How The Civic Leadership Minor at PSU Almost Broke Me

“A taproot to the heart of personal and social responsibility, the Civic Leadership Minor cultivates adaptability and empathy through the ability to identify community and individual assets. Providing a paradigm shift in one’s sense of place and belonging. Upon completion, civic leadership minors will have deepened resiliency, cultural criticism and curiosity. As well as a strong sense of civic responsibility.”-Jess Lobo class of 2019

I hope to someday read this, or some version of this, on the Portland State webpage for the Civic Leadership minor. I believe every word of it, I have felt every word of it, and if you were to ask me to define this minor in 3 words or less, I would tell you “life changing” (also “soul scraping”, in a weirdly necessary way). I cannot voice the gratitude I feel for the dear friends who directed me toward the program. Had they not, my education, although interesting and at some points challenging, would be lacking an immeasurable amount of depth and meaning.

It has been the embodiment of the “Qualities of a Liberal Education” (William Cronon), which I so desperately sought upon stepping foot on that campus. It has taught me a “way of living within my own ignorance.” Deeply rooted in self-reflection, I had to ask myself, each day, “am I living in congruence with the person I want to be?” Can you imagine a population which holds themselves to such a level of personal and civic responsibility? It would truly be “The More Beautiful World Our Heart Know is Possible.” (Charles Eisenstein)

The Civic Leadership Minor is so much more than a civics machine, molding future senators, mayors, city planners, and community developers (although this does happen). It is a wholesale deconstruction of the self in the hopes of the reconstruction of humanity. 7 people at a time, every 11 weeks. It is a commitment to a better Portland, Oregon, and America.

It is not, however, for the faint of heart. I have witnessed the physical, mental and emotional breakdowns. I have experienced them myself more than a time or two. But in those dark moments, it has taught me how to trust in my peers, how to bend, and how to look at my neighbor and say, “Hey. I need help.” This is the magic of the Civic Leadership Minor.

In a room full of leaders, there exists a softness that can only be cultivated by a commitment to the relationships within that room. We have learned that our greatest strengths are not in our ability to command, delegate or even motivate. It is in our willingness to be venerable, if only with each other. Our willingness to be honest, if only for a moment. “Being both soft and strong is a combination very few have mastered.” (Yasmin Mogahed) But if there has ever been a classroom to learn how to do just that, it has been the ones found within the Civic Leadership Minor at Portland State University.

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