Conference Boosts Studentsā Leadership Skills, Confidence
Ā鶹ĪŽĀė°ę students had the chance to gain knowledge and leadership skills for their personal and academic careers at the , hosted by the campusās Margo F. Souza Student Leadership Center on Sept. 23.
Now in its 11th year, the annual conference was redesigned to help facilitate deep transformational learning to increasing student leadership on campus and beyond.
āThe Ā鶹ĪŽĀė°ę Leadership Conference is an incredible way for students to accelerate their leadership development early on in the academic year,ā said Steve Lerer, who oversees the center in his role as associate director of the Office of Leadership, Service and Career. āI canāt wait to see what students do with the new skills and self-knowledge they acquired at the conference.ā
About 300 undergraduate and graduate students participated in a day full of speakers ā from on and off campus ā presenting on a wide range of topics centered on the concepts of leadership and skill development.Ā
Professional speaker and author kicked off the conference with his keynote lecture and the conferenceās theme, āThink Big, Lead FRESH!āĀ
āItsā not about everyone else,ā he said. āIn leadership, itās your race.ā
Kitchen gave the students his recipe for living FRESH ā Focused, Resourceful, Enthusiastic, Strong and Honest ā in life and leadership. His step-by-step instructions of what to do to āLive FRESHā helped empower the students.
āAs a leader, youāre going to impact your life and someone elseās in a positive way and youāre going to do that by doing your dream, your passion or your purpose,ā he said. āWhen your dream, passion and purpose impacts someone elseās life, it feels so much better.ā
Students were offered a choice of five intensive training tracks to increase their learning experience. In addition to Kitchen, presenters included professional trainer and author and professional speaker and author , both of whom were invited back for the second year due to student requests, and , who is a career counselor for the campus.
The conference also featured the Margo F. Souza track, led by representatives from the Gallup Organization and Ā鶹ĪŽĀė°ę alumni to help participants use assessment results to identify and direct their leadership talents. Two students in that track were also awarded a $1,500 scholarship.
Of those who attended the conference, one-third of attendees were first-year students at Ā鶹ĪŽĀė°ę. About 20 who participated were attending for the second time.
Biological sciences major Alexis Zamudio-Torres was one of six students who attended the Leadership Conference for the third consecutive year.
āThereās always room for improvement as a leader,ā said Zamudio-Torrez, a third-year undergraduate student from Sonoma. āEach year I get different experiences, as well as advice and skills that I can apply as a leader and use to grow as a person.ā
Heās completed the first two tiers of the leadership development program offered by the center and hopes that knowledge, along with his conference experiences, will help him in the future as a physical therapist.Ā
As a leader, youāre going to impact your life and someone elseās in a positive way and youāre going to do that by doing your dream, your passion or your purpose.
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