Global Leadership Minor Feature: Emma Norris
Emma Norris, a senior biological sciences major at the NC State College of Sciences, spent the Spring 2024 semester traveling and studying throughout Europe as part of her Global Leadership and Team Decision-Making Minor (GLM) experience.
The GLM is a minor made possible through a partnership between the Shelton Leadership Center and the NC State European Center in Prague. The minor combines coursework with a semester-long study abroad experience, during which students pursuing the minor travel throughout Europe. This year, the students traveled to European cities, including Prague, Munich, Reutlingen, and Nice.
We asked Emma about her experience in the GLM, and she shared her impact story with us here:
Why did you decide to pursue the Global Leadership Minor?
I decided to go on the Global Leadership Minor because I was really interested in learning how to navigate global teams. As I recognize in a research capacity, I am going to have to do that all throughout my career.
How did participating in the GLM enhance your understanding of leadership in global contexts?
The Global Leadership Minor has completely changed, if not, was the foundation of my understanding of leadership in a global perspective. I have only ever done leadership within North Carolina. Going abroad and getting to meet a ton of different people who all have a ton of different ideas was such a powerful experience for me. It taught me a lot about how to navigate really challenging situations when there may be a time difference, communication issues, things like that. It was a really amazing experience.
What was your favorite part of the GLM experience?
For me, I think the most exciting thing was getting to know the students in our cohort and the students in the cohorts that we were meeting at different universities [in Europe]. It was so cool to form that community, and now I have friends from France, Prague, Germany and Greece.
What did you learn both from the coursework and being able to travel abroad during the GLM experience?
It is true that the minor is no easy thing to do. Essentially, you are putting a ton of courses into a small amount of time. So, understanding time, scheduling, and understanding your limits is super important. This minor really allowed me to reflect on what makes me passionate and what makes me excited while also teaching me those lessons about time management.
I came abroad, and I thought, “oh, it is just going to be a fun time.” Now, I have such a different perspective on what I want to do and the areas that I am hoping to pursue in my career. I think that is one of the best things about [the minor] is that we just come in and change our opinions.
Why would you recommend this minor to future students?
This experience in itself is so different than anything else that I have heard of at NC State or any other university surrounding us. You get to explore so many areas and you have such a freedom of travel that is unparalleled between any other minor or study abroad experience you can do at NC State.
It is also such a building tool for yourself. A lot of us going on the experience had interviews at the same time for jobs or internships. We mentioned the experiences we were having while abroad, and it was an immediate strength to our interview. It was such an interesting way to see how all of us from our different majors were incorporating that into our careers.
It was so exciting. I would say if you want to travel more but also learn and really develop yourself, this is the minor for you.