It seems that my position as IVCC’s Student Trustee is coming to an end. At publication, I will be finishing up my final board meeting. It is incredible how fast my last semester flew by.

With commencement right around the corner, I am beginning to reflect on my past semesters here at IVCC, and I can’t help but to be proud of what I accomplished.

Because this is my final article I have decided to take this opportunity to share my experience as Student Trustee and what it means to me.

Although being student trustee is a leadership position, the meaning of this title goes way beyond that.
This position gave me a whole new perspective on what being a leader means, and to say the least, this journey was a growing experience.

Like all things in life, there were some struggles of grasping onto the stresses and responsibilities of this position; however, I finally understood that is okay not to do everything perfectly. I learned to speak up and not hold my opinions, thoughts, and ideas to myself. It took leadership, effort, an open-mind, and a voice to really understand this role.

There’s never a stupid question or answer, and speaking out is necessary to learn, whether you’re right or wrong. I realized leadership is a constant process of learning and growing and this position is a stepping stone down the path of being a great leader.

The Student Trustee is a connection to the college, the board members, the faculty, the students and all the other Illinois community colleges and is a responsibility I never imagined for myself.

It was truly one of the best opportunities I have ever experienced and I will continue to grow from everything I learned during my term.

I can not be more grateful to the college for giving me such an amazing opportunity. It will be a very bitter-sweet moment when I pass this position down to the next student trustee later on this month, but I know that his or her experience will be a life changing one.

Tipton can be reached at [email protected].