What I Bring to the Table

I think that the majority of my strengths and gifts come from the neighborhood and environment I was given the gift of growing up in. From the different dynamics that exist both in my nuclear and extended family, to the neighborhood I grew up in and the larger city of Gaithersburg as a whole. I think that the area that is the DMV, that I have come to call home, has made me who I am, and in turn given me the strengths that I hope to use to better the Virginia Tech community and one day make a difference in the world.

I was really excited to take the strengths assessment at the beginning of the year, because I think that one large weakness of mine has been assessing myself. I know that this is a big reason that self reflection has always been so important to me, and that I have always valued input from others in order to develop thoughts about my own personality. I generally find myself greatly agreeing with others' opinions and discovering things about myself that I would not have previously realized. After taking the test, I found that I really agreed with a lot of the strengths, and I learned a lot about myself from the test.

My first strength from the quiz was adaptability, which I found really fitting because I think this is something that I have picked up over my lifetime. Despite my desire to be able to go with the flow in my daily life, I have always been good at taking on sudden challenges and going with the flow in unexpected situations. I think that this might not really be a strength that I can use to directly benefit those around me and the communities I live in, but rather I think that this trait can benefit the larger communities I am a part of through my ability to do whatever is needed of me. One area where I believe I learned this was through volunteering at my church’s VBS summer program, where I would work in various settings such as a games rotation, a science rotation, or being with various groups of students.

I think that the strengths of context and consistency play together and can be used in a similar context to better the communities around me. Context has to do with looking back at the information and using that in order to make an educated decision about the best course of action. I think that this plays into consistency, because as I try to live a routine life and achieve what’s best for myself and those around me, I look at past experiences in order to make decisions. In terms of bringing strengths to the table, I think that the combination of these two attributes allows me to help make decisions for a larger group and work with others as a team to achieve goals and see progress in our lives.

One strength that I originally didn’t agree very much with was significance. Upon originally reading the description, I was fixated on the aspects of seeking praise, which I didn’t really associate myself with. After further reflection and looking closer at the description, I found that like all the other strengths it fit very well with my overall personality. Gallup describes someone with strength as someone who seeks to be professional and credible; the way I look at this is seeking respect which I think I have always found as a very admirable trait in others. Another part of the significance description that stood out to me and spoke to me, was the someone with this strength wants their job to be a way of life rather than a job. I think that this really plays into how this strength is something that I can bring to the table with SERVE and VT Engage. I seek work where I can fully invest myself, and my interests in order to better help those around me. In addition, I believe that one thing that really interests me is community service and finding ways to better the community, and I can use this interest to really invest myself in that to make a difference. In short, I think that this strength means I am willing to commit myself to the work brought to us in SERVE.

My final strength of harmony, I believe is the only one I would’ve immediately guessed. Something that I have always been good at is helping resolve situations and being able to see both sides of an argument. My Mom used to always say, that I was the kid peace child, as I would never like to get involved in arguments and tried to find areas of agreement in life.

I hope to use these 5 strengths and overall all the abilities that I have in order to work in the SERVE and VT Engage communities in order to better Virginia Tech and the larger New River Valley community.