My name is Melina Bradley. I am a Junior at the University of Pittsburgh where I am studying Human Resources Management, International Business, Economics and Spanish. On campus I am currently serving as the President of Phi Beta Lambda, a professional business organization. I am an ambassador in the Blue and Gold Society, an ambassador within Pitt Business, an ambassador for the Outside of the Classroom Curriculum, and a volunteer within the Pitt Alumni Student Network. Outside of school and extracurriculars, I love to read, be out in nature, and to spend quality time with the people I love.

The ACC Leadership Symposium brings together delegates from each of the 15 Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) colleges and universities with the intention of developing a community amongst these undergraduate students. The University of Virginia will be hosting the symposium this year with the theme being "Pivot with Purpose". We will be using this theme to guide conversations around the relationship between global and local issues as we work collaboratively to create innovative initiatives that advance students' capacity of global leadership.

I am so excited that you are interested in following along on this journey with me!

We learned about a variety of critical leadership development-based topics and methods that will allow us to be more dynamic, resilient and reflective leaders which in turn empowers us to make an impact in the community.

The first breakout session that I was in that day focused on combating Imposter Syndrome. Through speakers sharing their insights and breakout group conversations, I walked away from that session with the message that struggle is not validation that you are in the wrong place. We spoke at lengths about staying motivated through Imposter Syndrome by tackling one task at a time, controlling the controllable, and giving space for everyone to feel valuable.

The second breakout session I attended was titled, "Leading While Maintaining Friendships." This conversation was incredibly grounding for me as it reminded me that the work we each do matters, the title does not. We are all so much more than the role that we are in and meaningful friendships will last longer than a role. A large part of the conversation was about creating boundaries and we read excerpts from Brené Brown's "Dare to Lead."

The next component of the event was a TedTalk series where we heard from 5 speakers about a topic of their choosing. The first speaker crafted journal prompts for us about goal setting and deciding the trajectory of our careers or roles. The second speaker spoke of the 4 Cs of Leadership: compromise, confidence, consistency, and connection. Confidence comes from consistency, so we need to be consistent with our connections, and we need to be able to compromise with those that we are connected too. Next, we learned about the importance of establishing a mentor and friends who will serve as pillars and mirrors in our lives to support us and reflect with us on decisions. Leadership is not a solo journey. The 4th speaker taught us the art of negotiating. Her biggest piece of advice was to enter each scenario with a "if you ... then we ..." statement to convey the desired outcome. The final speaker of the series spoke about the value of human connection. She told us that we can't hate someone we understand and that interaction is a gift.

I had an incredible day at this conference learning from my peers, campus representatives, and community leaders! Huge shoutout to Therese Pitman for an incredible event!

The second group activity was the Pipeline Challenge. We were with our case study groups for this activity. The scenario we were told to operate within was certainly unique. We were to act as environmental engineers in the forest cleaning up a toxic waste spill in a river. We used ping pong balls to represent the waste, pvc pipes to move the waste and a bucket as our dump site. The trick was, if the ping pong ball touched any part of your body, you could no longer use that part and if the ball dropped, you had to participate in the challenge with a blind fold. This exercise was a hilarious team building activity that showed the importance of communication, looking out for our team members, adaptability and a little bit of hand eye coordination.

The second breakout session, was about the Six Dimensions of Wellness and was put on by Dr. Joshua Epps who serves within the UVA Division for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Programs & Council. To introduce the topic of wellness, Dr. Epps talked about needing to love yourself to want to grow and develop as a person and a leader. He talked a lot about the importance of finding an accountability partner, someone to remind you of your goals and what inspired them and will make sure you're working towards them in a timely manner. This aids in maintaining purpose driven leadership. After this introduction, we talked about the Six Dimensions of Wellness: occupational, physical, social, intellectual, spiritual and emotional. In small groups, we were given a topic and instructed to develop a skit that connected that topic with the Six Dimensions of Wellness. My group got goal setting. In our skit, we had a frustrated, overwhelmed student meeting with an advisor who felt behind in all facets of her wellness. We had group members act as each category of wellness who designed a goal for the student in their respective area. It was a really fun, interactive activity!