Every Columbia College student’s journey toward leadership is unique and builds on their personal experiences and dreams. Read about how the 4Cs of leadership are interpreted by a diverse group of young women, a new generation of leaders who are already making a positive difference.

Jessica’s Story

Jessica Shontay Peele makes music. She attended The Learning Collaborative, Dent Middle School’s magnet program for gifted students, then iLink, Richland Northeast High School’s technology magnet program. But she found her leadership skills in the marching band. “I didn’t march too well,” she says, and so she found herself in a band section where “I just did what I had to do.”
Perhaps these experiences with the small within the large led her to want “a college education at some place smaller.” Peele considered other private women’s colleges, Converse College in the Upstate and Meredith College in Raleigh, N.C. “One thing that really sold me on Columbia College were the C’ster dinners. I went to two.” C’sters are students who assist with recruitment of prospective students, serving as hosts at receptions and giving campus tours. “I definitely feel the smallness has given me my opportunities,” says Peele. “My first year I didn’t have a class bigger than 20. One of the advantages in my music major is that all my professors know me. I’ve worked with my teachers a lot because they can get to really know me.” She also believes more permission exists to be bold: “Because everything is small and close knit, I could do more, and I felt it was okay to step out.”

In high school, Peele had realized music “was most rewarding for me,” and decided she wanted to teach music. Her principal instrument is the flute, but she also plays percussion and the piano, and is studying the piano and voice as part of her music education requirements. In methods classes, though, she finds brass instruments simpler. “Obviously, I don’t come out knowing everything about every instrument. But the good thing is if I can learn at the same pace as my students, I can pick up on what I need.” Teacher education programs require a practicum, supervised experience in the classroom, and Peele discovered, “I enjoy in teaching that moment when you realize someone understands something better because of you.”

Peele played in the college’s wind ensemble, and “I became a tutor because I actually understood what was going on. When I came, a junior helped me out, and I remembered that and try to help the instrumental majors.” She has attended the S.C. Honors Band Clinic and represented the college at various churches. She participates in the Club House Gang of Eau Claire, in which students lead an after-school program for first through sixth graders from the neighborhood surrounding the college. She plays the piano during their once-a-week music lesson. Peele wants to teach in middle school and believes band can help children stay on the straight-and-narrow. “It’s very time consuming; there’s no time to get in trouble. And you learn discipline. If you don’t practice, you make your whole group look bad.”

Peele says the 4C’s -- leadership development that emphasizes courage, commitment, confidence, and competence – came alive for her from the start of her college education. “My freshman year I had to start with courage. Everything changes your freshman year. I had to try new things. And then I had to stick with it; that’s commitment. You can’t be successful without a long commitment. I’m still working on confidence. I’m pushing myself. I have developed more confidence.” In her practicum assignment, “I was teaching a lesson in trombone. They had a glissando,” a rapid slide from one pitch to another through a scale. “I could teach something different because I had been pushing myself.” Spanish is Peele’s minor, and she uses learning another language as another example in building confidence. She studied in Salamanca, Spain for a month and says it hit her, as the plane touched down, “I was in a different country.” By the end of her stay, she was receiving compliments on her accent. She says cheerfully, “Every time I turn around, there’s something new going on.”

Peele adds, “I’ve learned I am a leader. It took me a long time to grasp that. I always thought I was just doing what I needed to do. Normally, I do what I’m supposed to do and guide and encourage people to do what they’re supposed to do. I realize now there is more than one type of leader. I think it’s important to convey there are different types of leadership.”