MICHAEL RINALDI

Treasurer of Define American 2019

Michael Rinaldi is the treasurer of Define American MSOE and was the former Co-President. He is an electrical engineer who has aims toward a career in electromagnetism. Like the others, he helped to found Define American, and established connections with other clubs through his experience as a Eagle Scout, and his involvement in Student Union Board, Theatre Troupe and Student Government on campus. Working with co-president Paul Lenon, at first, was a new experience. It was difficult at first to split the tasks evenly in order to allow both parties to equally gain experience as a leader. As a leader in Boy Scouts and First Robotics, leading meetings and talking to people came natural to him, which gravitated him towards presidency in the first place. As he progressed through honors, he learned of the beauty of also learning the other side of leadership - a steady hand in the background through email and reminders with a heavy focus on organization. Through Paul’s guidance, Michael was able to learn more about this side of leadership in the beginning of 2019 as Paul ended up taking the role of the face of Define American, where it remains today.

“Through Define American, I learned valuable lessons in leadership - the lessons that can only be learned through the help of others in practice. No one can teach you how to keep yourself organized or how to remind others of what to do. Similarly no one can teach you how to lead a meeting, make quick decisions, keep discussions in meetings to the point and be proactive outside of class. This experience with my counterpart Paul has taught me a lot about myself as a leader and I am very grateful for that. With Paul as the head and me as more of an on paper smaller role, I am so excited to implement the ideas that we have been thinking of in this upcoming 2019-2020 year.”