Hi, Penn State Student Farm community! My name is Kevin Kerr, and I’m a rising senior here at Penn State focusing on Environmental Resource Management with minors in Environmental Engineering and Environmental Soils. I’m originally from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where my work experience looked like I spun the wheel of odd jobs and just picked whatever it landed on. I never thought I’d be in the position of student farmer at a large institution, but I’m so happy to be here using my background to feed the Penn State community and educate myself and others on the ins and outs of alternative and small-scale organic farming. I’m always eager to learn and teach new skills, and the Student Farm at Penn State has provided countless opportunity to improve myself and others educationally, physically, and professionally. For that, I am entirely grateful.
I want to take this post to discuss leadership, specifically for young students who may feel they’re stuck in the mire of the bottom rungs of the economic ladder. Not long ago, I was one of those students, and the lessons I have learned from the Student Farm and beyond have helped me to realize what it means to be a true leader. One that people will always turn their heads to listen to, even if you don’t always have much to say.
Leadership can be many different things. To me, leadership looks like conducting myself in a way I would want others to follow. Whether that means staying calm under stressful conditions, or being there to teach people valuable lessons, keeping others in mind through your speech and actions turns a follower into a leader. You must think that as a leader, people will interpret your body language, speech, and actions actively and passively, so making sure they feel supported, heard, and equal is paramount to being a good leader. This isn’t to say that you’re always the voice of reason. Sometimes, you must be radical in your thinking and try out new ideas, but in that, you must project a sense of commitment to yourself and your team, or you may come off as aloof and apathetic, and inefficiencies will occur. Establishing yourself as a group’s peer through comedic relief can do numbers in creating a space that overflows with creativity and idea-sharing. Also, making others feel welcome and safe to share their thoughts can be as simple as learning everyone’s name on the FIRST try. Simple tricks like this can make all the difference when others look to you for guidance. Imagine if your boss couldn’t get your name right no matter how many times you told them. How would that make you feel as someone that must look to them for instruction?
Most students have spent part of their high school years working retail/service/food jobs. For many of these young students, these jobs were also their first experience operating in the “real world” so to speak, like when I was 16 working alongside adults with kids, mortgages, and 3 priors spread throughout the group. That was my first time really on my own trying to project myself as a respectable person without my friends or family providing support. Anyways, I’m willing to bet that after jobs like that, like me, they know how they like to be managed. I challenge those who want to take on leadership roles to ask themselves some questions about those years. Who was your favorite manager? Who was your least favorite manager? What did one do that the other(s) didn’t? These questions help to form what a true leader can be to you and aid in creating your leadership style. Again, leadership can be many things, and no two people lead the same way. So go out and make your path like the leaders before you.