Eric James Zins zinsej@mail.uc.

edu Lindner College of Business Finance Major and Accounting Minor Title of Project: Bearcat Buddies Leadership Project Start: 9/25/13 Project End: To Be Determined Abstract Throughout the year, I will be doing an hour and a half of community service once a week to the children at Hays Porter Elementary School through the Bearcat Buddies Program at UC. I will be giving my time tutoring at the school, helping an underprivileged child learn math in order to pass the Ohio Achievement Test (OAT). In order to achieve the necessary hours, I intend to do Bearcat Buddies for a few semesters. I have already finished one semester; however, I intend to sign up again in order to achieve my learning experience. Each semester, I will have a new struggling child and I will be able to develop my own leadership skills. With each student coming with a different learning ability, I will have to be ready to modify my teaching approach which will teach how to become a leader of different types of people. My goal for the year is to not only make sure my students learn to the best of their ability, but also to become a mentor and role model for these students. I plan to do this by going every week that we meet for Bearcat Buddies. I plan to hold myself to high standards in order to do as good of a job as possible. Another goal that I have is to personally learn through this tutoring process. I believe that there is a lot to learn through interactions such as these with children who are not as fortunate as myself. I plan to go into my time at Porter Hays with an open mind and ready to learn as much as I can about the community, my peers, and myself. This project is personally meaningful because I have been tutoring children in the community since the 7th grade in grade school. I have been very committed in this area of social justice for a long time so it is meaningful that I continue with this commitment. This project will be unique to me through the reflection process. After each tutoring session I will reflect on the event and write a brief journal about what happened/ how I felt afterwards. At the end of my time, I will be able to review all of these journals and be able to reflect on my own personal development throughout the year. I will be able to learn through my interactions and independent studies how to become a more effective leader. Connection to Learning Outcomes 1.) The first learning outcome that I intend to achieve is identifying the various characteristics of a leader in a given situation/role. I plan to achieve this goal by performing independent

research in order to determine the characteristics of a leader. I plan to check out various books or online sources and read different takes on the characteristics seen in the worlds most effective leaders. In addition to this, I will reflect on the success of each tutoring session and identify the characteristics that were and werent successful in leading the students. Because I will be tutoring more than one child in the duration of this experience, I will need to learn what characteristics are effective among all people. This will force me to develop these characteristics in order for me to become a better leader to all people that I will interact with. 2.) The second learning outcome that I intend to achieve is to develop a vision of the future and acknowledge the impact of decisions (as applicable to the individual and affiliated organizations). I will achieve this learning outcome by reflecting heavily on the impact my actions in Bearcat Buddies have on the children. I will constantly be aware of the importance of my work given the circumstances of the people that I will be helping. In this case, the success of my work can alter the future learning of the children. I plan to also do some independent research on the importance of role models in young childrens lives. This will help me better understand the impact of my work to these kids. Lastly, I plan to conduct independent research on the impact of tutoring beyond academics. 3.) The third and final goal that I plan to achieve is to develop the ability to relate, communicate and work effectively with peers. I plan to achieve this goal through identifying with each individual student and learning how to adapt to each learning style. As previously mentioned, I will have to learn how to be a mentor to more than just one child. Because of this, I will need to learn how to adjust to multiple different personalities during my project. I will be forced to be able to relate to different personality. This will teach me how to work well with all types of peers, especially the children that I will be tutoring. Connection to Goals and Academic Theories I intend to perform independent research in a few different areas. The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader: Becoming the Person Others Will Want to Follow*, written by John C. Maxwell, is a book that I intend to delve into in order to better understand the characteristics necessary to become a better leader. This book will help me to break down the traits of a leader and I intend to try to build these characteristics in myself. Another source of independent research is a study performed by Michael F. Hock, Kim A. Pulvers, Donald D. Deshler, and Jean B. Schumaker titled, The Effects of an After-School Tutoring Program on the Academic Performance of At-Risk Students and Students with LD**. Through this study, I will be able to better understand the importance of my work at Bearcat Buddies. These two sources will help me strengthen my desire to give back to the community through leadership, especially in mentoring programs. I have always had a strong personal importance in this specific area of service and have held myself to continuing with programs like this. In addition to this contribution to personal goals, this experience will help contribute to my academic goals. Through trying to inspire these children to be excited to learn, I believe that it will end up having a mutual effect. I believe that this will help get me excited to learn my own material in college.

Initiative, Independence, and Creativity During this activity, I intend to have a unique experience. While Bearcat Buddies is a very popular service event on campus, I plan to make it unique through my initiative in leadership. Through my research and dedication to accomplishing the learning outcomes, I will have a unique angle on the project compared to others. These leadership skills that I intend to learn and implement will make me a more effective tutor within the program. I plan to make a personal and powerful impact on the children that I tutor. Reflection As mentioned above, I plan to be doing a lot of reflection throughout the duration of my learning experience. I intend to reflect immediately after each tutoring session and briefly journalize what happened and what was the most and least effective things during the day. In addition to this, I will reflect on whatever I may have learned or anything that stood out to me during the session. I will take all of these notes in a journal set aside for Bearcat Buddies and title each one with the session number and date. By the end of my tutoring experience, I should have many sessions with brief reflections. Then, I will read through each journal and then make a final, longer reflection about the entire experience. Dissemination I plan to share what I have learned mostly through my online portfolio. I will upload this experience/reflection to my portfolio, which can be accessed by anyone. I will also share my experience by being a walking advertisement for Bearcat Buddies and try to recruit friends and peers to join me in the program. Project Advisor Ryan Harder Honors Advisor (513) 556-1065 ryan.harder@uc.edu Budget N/A *Maxwell, John C. The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader: Becoming the Person Others Will Want to
Follow. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 1999. Print.

**Hock, Michael F., Kim A. Pulvers, Donald D. Deshler, and Jean B. Schumaker. "The Effects of an After
School Tutoring Program on the Academic Performance of At-Risk Students and Students with LD." Remedial and Special Educatoion 22 (2001): 172-86. Web.