What an amazing two days at Rhodes House at Oxford University, I almost don't know where to begin. Despite travelling from 2 am by coach to Oxford the three of us were excited and ready to take on such a big conference. I know I felt intimidated to walk into a room of such accomplished people, so much further in their careers and with personal assuredness that I envied. But any worries I had were quickly rendered insignificant as I was overwhelmed by the kindness of everyone. Despite being first-year students people not only acknowledged our questions but showed interest in us, our journeys and roles as Laidlaw Scholars as well as our goals for the future.

Talking with lovely people such as Lily Elsner, Edward Brookes, Anjali Sarker (who helped and allowed us to attend) as well as so many amazing leaders and professionals who attended the conference. 

Outside of the amazing networking opportunities - which we took full advantage of - there were also a number of plenaries and breakout rooms which delved into topics such as what is good leadership, the importance of balance and character, the values and virtues of ethical leadership and life economies, just to name a few. The information was rewarding and outstanding, the care people put into their projects and presentations obvious, and I have left with a long list of things to research, read and follow up on in the next few weeks. 

One of the breakout rooms which I attended on my own was called Next Generation Leadership which consisted of a panel led by Anjali Sarker of young leaders currently studying at Oxford, all on post-grad programs. As a student just going into the second year I found it fascinating to get advice from other students about what was important and beneficial to them when developing as leaders, all of their accomplishments such as teaching, being Rhode Scholars, and working on their DPhils all overshadowed by their number one piece of advice. Find your values and stick to them, they strongly recommended volunteering and operating outside of academia to find yourself as a person. Personal development, they argued, will spill into all other areas of your life, academic, career, family and friends and it is something I hope to work on in the next few weeks by taking on their advice. 

The conference was truly an amazing experience and being able to be one of the first to attend a Rhodes House event after its recent renovation. I hope to stay in touch will all the connections made and continue to carry the things I have learned from the experience. Thanks to all who attended the conference as well as @University of Leeds who helped us attend. Further thanks to @Mallika Khathuria and @Isabel Westbrook for attending with me!