When the Student Becomes the Teacher
I’m standing at the side of an open room with more than a hundred students and a podium. It’s an occasion where this farm girl is wearing heels (to give you context). I’d entered the corporate world 6 months ago, which at the time had felt like stepping into a completely different universe. I’d previously had the privilege of working with incredible professionals, but always in less formal, more creative environments. Those teams took their responsibilities seriously, but they weren’t defined by rigid hierarchies, office politics, or organizational charts.
So now, standing at this event I was still getting my footing (but now in an inch of added height). This previous year had come with the discomfort of learning a new role and the uncertainty that comes with new experiences. Much of what I was being asked to do was new to me and communicated fast, dense, and full of acronyms. I’d been tasked with coordinating this event — the end of year celebration to the program I’d coordinated (which had a full year-long cycle, every month looked different than the last). I’d been hired right at the start of that cycle, which meant there was very little time to observe before jumping in.
This is the point where I do a shout out to my director who handled it all admirably, especially considering they’d hired me (the new team member) join their team during the busiest time. Communication being quick was necessary but it also meant extra pressure. At first, with the fast pace and steep learning curve, I wondered if the problem was me. I cared deeply about doing good work and with my learning curve I was asking myself… was I meant for this life in corporate? After all I’d sacrificed three very significant things to be here:
My own leadership - entrepreneurship being my main source of income prior to this meant I’d given up the strategy to how I did my work. I was learning humility and learning the art of taking direction.
Outside Work - I now sat hours in-front of a desk sitting, immobile my only movement coming from quick finger movements, bathroom breaks, the odd lunch walk and occasion out of office meetings — compared to farming this was a big adjustment.
Spontaneous dance moves (likely the most relevant) — although this one still occasionally came out in quirky arm movements— it took everything in me not to funny dance when a big thing had been accomplished in the office (I was’t fully corporately tamed yet).
Now, at our year-end student celebration, standing at the side of stage — Student’s were being called up for scholarships recognizing their strong contributions. Up next was an acknowledgement that would be awarded by our CEO — so as one of the students took the microphone during a transition between the awards. I was curious. This wasn’t in our programming. The student began thanking the staff — our whole team — and I smiled, happy to hear everyone recognized. As each member of our office was named it become more and more clear to me that oh wow, I’ve accidentally been forgotten. And then the thought, “Oh, Lauren maybe you were actually meant NOT to be recognized. Maybe you did that s#*% of a job”.
To put it in context I’d been the member of our team communicating to students regularly. I’d sent an annoyingly large amount of emails. A good metaphor would be comparing myself those email newsletters you get on the weekly that you never open but never unsubscribe too. I felt like one of those with all my communications and reminders. Worse — I was often communicating more than once a week and for this I thought — fair, if I were removed from the list of people to thank.
The student behind the podium, continued …“And I want to ask everyone to stand up give a special thanks to the best coordinator we’ve ever had …”.
A multitude of kind words followed and then that’s when my my name was called.
For a second, I didn’t process it. I was in shock. She hadn’t forgotten me — she had given me a separate acknowledgement. I did’t know what to do — someone beside me — nudged me. Dazed — not really realizing what was happening I walked up to the student who had taken the initiative to acknowledge me (I think I hugged her?) and she handed me a plaque. I didn’t know what to say. I looked out at the large crowd of students. Wanted to cry (but have this thing where I can’t cry happy tears in public only sad tears — a real conundrum) and tried to convey to the students how much I appreciated them by looking around the room, Then mouthing thank you.
Later, when I got home, I unpacked the plaque and went to hang it on my wall. My heart skipped — the bottom line read “The Teams of 2025.”
“Oh my goodness,” I thought, “it WAS actually meant for my team, not me. How embarrassing!”
I took a deep breathe — mind spinning on how to handle the situation and what to do next. I read it over once more to put the whole thing in perspective. It said “Lauren” — from the Teams of 2025. My heart relaxed. And then it struck me: even when I am directly acknowledged, I still assume I haven’t done enough.
That plaque — my name being called — an acknowledgement that had come from the people I was there to serve. One that wasn’t required. It was given out of appreciation. And yet, I had doubted it.
The Realization:
Months later, in my room and thinking about going for a run the next morning — a quick three-second thought shifted everything. I thought of runners: Strange but it’s true — which led me to think of James Clear’s book: Atomic Habits where he speaks about habits being formulated slowly —very slowly over time. Jame’s uses the metaphor of habits being created by tying up runners (the small 5 second practise to get to you to the goal) and that celebration should be in small accomplishments — putting on the shoes to do the race not accomplishing the race itself. It’s the putting on of the runners that will get you to complete the marathon and that when something else clicked…
That if we want to see improvement in others we need to encourage the best versions of them through positive reinforcement (learnt that one from, How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie). I realized that this could be made into a habit and THEN…
That’s when all of that clicked together— that everyone has responsibility for encouraging the type of leaders they would like to work with through positive reinforcement. Leadership isn’t confined to hierarchy — it moves both ways. All this to say, The students had encouraged me by acknowledging the positive attributes they’d appreciated …which made me think of how leadership, positive reinforcement and building habits all go hand in hand. These young people were encouraging in me the skills they valued.
I realized, leaders are human. They’re growing just like the rest of us — navigating pressure, communication challenges, and responsibility. The hierarchy of a business structure doesn’t make any one person less accountable to encouraging and supporting aneanother. It’s the easy this to complain about leadership. But real collaboration means both sides learning together. My responsibility isn’t just to do my job — it’s to encourage the kind of leadership that is supportive, creative, and builds up a team: one of respect, encouragement, and small improvements. Just like the student’s had modelled to me to celebrate the hard work of others and helped my growth through their positive reinforcement. Their plaque— and the words of encouragement demonstrated true leadership and hangs on my wall reminding me accept the encouragement of others and the responsibility I have to encourage the leaders in my life.
…I would also like to acknowledge that the plaque referenced in this story was made by ThankYouFrames, a student ran business. The kind words and care that go into these frames are one of kind — and if you are looking for a way to acknowledge someone — this is it. A personal endorsement — because I love them — but by no means any pressure <3