Over the past year, I have had the honor to serve as President of Special Olympics Virginia Young Professionals Board - Northern Virginia Chapter. I’m the first Special Olympics Virginia athlete to have held this position among the three Young Professionals Board in Virginia. It isn’t a position to be taken for granted but it is more of an opportunity to leave a mark in the realm of leadership.
Prior to taking on this role, I have served as the Fundraising Committee Chair for the first three years of the inception of the NOVA YPB Chapter. I would later step up to become Vice President/President Elect and become the first SOVA Athlete to hold the position. Through those four years in these two positions, I witnessed the growth and struggles of the board. Particularly dealing with the COVID-19 Pandemic which impacted us midway through our first year and the entirety of our second year.
The board was able to prevail through the challenging times of COVID and members leaving the board. Though, we have lost so much momentum from pre-COVID and amazing members who were the driving force of the board. Upon my tenure as the Vice President in the board’s fourth year, we were in an alright spot with our membership numbers but we were still thriving and pushing to become strong again. I took the lead in getting our momentum rebuilt as well as rebuilding our structure for future years. I was deeply involved in the recruitment season leading up to my term year as President.
I strived to build upon my predecessors’ success and beyond as President. I had strong ambitions for the board. To grow our membership, expand our membership into Prince William County and build a connection with Special Olympics District of Columbia Young Professionals Council. While these goals were very ambitious, there were struggles along the way. Losing members and dealing with many matters out of my presidency scope. None of the goals were accomplished but there were successes. Mostly, building the foundation for the board to be successful after my term as President and having the committees learning to and working together.
As I prepare for myself to become Past President, I look back at what was accomplished and reflect upon the following lessons:
- Learning how to be hands off isn’t easy and very difficult to maintain
- Obtaining strong communications to plan things out takes time and patience
- You don’t have do everything and be in everything
- Learning to rely on your fellow executive officers to assist you in any matter is a blessing
- Leading by a strong example is no walk in the park to show the whole board
- Taking in what the staff liaison and support them in return
- Great leadership isn’t defined by what accomplishments you did in your time in office but by the legacy from the small things
I would like to end on the following two quotes that I have on my work email which summarizes my experience as NOVA YPB President:
“No matter how hard or impossible it is, never lose sight of your goal.” – Monkey D. Luffy“All we do is believe in each other and love each other to death and that’s what a true team is. If you want an example of what a team is, that’s what this team is. Coach (Lisa) Bluder knows how to create a team. You gotta create a culture where everybody’s valued. I’m just lucky enough to be a part of it.”
Caitlin Clark
