Leading Lady
Published: April 13, 2021
With a winning smile and self-assured poise, student Maria Rodriguez led this year's processional of professors and graduates into Crum Recreation Center for commencement services. To the hundreds of assembled spectators who viewed the grand entrance, she appeared fully at ease leading the way. Maria's confident leadership comes as no surprise to the GC community where she has served as a senator and vice president in its student association (GCSA), and will serve this fall as its president. Even so, the thought of standing out still takes her by surprise.
Extremely shy by nature, Maria prefers to avoid the spotlight. Early on at GC, she steered clear of activities with potential for public failure - student government, because it involved an election; softball, because it entailed tryouts; resident chaplaincy, because it required participation in Walkabout, a physically demanding wilderness camping experience for student leaders. She quietly entertained thoughts of her double major in chemistry and biology as the path to a career behind the scenes in a crime lab.
Maria's "safe" choices proved unsatisfying though. "I was miserable," she recalls of her first year in college. "I stayed in my room most of the time. I didn't have many friends."
A growing desire to exercise her administrative gifts to serve others, however, proved stronger than her shyness. As a sophomore, she mulled over the prospect of representing student interests and took a tentative step outside of her shell to run for student senator.
Since that win, Maria has fully engaged in GCSA, regularly listening to students' suggested improvements for campus life. As vice president of its international affairs board, she has produced events that promote multiculturalism and diversity on campus. She also overcame her fears to play on the women's softball team and successfully completed Walkabout. "Having gone through that experience, I know I truly can do anything through Christ, who strengthens me," she says.
Since her responsibilities this fall include overseeing seven vice presidents and an executive, administrative assistant, Maria may find no time to indulge her shy side, but she is fine with that. She knows God is using her GC experience to boost her confidence. "Not only in who I am," she says, "but also in who He is creating me to be."
