Calvin College - Student Organization - The Leadership Journey

The Leadership Journey

Introduction
The Leadership Journey is the training program for all student organization leaders. Whether you're a new or seasoned leader, the Leadership Journey is designed to help you as you develop your gift of leadership. The sessions offered throughout the year are meant to help you understand your role as a student leader and equip you as you undertake your task.

For the upcoming 2007-2008 year we have restructured the Leadership Journey in an attempt to accommodate both the goals of the Student Development Office for this series and comments from past student organization leaders. The Student Development Office seeks to provide support, resources and skill and leadership training for student organization through this series. We have divided the sessions into four categories; Required information presentations, Leadership Development, Skill Development and Networking.

Attendance
Attendance at the Leadership Journey is a requirement for registering your student organization. Student Organizations will be required to have one leader participate in both required sessions and 6 other sessions for a total of 8 required sessions throughout the 2007-2008 academic year. Perhaps one of your leaders has already attended a Leadership Journey session on one of these topics; you can either have a new leader attend so that they can also learn about that topic, or opt not to attend that particular session.

Schedule explanation:

Print Friendly Version of the Schedule here.

Spring Semester Schedule 2008
Tuesday, February 4	Troubleshooting	Meeter Center	5:30pm
	Talk with other student leaders about your organization's difficulties and successes. Learn the importance of addressing issues before they are problems. Pizza will be served at this meeting.
Monday, February 11	Keeping the Vision Clear	Alumni Board Room	3:30pm
	Your organization's vision should be at the core of the work you are doing-- but do you have a common vision? Learn where to start and define your organization by the vision.
Thursday, February 21	Developing new Leadership	Meeter Center	5pm
	How did you know you were supposed to lead? How can you inspire others? This session will teach you the importance of leading through relationships and the beauty of planting seeds for new leaders.
Tuesday, March 4	Best Practices	Alumni Board Room	4pm
	This is a time to share with other organization leaders what worked for you. Discover ways to pass on the legacy of your work from this year and how to carry -on what you've learned here. Pizza will be served at this meeting.
Wednesday, March 19	Chartering and Registering Information Session	Meeter Center	4pm
	In this required session we will provide all the necessary information you will need to know to complete the registration packet information in order to register and budget your organization for the 2008-2009 year.
Thursday , March 27	Self-Leadership	Meeter Center	5pm
	This session is a reflection on what it means for you to be a leader in other things outside of student organization. Some leadership basics for life.
Fall 2007 Semester Schedule
Tuesday, September 5	Welcome and Essentials	Commons Lecture Hall	7:30pm
	In this required session we will cover all of the essential knowledge you will need to effectively run a student organization at Calvin College by explaining what resources are available to you; including how to reserve rooms, request AV, set up a listserv, meet your responsibilities to the Student Development Office, and make the most of your budget. This is an important meeting for as many student leaders in your group to attend and will be very beneficial for student leaders responsible for the finances of the group.
Friday, September 7	Finances	Alumni Board Room	3pm
	This is for the treasurers of each organization or a representative to teach the treasurers. Student Senate Finance Chair will go over reimbursement forms, honorariums, etc.
Monday, September 10	Goal Setting	Meeter Center	5pm
	In this session we will cover how to set realistic and challenging goals for your organization.
Wednesday, September 19	Calendar Building and Event Planning	Meeter Center	5pm
	Bring your planners and your organization's calendar so we can see when key events are happening over the semester and find places for collaboration. Revisit resources for event planning. Pizza will be served at this meeting.
Thursday, September 27	Web Building	TBA	3pm
	This is your chance to learn how to build a web site for your organization! Abstraction will assist in signing you on to the server, and you will receive guided instructions on web sites, blogs and other online possibilities.
Monday, October 8	Does Everyone in Your Organization Look Like You?	Meeter Center	4pm
	You will discuss what it means to see your organization for its uniqueness and learn how to be original while being welcoming.
Tuesday, October 16	Effective Volunteers	Alumni Board Room	5pm

Tuesday, October 25	Advertising	Meeter Center	5pm
	Talk with professional advertising designers about how to effectively get the word out. Learn about your resources for advertising and brainstorm creative advertising techniques.
Thursday, November 1	The Art of Delegation	Meeter Center	5pm
	Keep burn-out OUT of your organization by learning the art of delegation. learn about the resources you already have in your organization and ways to keep yourself and other students fresh and impassioned.
Interim Schedule 2008
Attend 2 out of the following 5 January Series speakers for credit (Sign-in with Erin in the FAC)
Friday, January 4	Bill McKibben "Deep Economy"	FAC
	Former staff writer for the New Yorker, he has written ten books in recent years dealing with the environment and culture, his most recent book is "Deep Economy". He is the Scholar in Residence in Environmental Studies at Middlebury College and founder of StepItUp07.org which focused on building grass roots movements to support curbs on carbon emissions.
Monday, January 7	Sonja Nazario "Enrique's Journey"	FAC
	LA Times reporter who has written the book "Enrique's Journey" which documents the stories of Central American children riding the tops of freight trains (known as the "death trains") through Mexico to be with their mothers who are working illegally in the States. It's a fascinating book that gives a new perspective on the complex issue of illegal immigration.
Friday, January 11	Ishmael Beah "A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier	FAC
	At the age of 11 Ishmael's life in Sierra Leone was derailed by the outbreak of a brutal civil war. After the death of his parents and two brothers, Ishmael was recruited to fight as a child soldier. He fought for over two years before he was removed from the army by UNICEF and placed in a rehabilitation home. After rehabilitation he won a competition to attend a conference at the United Nations to talk about the devastating effects of war on children in his country. This was the beginning of his career as a representative to help bring international attention to the issue of child soldiering and war affected children.
Monday, January 15	Margaret Lowman "It's a Jungle Up There: Exploration of the Treetops"	FAC
	Tropical Rain Forest Canopy Biologist and Educator, Director of Environmental Initiatives and Professor of Biology & Environmental Studies at New College of Florida . She is the author of "Life in the Treetops" and “More Stories from the Treetops”. With 20 years of experience in all of the world's rain forests, she will share her fascinating research and amusing adventures as one of the first woman pioneers in this field of science.
Thursday, January 17	Michael Griffin "Human Space Exploration: The Next 50 Years-- the future of the U.S. Space Industry"	FAC
	Griffin was nominated by President George W. Bush and confirmed by the US Senate in April 2005 as the 11th Administrator for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. He leads the NASA team and manages the U.S. vision for space exploration.