Leaders encourage campus engagement

In high school, he was introverted and didn’t participate in extracurricular activities  

Now, the NW Campus student is the interim secretary for the Student Government Association and president of the Rotaract Club. 

 “The main reason I got involved was because I was yearning for a sense of connection, to be able to meet like-minded people, and finally have a group of people I can hang out with outside of school,” he said.  

Dobles was one of four students who spoke about their decision to become a student leader during the “Lead Like a Trailblazer Student Leadership Panel” event on Sept. 25 on NW Campus. 

Dobles said he never expected to be brave enough to be a featured speaker in a student leadership event. He said fear holds everyone back, but it’ll never go away.  

“I recommend taking that risk, being brave, going to talk to someone and trying to get involved, because these skills help you have a better future,” he said. 

Fellow panelist Joe Serrato, who is part of NW SGA and works with peer leaders, said one way to build confidence is to learn new skills. One of the skills that helped him was learning to ride a skateboard.  

“By getting good at that and being able to at least ride the skateboard down the sidewalk, I can build that confidence in myself and trust my body,” he said. 

Obstacles are part of being a leader. Serrato said an obstacle for him was working with different people who have opposing opinions. 

“I’m learning how to communicate and remain result-oriented, and that means realizing that we’re going to get to our goals together,” he said. 

Supplemental Instruction leader Nathanial Smith said having good energy and receiving that same energy back from other students makes him feel better.  He recalled a recent SI session when he was having a bad day, but he was still able to push through to help a student. 

“By the end of the session, I felt happier, and I felt like maybe I did change their day and made it better,” he said.  

Perserverance is also important for panelist Oore Fasalojo, a member of Phi Theta Kappa, who said she sometimes struggles emotionally and gets discouraged because of work, family and school obligations.  

“All the things I’m working with, I have them for a reason, and always just look at my end goal and know that I’m on my path,” she said. 

The panel members shared their favorite memories of being a leader. 

Serrato said he remembers being with friends and attending the Trinity Trash Bash at Panther Pavilion last semester.  

“It was really rewarding seeing that physical contribution going back into their environment,” he said. 

Fasalojo said her favorite memory was a tie-dye event where PTK helped people wrap their clothes in dye. Then they got to swim afterward.  

The panelists also said it has been rewarding to create new friendships with other students.  

Dobles said SGA went to a four-day conference in Galveston during the spring semester. He said he made connections with students from other colleges and developed leadership skills. 

“It was a really great opportunity spending time with all these people in student government that I’m so used to working with formally, to just hang out with them in an informal environment,” he said. 

Smith said he enjoys seeing former students he used to help. They sometimes say hello and give him feedback on how his sessions helped them.  

“I can actually just be their friends, and I see a lot of them on campus,” he said. “It’s really rewarding.”