• What new ideas, challenges, or other issues have you encountered with regard to your project (this might include data collection, information that contradicts your assumptions or the assertions of others, materials that have enriched your understanding of the topic or led you to change your project, etc.)?

Before undertaking my project, I had little to now understanding how such a conservative democratic party became the political entity we know nowadays --- very much characterized by progressiveness and liberal politics. Yet conversations with Prof. Phillips and my peers have given me a much deeper understanding of how politics function in our country and how phenomena reshape government and representation.

• How have these ideas or challenges shaped the bigger picture of your research? Has the scope or focus of your topic changed since you began this project? If so, how?

Now, I see my project's bigger picture --- filling a gap neither political science or history has fully explored. Prof. Phillips' work studies a time in political history often overlooked by major scholars. In completing this project, I'm hopeful political scientists and historians alike will have a better understanding of political dynamics in our country and human nature in generael.

• Now that you’ve engaged in Part II of the Leadership Retreat, reflect on a learning point that remains with you as a new way to understand leadership, and to incorporate into your own engagement, in the future.

I've always understood leadership as a liquid, subjective idea. Rather than visualizing it in a more concrete way, I regarded the concept as something not tangible. Yet Pamela's great insights helped me realize leadership as a concept an idea can be turned into something more concrete that helps us interact with others more intentionally.