as well. I know that I will take the lessons I learned at the BLI, especially as a Peer Facilitator, into my future career and life in general.