On Feb 8, RWC student delegates braved the cold and snow to attend the 18th Annual Leadership Conference at the UC main campus. Those attending included Angelena Bhatara, Student Government Treasurer; Brandon Connelly, SG Member; and Tim Bentley and Tammy M Carmack, Undergraduate Student Senators. The seven-hour conference was hosted by Tracy Knofla and Michael Miller, and included skill, perspective and confidence building exercises. Those came in handy, as the two of them felt that you learn more by doing than by sitting and listening.
The group of more than 100 students was broken up into teams of approximately 6-7, and then assigned a student facilitator and given a session topic. They were then given 1 1/2 hours for their group to turn the topic into a half-hour information session.
The four RWC representatives, working with three Clifton Campus students, were assigned the topic of ‘Goal Setting and Achievement.’ The sessions were given at three different times, so students could attend the sessions given by two other groups. Tim Bentley, for example, chose a class on ‘over-invovlement’ and one on self-esteem. A large number of other students, along with Michael Miller, one of the hosts, attended the RWC session. Bentley said that Miller was really impressed with some of the RWC ideas, and mentioned them when the whole group reconvened in the afternoon.
One RWC idea was having all participants write on a piece of paper their e-mail address and a long and short term goal, and then exchanging that paper with someone they did not know, so they can have someone who will contact them for ‘updates’ on how they are progressing toward their goals.
“This was a day well spent,” Bentley said, “as we learned to develop as a leader and grow as a person.