Members of RWC’s Student Government and Student Activities Committee attended a weekend Leadership Conference January 25-26 at UC’s Clifton Campus. Designed to develop and hone business skills and etiquette for pre-graduates, it began with Friday night’s Etiquette Dinner and concluded Saturday after a day of workshops described as “interesting,” and conducted by UC Alumni.Lana Alsabbagh, SAC Secretary, attended both days and especially enjoyed the informative and entertaining Etiquette Dinner. She explained that because she was raised using European etiquette standards, the instruction helped her to understand some important differences in how proper etiquette is taught in the US.
In Europe, for instance, the knife is used to place food on an upside down fork. American etiquette standards consider that ill-mannered, but, as Ms. Alsabbagh learned, “A knife is definitely preferred to using a piece of bread!”
If nothing else, participants came away from the dinner knowing how to keep from drinking someone else’s water, thanks to a clever reminder they learned from the dinner’s instructional hostess, Tracy Knofla.
After spending Saturday morning having her personality assessed, Ms. Alsabbagh attended three of the thirteen workshops available. Mediation Conflict Resolution, with Steve Ransom, stressed the theory of correctly identifying and effectively dealing with everyday problems in a responsible manner.
Kirsten Lupinski engaged her Stress Management participants in relaxation techniques, including massage therapy and visualization tapes. Ms. Alsabbagh was particularly taken with the philosophies of Dr. Ken Dillard, who uses a storytelling style to explain, in his Character Development workshop, that all decisions in life have consequences, and all the experiences that result from those consequences form our character.
The 2002 Leadership Conference was co-sponsored by various UC inter-campus entities, including RWC.