Owen Hayes

Hello, and welcome to my Leadership Certificate ePortfolio! My name is Owen Hayes and I’m from Bloomington, Illinois. I’m a senior studying Computer Science + Linguistics here at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. I’ve been a Software Engineering Intern for multiple semesters at State Farm in the Research Park, and I’ll be working full time for State Farm as a Software Engineer after I graduate in May!

I know that leadership is an essential skill in any industry. Although I am not planning on immediately taking on a leadership role in the beginning of my career, I enrolled in the Leadership Certificate Program because I wanted to be able to communicate more clearly, work better with others, and deeply understand the necessary leadership skills and competencies that will help me succeed in any team, industry, or job (especially a formal leadership role).