HDF 190: FLITE (FIRST-YEAR LEADERS INSPIRED TO EXCELLENCE)

URI MINOR IN LEADERSHIP STUDIES, CENTER FOR STUDENT LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT

CORE REQUIREMENT FOR THE LEADERSHIP MINOR

LEARNING CONTRACT
Goal: To identify and utilize my Strengths and Values in an organizational/interpersonal
setting that aligns with the mission, vision, values and sponsored programs and activities
of URI’s Center for Student Leadership Development. I plan to complete this goal
through Safe Zone Training and then bring my new knowledge to the organizations I am
involved in at URI in order to raise awareness and promote inclusion.

Activity: Safe Zone Training

Evidence: Safe Zone Permission Slip Signed at Training

Annotation:
On Monday February 25th, I completed Safe Zone Training as a part of the Blitz
Week at the Gender & Sexuality Center on campus at URI. I chose this activity for my
learning contract because I am involved with the LGBTQA+ community and I am
passionate about the issues impacting them. Despite having prior knowledge and
experience, I decided to participate in this training because I wanted to increase my
knowledge, gain new perspectives, and make sure that I was acting as an inclusive
individual on campus. Throughout the Safe Zone Training, I believe I effectively utilized
my strengths of learner, input, and analytical and my values of humility, judgment, love
of learning, and honesty.
In order to begin Safe Zone Training, participants, including myself, were
required to sign a permission slip. This permission slip outlined the expectations and the
goals of the Training. It included the expectation that we would struggle with the issues
discussed but that it was okay to struggle. This part of the Training connected to my
value of honesty because I knew that in order to effectively participate I needed to be
open and honest about both my feelings and the challenges I was facing when learning
more about these issues. If I hadn’t utilized my value of honesty, it would have been hard
for me to be actively involved and able to progress in my understandings of these issues.
In addition, being honest enabled me to be fully comfortable accepting the other
expectations and goals of the Training with the knowledge that I would then translate my
knowledge into action and support for the LGBTQA+ community. In connection with
honesty, I also utilized my value of humility. This value was important during training
because I needed to recognize the oppressive attitudes and beliefs that I may have had
prior to the Training and be open to changing and removing those attitudes and beliefs
from my life. In addition, humility allowed me to recognize that it is okay for me to make
mistakes and be imperfect regarding things like transphobia and cissexism. I was also
able to acknowledge that I don’t have all of the answers, which is okay, but I need to be
humble enough and courageous enough to ask any and all questions I have surrounding
these issues. By using my honesty and humility in conjunction, I was able to
acknowledge where I was coming from as a result of my own beliefs and experiences and
be open to everything the Training was going to offer me.
Throughout the entire Training, I believe that my learner strength and my love of
learning value were very evident. Initially I decided to participate in the Safe Zone
Training because I wanted to challenge myself to become further educated on the issues
impacting the community and learn how I can educate others by becoming a more
effective ally. During the Training, I was presented with a massive amount of
information, which for me was very exciting because I was ready to work on improving
myself and learning more about the issues. The information presented during training
ranged from the Cycle of Oppression and results of heterosexism and cissexism to
working definitions of gender or sexual orientation related terms and coming out.
Through the combination of my learner strength and love of learning value, which are
both my top strength and value respectively, I was excited about engaging in the process
of learning additional information, broadening my worldview, and adding to my previous
knowledge about the LGBTQA+ community. In addition, once improving my own
understanding of the LGBTQA+ community and I will spread that understanding
throughout URI by helping others learn as well.
The Safe Zone Training also provided me the opportunity to utilize my judgment
value and analytical strength. My strength of judgment allowed me to participate in the
Training activities with an open mind. This judgment enabled me to be open to changing
my mind and beliefs regarding the LGBTQA+ community and issues impacting the
community in light of evidence presented to me during training. I combined this with my
analytical strength to consider all of the factors affecting the LGBTQA+ community and
examine the facts to search for the reasons and causes for the issues impacting them. In
addition, the Safe Zone Training allowed me to improve my input strength. This strength
was utilized when I was collecting more information on the issues affecting the
LGBTQA+ community from the instructor, the packet, and also through actively
listening to the experiences and questions from others who were also participating in the
Training. By utilizing my input strength, I will use the information I collected to better
advocate for and serve the LGBTQA+ community.
I chose Safe Zone Training for my learning contract because I was excited about
the potential possibility to identify and utilize my Strengths (learner, input, and
analytical) and Values (humility, judgment, love of learning, and honesty) through my
participation. Safe Zone Training enabled me to better understand all the factors affecting
the situation and begin to assist the LGBTQA+ community as an ally in overcoming
those issues. After completing Safe Zone, I hope to bring my new knowledge to the
organizations I am involved in at URI in order to inspire change, raise awareness, and
promote a more inclusive environment on campus.

Instructor Signature: ____________________________________________

Student Signature: ______________________________________________