Leadership | Jake Borns

BLUE HEN LEADERSHIP PROGRAM

Four-Tiered Leadership Development Journey

TIER 1

During the first tier of BHLP, I spent time at workshops and conferences studying leadership skill and theory whilst simultaneously befriending dozens of my fellow students. Some applicable knowledge I gained due to the program includes networking skills, how to facilitate success and deal with failure both individually and in group settings, and how to effectively cooperate and communicate with different audiences.

TIER 2

Within Tier 2, it was time to now put faith in not just me but in others to form a trusting and strong team. I had the opportunity to share an interest in agriculture to help Fair Weather Farms, a local farm in Fair Hill MD, by helping expand the reach of their marketing audience with beekeeping curricula my new friends and I created together. In addition, we, “The BeeHLP Team,” were able to successfully jumpstart the creation of beekeeping classes, provided with comprehensive and concise teacher/student manuals and textbooks from scratch.

TIER 3

The third tier of BHLP began as a class, LEAD360, and ended with the 2019 Coronavirus outbreak. Since Tiers 1 & 2 focused on the self and the collective, it was time to study the roots of leadership theory. Through intellectual discussions and informative literature, I was able to fully grok the practice of leadership in all aspects of life and finished the course by completing a SWOT analysis for Fair Weather Farms. With the pandemic, it became difficult to proceed normally, as the contemporary normal was now in limbo. Despite this, The BeeHLP Team was able to deliver a Youth in Agriculture program proposal to the Farm to connect with more generations of the community.

TIER 4

The finale of my leadership journey with the University of Delaware’s Blue Hen Leadership Program had finally neared its end. The bittersweet reminiscence of pondering my time with BHLP brought wonderful memories to mind and I knew that I needed to do my part to pass this incredible opportunity on to the next generation. My “last hurrah” was focused on informing my community and peers about BHLP and the impact it has granted on me. Through deep reflection, I can say with confidence that I would not have grown as immensely without the aid of BHLP.

To learn more about BHLP and the benefits of investing the leader in you, visit the website below

BHLP: Home of the Blue Hens

TIER 1

Upon completion of the first tier of BHLP, I had learned the true meaning of what it means to be a leader, and what I can do to implement these concepts and strategies into my own leadership journey. Starbucks has been a part of my professional life for many years, and I found it to be a perfect example to not only showcase this into the workplace, but share my vision of the new leadership with my BHLP team.

TIER 2

The second tier of BHLP introduced me to the depths of my unconscious, diving into my natural strengths and mirroring saboteurs and how to have the power to control the reigns over both halves of my mind. Thankfully, I did not have to venture this alone, as I was also joined with three wonderful individuals: Julia Gray, Molly Warndorf, and Zach Burcham. With our newfound group, the four of us grew close quickly and leaned on each other in times of need and moments of valor. Together, we worked with a local nonprofit called Fair Weather Farms in Fair Hill, MD. Fair Weather Farms has a mission to not only preserve the local bee population, but to also educate their community on the life and effect of the pollinators of the world. For more information, please see the team charter below.

Team Charter

Tier 2 Final Presentation

Here you will find the PDF files for our team's final presentation for Tier 2 for BHLP. The presentation may be found embedded with a collection of our research and efforts, as well as both the class and teacher handbooks created for the Introduction to Beekeeping course for Fair Weather Farms.

Student

Teacher

Tier 3 Final Presentation

Here, you will find a recording of the presentation The BeeHLP Team cultivated. It’s a great rendering of the information and findings, as well as endearing and comical. To see our complete research and efforts, attached below is the SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) Analysis our team constructed.

SWOT Analysis

TIER 4

My fellow members of the BeeHLP team for BHLP and I were successful in the completion of Tier 4, the Established Leader. We ended our final year by helping give back and instruct the next generation of leaders, as well as organize events for the local farm and beekeepers to promote opportunities for all ages to come by and learn more about the farm's resources.

WHERE THE PASSION BEGINS

Meet The BeeHLP Team

JAKE BORNS

Head of Interpersonal Research

My top five strengths are individualization, futuristic, strategic, input, and empathy; furthermore, my true colors represent a dualist relationship within interpersonal relations, Blue and Green. These true colors of mine blend cohesively well with my role within the team as the head of interpersonal research. By developing a network of individuals and holding accountability yet maintaining time efficiency, I am capable of ensuring the team remains focused throughout our assignments, along with my ability to form true, meaningful connections with people. Furthermore, my expertise in graphic design allows me to become a phenomenal aspect to any team, especially in regards as an asset to web design and/or issues.

JULIA GRAY

Head of Entrepreneurial Analysis

My strengths include context, discipline, learner, developer, and input. These strengths correspond well with my true color of gold and feed into my desire for order and time management. I utilize these skills in my role as the team secretary. Before each group meeting, I create an agenda and take the meeting minutes. I also work to keep our Google Drive organized and remind our group members of smaller deadlines we set for assignments in our GroupMe. I also used my attention to detail to help edit this document to ensure that we printed our highest quality work. My strengths of context and learner came into play as I delve deep into understanding how our nonprofit works in comparison to other similar agencies.

MOLLY WARNDORF

Head of Communications

My strengths are strategic, futuristic, learner, input, and ideation. I use these strengths to help generate ideas for the team, and accomplish effective communication between our project liaison and the team. These skills align with my true color, green. My strengths and true color have been essential while our team balances deadlines and begins project planning. My strategic and futuristic thinking skills allow me to see a multitude of paths and narrow down the best route to success. As our team generates ideas, I can quickly determine which ones will be practical for the organization, and encourage the team to engage in more “out of the box” thinking. For our SWOT analysis, I completed “Branding and Marketing”, “Social Entrepreneurial Venues”, and “Unique Characteristics of our Organization” as part the Strengths section of the SWOT analysis.

ZACH BURCHAM

Project Development

My top five strengths are ideation, adaptability, positivity, competition, and strategic; my true color is orange. I have a fascination with the life cycle of ideas and see them as the connection between intentions and results. Because of this, my skills lie in my ability to generate new ideas or re-imagine existing ones in a creative way. My competition and strategic strengths allow me to see the utility of ideas and envision how I think they will turn out if implemented. As an orange, I am also good in a crisis and am able to adapt to new situations or setbacks. Any project will involve multiple setbacks, so it’s important in these scenarios to remember our team’s mission and vision. For our project proposal, I designed the original idea what kinds of programs to create, including its outcomes and basic steps. For our SWOT analysis, the sections that I contributed to most were under “Financials”, “Location and Logistics”, “Head, Heart, and Hustle”, and “Threats” of the SWOT.