I started this class not entirely sure what to expect. The course description mentioned leadership exploration and intellectual orientation with a focus on fantasy fiction, but the specifics of what that entailed was vague. Because I am a lover of fantasy literature, I hoped to be able to register for this class above all other leadership course options. I was delighted to obtain a spot in this course and ordered every novel immediately, excited to get started! I am glad to report I was not disappointed with my journey.

I learned a great deal about myself and my leadership styles in this class. In the beginning of this course, I was introduced to different theories regarding Agnes Scott College’s approach to leadership. Their mission to educate students to think deeply, live honorably, and engage the social and intellectual challenges of our times was reflected in the syllabus of this course. This class demonstrated the qualities of leadership through popular young adult novels like ‘The Hunger Games’ and ‘Harry Potter’.

Each of the books had a unit of their own in this class. At the end of each unit I would write a reflective essay on the book and the movie adaption. I also had to study different theories on leadership and gender in this class and relate them to the books. Using credible sources, I could find the deeper meanings of each book and integrate them into my essays. This skill promoted critical analysis of evidence and often forced me to consider another perspective. I made a point to research the background of each author prior to reading every novel to provide better reference points to the author’s decisions on how to develop the protagonist’s unique psychological profile. Examining the historical context in which each novel was written also enabled me to gain a better understanding of the expected gender norms of the time. This extra research provided deeper insight into the complexities of character development in each novel. Excluding ‘The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe’ most of the books for this course were written around the nineteen-nineties and two-thousands. I realized that even though the two-thousands were not very long ago, gender norms, gender expectations, and multi-gender acceptance have advanced since then.

Besides encouraging critical thinking, thorough writing, and digital literacy, this class helped me with my public speaking. I am shy by nature and sharing my thoughts to the class was intimidating at first. The dialogue through class participation allowed me to find my voice. In class we discussed different ways of leadership. The two most prevalent ways to lead were autonomous and interdependent. Interdependent leadership relies on others to help with the decision making and autonomous is when the leadership is accomplished alone. During my time with the teams I learned that I have a mix of autonomous and interdependent tendencies. I will always need help from other people as I lead but I will also take charge when necessary. I learned that good leadership requires a mix of both styles. I was able to accurately lead a diverse team in the real world thanks to the movie project and author presentations that we had to complete.
This class allowed me to appreciate my favorite fantasy novels regarding gender and leadership roles as well as reexamine how to lead in my own world. I was able to connect with the author’s characters who were often unsure of their own leadership abilities, but able to prevail during times of hardships. Most protagonists in our course materials did not set out to be the leader, some of them were shy and questioned their actions often. There was a relatable truth to the humbling self-awareness of these heroes. Taking the time to examine how the novels and films constructed positive and negative models of gender and leadership retrained my own mind to become cognizant of others struggles and successes in every aspect of our current cultural climate. I was amazed by the end of this semester how differently I viewed so many of the fantasy characters that I had known for so many years prior. I am proud of how comfortable I became of participating freely in class and leading team projects.

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