Pandora current song: Downtown Song, by Anberlin
David Hoopes’ model about cultural competency illustrates the development of cultural competency in everyone of us. I can also use it to examine my own development as a leader as it’s a great model to ‘step inside’ yourself. Truthfully, I was once in the ethnocentrism stage for a large amount of my growing up. Ethnocentricity is a state of relying on your own and only your own, paradigms. It was my way or the highway. It was when I had a few wake up calls where I realized there are other ways besides my own. We all develop into the people we become through our different experiences and hopefully we learn to become progressive, positive responders to situations than we used to be in our younger years. I believe that I am at the end stages now, but it sure wasn't always the case.
One wakeup call was none other than cheerleading. To begin with, I used to be the quiet girl in the classroom that was only “known” to my best friend and a few acquaintances. Other than that, I had no outside school social life. Now I realize how ridiculous that sounds, but like I said in earlier posts, I didn't know who I really wanted to be. In 9th grade, I was ready for a change. I wanted to be a part of something in school so I was not just another girl at school. I decided to try out for the cheer team. I can promise you that I looked like the biggest hooligan with no prior dancing experience, but I had wanted it so badly.
In tenth grade, I was back on the bottom of the totem pole. I went to the state’s biggest school, South Kitsap High School, so of course I was intimidated. However, I had promised myself that I would be involved. I was in ASB, 4-H, Key Club, FFA, Tennis, and cheer, among other things. Like junior high cheer, I was not very good to start with, but my drive and dedication would not let me give up. I ended up making the team after three tryouts. I ended up on varsity cheer my senior year and was so dedicated to it, that I missed out on a German exchange opportunity to go back to Germany for the summer. I was distraught, but I couldn’t leave my team. I can always go to Germany, but I can never relive my senior year in high school.
Basketball cheer my senior year was the highlight of my year. We did not have captains for cheer because our coach believed equality was best. When I was younger, I thought you have to be kidding me. If you put a classroom of students in a room with no instructions and no teachers, someone would take the initiative and take lead. Otherwise, chaos would occur and nothing would be accomplished.
We had a team of twelve girls who were split up into Squad A and Squad B. We wanted to be the B squad because we were the “big squad.” Now you may be thinking big as in fat, but that wasn’t the case. We had two girls at almost 6’ and another at 5’6”. The three giants towered over the rest of the team by far. We also had the Brittany/Britni twins, so again the “B” squad was perfect. Anyway, one team would cheer at home and the other would cheer at the away game and vis versa.
I will be straight up and confess that I hate wasting time when things can be learned, accomplished, improved, etc. Therefore, I hated it when girls did not put effort into learning or were sloppy. Sloppiness in anything to me is not acceptable, so we worked and practiced everything until it was perfect. For some reason, our B squad put up with my perfectionism. This all sounds like I was trying to run a boot camp, and I probably acted like it. Like my profile say, I am a chronic perfectionist. It’s a blessing and a curse. But we still had such a blast.
Predictably, we became the “fun” squad, or so I was told, and everyone loved it when we cheered. We started stunting early on in the season, so we had pretty decent stunts for just the six of us. Two of our girls were about 5’ so they flew! However, the fun would end around the end of the season when the two squads morphed into one.
I had a hard time trying to morph. We had a perfect squad and I didn’t want anything ruining it. Now I look back and laugh at how inflexible I was, but I sure learned my lesson. We had to go back to the basics and train ten times harder so everyone was on the same page. Our squad performed the stunts during the state games as we were the only ones who’d performed them. I did not realize, however, how upset I had made the other girls on the team. Since I had assumed the unofficial captain role, they let me have it and I just sat there while they ripped me a new one.
In my head, I made everyone work hard for the ending result. I acted like a captain to rally the troops and make sure we weren’t wasting time. Becoming better than just ordinary folks. The other personalities obviously didn’t like that idea. We ended the season by incorporating them into a larger stunt, but I’m sure in the back of my mind all I cared about was making sure it all looked spot on.
I learned that season that I couldn’t make other people become perfectionists like myself. I started to understand situations I needed to stay away from. I also learned to respect and appreciate all different kinds of opinions. I had to be able to accept other people’s ideas and create a balance. I wasn't always going to be right and I couldn't always try to lead, even if I desperately wanted to. I had to learn to follow for once.
Before cheer, I was NEVER a confrontational person, but cheer helped. I had to stick up for myself after the girls attacked me, and trust me, it scared me to death. I only had the best intentions in mind, and cheer had become a huge part of my life. I still haven’t changed in the perfectionist realm, but I’ve learned where to pick my battles. Now, I can integrate all of my life’s experiences by accepting differences and valuing others. I can personally say I’ve gotten to Hoopes’ last piece of the model, multiculturation. Granted my example wasn’t talking about different cultures, but it’s an example of someone learning to understand differences. We can never walk in someone else’s shoes no matter where they came from, so we shouldn’t assume we know “better” or more.
Sometimes I feel I am only at the acceptance/respect stage where I consider others’ views, but I still feel it is my way or the highway. I am listening, but that is really all I am doing. I also feel I am a part of the selective adoption stage because I am always trying to do better. With this, I adopt new attitudes and behaviors by observation and trial.
Overall, I feel like I’m at the multiculturalism stage since it is an ongoing PROCESS of learning. I understand others do not always see things my way. If I am not right, then help me learn new ways. Yeah, sometimes, I’m still stuck in my ways, especially when someone speaks about something when they aren’t versed in that category, but I’m constantly learning and trying to become more receptive to other ideas. Keeping an open mind will help me be the best that I can be to produce results for the greater good.
Live boldly challenging status quo.
Pandora current song: Sitting, Waiting, Wishing, by Jack Johnson
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