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Project Explores Authentic Leadership Styles Based on Students’ Own Backgrounds

In the fall, MPA students created a  to explore their own leadership styles by drawing on their unique experiences, strengths, and deeply held values.

The student-led team effort was the final project for their Authentic and Adaptive Leadership course, a core requirement in the MPA program.

Professor Rene Aubry gave the class an open-ended prompt, encouraging creativity, exploration, and collaboration. Students brainstormed collectively and decided to create a website, , to highlight the unsung heroes and community leaders who don't usually get the spotlight in New York City.

"I learned that anyone can be a leader as long as she sees a problem and her instincts tell her she can solve it"

"On this website, you won’t see profiles of De Blasio, Cuomo, or Bloomberg. You’ll see our neighbors, community activists, writers and artists, and teachers and police,” said Robert Bentlyewski, who opened the website launch event. 

The event, which the students organized, included a visual exposé on the classroom walls, as well as food and live music for the attendees from the MPA program and local community.

“This was anything but a typical graduate class; it was a laboratory,” said Natalia Trujillo, acting director of the MPA program, addressing the crowd at the event. “Laboratories allow for breakthroughs; they allow you to find your inner voice, who you are, what you want to do in your life,” she said.

The students presented individually about what they discovered about leadership and which leaders they chose to feature.

Lorena Camacho chose , the school principal who led PS51 from “very bad” to “outstanding school” in the heart of Hell’s Kitchen, where Camacho’s children attended. 

“Nancy Sing-Bock is the reason I am here,” said Camacho, who plans to use her MPA degree to launch a career as an education advocate.

Ashley Reyes highlighted the who filed a class action suit against the department’s illegal quotas that led to disproportionate arrests in communities of color.

“It takes enormous courage to challenge a system whose ideologies are so deeply ingrained,” Reyes writes. “It takes a special kind of leader to be willing to put everything on the line when everyone is against you.”

Kevin Mason, a teacher in Harlem, said he was inspired by his own students,  who are engaging in their community. Youth-led campaigns are transforming the world from Egypt to Nicaragua to the US, Mason emphasized, and are an inspiration for marginalized voices everywhere. 

“Society at large views young people as incapable of full autonomy,” writes Mason, “but youth leaders can sometimes provide the marginalized voices in the face of tyranny.”   

Other students chose animal rights dedicated to protecting stray cats, protesting at the Whitney museum, and a small-town working tirelessly to improve his constituents’ lives. One student conducted a on how gender and race influenced people’s views of leadership.

“Every single person here is a teacher and a leader”

MPA students themselves were featured as social change leaders, as well. This theme was central to the purpose of the course, as the website states, “to offer each student the opportunity to identify and develop a unique and authentic approach to leadership,” in order to “help redefine the leadership status quo.”

To make this point hit home, Professor Aubry made sure to put himself in the background and allow the students to guide the class. His sincere encouragement helped the students to discover and value their own stories and use them as the basis of their leadership.

“This course challenged students to revisit their origins, the 'big bang' where their leadership story began,” said Aubry. “These incredible students stepped up to the challenge and came back for more.”

“Every single person here is a teacher and a leader,” Professor Aubry said.

Students responded positively to Aubry’s teaching style. “Professor Aubry let us guide the class in our own way. He never took the spotlight, as you can see here,” said Yaritza Holguin, pointing to a in which Aubry, dressed in a T-shirt, stands amidst the group, indistinguishable as the class leader.

Class activities included creative interactive exercises – including one with a soprano singer – aimed at drawing out the knowledge and experiences that the students bring into the classroom, followed by guided reflections and at-home written assignments. 

Aubry’s lessons have stuck with the students. In the words of student Raisa Alam, “I learned that anyone can be a leader as long as she sees a problem and her instincts tell her she can solve it”.

Find out more about the MPA Program's courses here.