High jumper Jordan Lee was recently inducted into Elon’s Circle of Omicron Delta Kappa (ODK) National Leadership Honor Society. The junior exercise science major sat down with elonphoenix.com to talk about her involvement in and around the Elon campus that led her to this prestigious honor.
ODK selected juniors or seniors in the top 35% of their class who have exhibited outstanding leadership in more than one area of the Elon community. What are you involved in that had you selected for membership?
“Obviously being a member of the track and field team, but I think one of my biggest leadership roles here on campus is TEATAPS (The Elon Anatomy Teacher’s Assistants Program for Students), which is a TA program for anatomy students. We help TA in the labs and are the TAs outside of labs when the professors aren’t actually there. Students come in and we teach them and go over the body and bone structure. It’s a huge opportunity to be on your own but still act as a leader because the students coming in are undergrads who have never taken the course and it’s so much different when the professor isn’t there. Suddenly you’re completely on your own, but it’s really cool because you have this opportunity to teach someone everything that you know. It’s been phenomenal for me and I’ve really enjoyed it.
Over the summer, I did the SURE (Summer Undergraduate Research Experiences) program and the Elon Academy student came one day and I took them to the track and showed them my research. Letting them see all the things that you can do in college, they were so fascinated. In high school, research was not something that I thought you could do in undergrad. The students were amazed that it was something that you could do here and that it can be on your own. That research has been phenomenal for me. I took it to a regional conference recently to present it and I get to go to nationals with it in Colorado.”
What’s the research you’re working on?
“The research is on over-speed training with collegiate athletes, so it’s a type of warm-up we’re looking at to see if it can improve a sprint performance. It’s going well and I’ll probably continue it until I graduate. Hopefully, it’ll be used as the groundwork for some projects. It was a huge chance for me to go out on a limb and lead myself into a research role. I have professors that have supported me the entire way and are the secondary authors, but to lead your own project is an experience I would have never expected to do this early. I really wanted to do something original and I was in a class where we had to make a proposal for research and I didn’t think anything would come of it. Then one of my professors came to me about doing the SURE program and I asked if this idea would work and then it kind of took off from there. I think one of my greatest passions here at Elon has been my research.”
What have you done out in the local community?
“My freshman year, in December 2008, there was a local family here in Burlington who lost their house in a fire. They literally lost everything. I called the track team and said, “Hey, we need to help this family out.” We raised money and we collected everything from clothing to bathroom supplies to gift cards for them to go to dinner. I think we collected approximately $200 in the end and about an entire car-load full of supplies for the two adults and two kids. I got to meet the family at the end when I took them the items and they were so appreciative. It’s just one of those extremely humbling experiences.
For almost a year now I’ve been helping a local Boy Scout troop collect any type of plastic lid. It’s something that can’t be recycled normally, so if you collect them separately and send them to another recycling place, it helps them raise money for their troop. I can’t even imagine how many lids we’ve collected because all the girls on the team all have little collections in our apartments. I think it’s probably over 1,000 or so that we’ve collected and turned into the Boy Scout troop. And…”
There’s more?
“There’s a local therapeutic horseback-riding center in Mebane and they’ve been doing a recycling project with ink jet printer cartridges. We’ve collected a bunch of those from offices and taken those to that organization and they turn them in for money for their program. They help kids with horrible diseases and have them take riding lessons. The horses are phenomenal for these kids and they just blossom there. There was a boy who never spoke after a car wreck and the first time he came and rode a horse he starting speaking.”
Is there really anything else?
“I’m also involved with Elon Ambassadors, which is kind of like an alumni connection service. We organize alumni events for all classes. It’s a lot of interaction with alumni, which I think is really cool to talk to some of the older alumni and listen to when they were here at Elon. I hear a lot of really cool stories and I get to think about their experiences and what it will be like when I come back as an alumni. I think it’s awesome to see the past, present and future span out like that. It’s really interesting to see all the phases of Elon.”
You obviously keep a very busy schedule. How are you ever able to handle it all?
“I try and make a basic schedule. I knew my classes this semester were going to be really tough this semester. Going into it I was setting my self up but that I knew I could handle it. The time I need for those classes is absolutely huge and as much as I love track, I have to keep in mind that academics are first. I’ve always been a busy person and I love that rush of having something to do all the time. I love doing things with other people and my teammates and my research. Yes, it’s hard to juggle my schedule but there’s so much you get out of helping others and being with other people.”
What was the selection process like for ODK?
“I got an email a couple months ago that said that I had met the basic qualifications of being in the top third of my class, having a junior or senior standing and if I could continue the application process if I wanted. Then it was a document process where you list community service, athletics, leadership, multi-cultural experiences and write up the hours and times and what you do, as well as a personal statement on what I believed was my biggest contribution to the university. Then I guess it went on to a selection committee.”
How did you find out you had been selected?
“It was a couple weeks and I still hadn’t heard anything and I started to get really nervous because it was something that I really wanted to be a part of. I emailed the girl in charge and asked if all the “yeses” had gone out and she told me that I should know soon. Then I was in class one day and a girl, who wasn’t in the class, walked in and read a thing about ODK and said they were proud to induct someone in my class. Then she said my name. I was just really excited and totally wasn’t expecting it. It was a cool element of surprise.”
When you were filing out the application, what did you say has been your biggest contribution to the university?
“I said being a track athlete. Because being a student-athlete, there are two huge parts to that. There’s being a student in the classroom and an athlete on the track. The commitment for both has been extremely hard, yet extremely rewarding. Being able to leave campus and go to other campuses as an athlete and represent Elon is such an honor. I love wearing the maroon and gold.”
