Students who earn Graduation with Leadership Distinction demonstrate extensive, purposeful engagement beyond the classroom, understanding of course concepts in “real world” settings, and application of learning to make decisions and solve problems.
May 2021 graduate, Caroline Guynn, shares her Graduation with Leadership Distinction story with us.
After graduation, I am moving to Atlanta, GA, for a critical care residency program at Northside Hospital. I pursued a degree in Nursing because it is the only profession that genuinely lives out all my core values daily- integrity, compassion, and intentionality.
I’m grateful I chose to participate in UofSC’s Graduation with Leadership Distinction (GLD) program because it gave me an outlet to reflect on my experiences here at UofSC and how they connected in a larger picture. Through this project, I learned about showing humility and the importance of acting with authenticity and integrity. I learned that being the quietest person in the room allows you to be inspired by the stories and experiences of others. When you are open to learning and receiving, you develop an intuition for responding to others and meet them where they are with what they need. These skills will help me care for my future patients holistically, and I plan to be an advocate in their journey to health and wellness.
My GLD project focused on three key insights:
- Health Promotion Requires Humility: Service is Not Superiority
- The Only Way to Make Room for Growth is to Stretch Yourself: Using Personal Challenges as a Way to Expand Your Network
- Transforming Holistic Care into Inspiration: How You Can Learn Something from Everyone
For each key insight, I shared personal examples from inside and outside the classroom that supports each theme. My engagement outside the classroom includes my medical mission trips to Nicaragua and Costa Rica, my current job as a Certified Group Fitness Instructor, my Nursing Externship with Shepherd Center in Atlanta, and my internships in Barcelona, Spain. My experiences within the classroom include nursing courses such as Psychiatric Nursing, Community and Population Health, and other university classes such as U101.