by Gretchen Arnold ’25

This summer I had the pleasure of being a summer intern for Diamond 6 Leadership and Strategy LLC. Diamond 6 Leadership and Strategy is a Carlisle based company that provides leadership development workshops to companies and school districts. I interned for three workshops involving three southern California school districts. The school districts didn’t just send principals and superintendents. I met teachers, custodians, office administrators, and so many others. On a day-to-day basis I assisted the clientele by making sure they had the correct workshop supplies and making sure that they did not get left behind.

On the first day of the workshop we met the clients at the airport and made our way back to Carlisle. I oversaw tracking their flights and meeting them at baggage claim. We spent the next two days at Gettysburg Battlefield. Participants were led by a Diamond 6 facilitator and battlefield tour guide. Each of the monuments we stopped at represented a different stage of the Battle of Gettysburg. We talked about how the choices that the generals made back then actually can represent a choice in our lives. The next day we spent in lectures given by Diamond 6 staff. The last day we traveled down to Washington D.C and saw a presentation given by CSIS about geopolitical trends. Then after that we took them back to the airport and said goodbye. And I repeated this process three times and each time it became harder to say goodbye because these complete strangers had taught me so much through the conversations we had.

I learned about the importance of making others feel heard and acknowledged while being in a position of leadership. It is important to recognize when people who work for you are doing well and to acknowledge them to higher authority. Not only does it help you know your strengths, but it gives others an example of a job well done. I plan to use these skills and ideas in my future career of being a veterinarian. I plan to run my own veterinary office so understanding and acknowledging my future staff and coworkers is something that is very important to me.