Hello, my name is Jon Madrigal and I am a current academic advisor in the Purdue Polytechnic Institute at Purdue in Indianapolis. I have been serving students in my current role for about 2 years now. I credit my current position to my experience as an undergrad at IUPUI through my various peer mentoring roles across campus. As an undergrad, I found a passion for mentoring through serving as a leader in multiple on campus organizations. That passion for mentoring led to helping complete my bachelor’s degree in Organizational Leadership. A couple of years after my undergraduate graduation, I found myself going back to school for a master’s degree in Organizational Leadership. For my undergraduate and graduate experiences, I decided to specialize in Human Resources by earning certificates in Human Resource Management and Human Resource Development. I have led peer students at IUPUI as an upper-classman, fellow partners (co-workers) as a Starbucks Shift Supervisor, fellow teammates at Target as a Starbucks café barista, and current students as a current academic advisor. I have also found leadership an important part of my identity. Throughout my experiences, I learned that my personal style of leadership is servant leadership. Knowing how the followers of a group/organization operate with regards to their responsibilities leads to knowing how to lead them. Active listening, being empathetic, and transparency are just a few key points to my leadership I practice with those I am responsible for. All of that build the foundation for developing relationships. Keeping those relationships sustainable brings us back to the foundational key points of active listening, being empathetic, and transparency. I look to serve in roles where I am developing relationships, establish networks, and foster the growth of others. I know I work at my best knowing I am part of a team. If I am not the leader of a team, I would still like to be influential to others and lead by example. “Life is a matter of choices, and every choice you make makes you.” – John C. Maxwell IUPUI Commencement, May 12th, 2018. Student Commencement Speech (1:53:00) - https://www.facebook.com/IUPUI/videos/10155747523818406/