Kelsey Mix – Online Editor/Copy Editor
This year’s leadership retreat focused around a theme based off of the movie “The Avengers.” Every fall and winter, the leadership retreat committee made up of Southern students plans a retreat before the semester starts.
During the retreat, leaders on campus and members of different clubs and organizations attend lectures, break out sessions and participate in group activities. These activities help their leadership skills and introduce students to other leaders on campus.
Juliemar Ortiz, junior journalism major, is the SCSU leadership commissioner and helped to plan the event. Ortiz explained that the purpose of the retreat is to “educate student leaders about leadership skills through various workshops, activities, and a keynote speaker.”
The retreat is a very educational event for students and gives the clubs and organizations an opportunity to meet and prepare for the semester before classes start, said Ortiz. It also helps student leaders with any club or organization paperwork that has to be completed before the semester.
“This year the theme for the retreat is the movie ‘The Avengers.’ Therefore most of our programming will be focused on group activities, team building, group dynamics and other related topics,” said Ortiz.
The main focus points of the presentation topics that the student leaders attended were club and organization management, personal success, professional and academic development, and general leadership. Some examples of presentations include creative advertising for clubs, how to avoid a burnout, and study abroad info.
There was also an open forum with the newly elected president of the Student Government Association, Alicia Divito.
Anay’s Cruz, junior early childhood education and liberal studies major, attended the leadership retreat as the member at large for Delta Phi Epsilon Sorority.
“I think the purpose of retreat is to recognize students who are leaders and those that want to be leaders on campus,” said Cruz, “and to help them achieve their goals for the upcoming semester.”
Cruz believed that the presentations were not only informational but very intriguing as well. “I saw presentations that will help strengthen me as a leader in my organization and my other involvements on campus,” said Cruz.
“The keynote by Hoan Do was extremely hilarious, interactive and inspiring,” said Cruz. “His six deliberate decisions definitely gave me a great push to help me better focus on what I need to do to become the leader I want to be.”
An event such as this requires a large amount of planning ahead of time and working with many different organizations. “We plan meals, we find speakers, we create break-out sessions and find speakers from the university,” said Ortiz. “We organize group activities and icebreakers. We pretty much do everything that you see happen in the two-day retreat.”
The planning committee consists of a group of diverse, dedicated students who are a part of many different clubs and organizations on campus. The group is also overseen by Associate Director of Student Life Sal Rizza.
The hard work of the committee paid off according to Jasper Larioza, a representative at large for Student Government Association. “I enjoy the leadership retreat because I get to learn a lot. I also meet other people and I get to network with other organizations and student leaders.”
Ortiz was very pleased with the outcome of the retreat as well. “The student leaders here at SCSU bring a lot of energy to the university before classes start,” said Ortiz. “They are very eager to start working with their clubs.”
Cruz agreed that the retreat was worthwhile, but she wishes she could have shared it with more students. “Retreat was fun but if there was anything I could change it would be that more students from campus attended,” said Cruz. “Unfortunately the winter leadership retreat doesn’t attract as many students as the fall retreat does, but I do wish more students could see the amazing things that are happening on campus.”
The winter leadership retreat isn’t always as popular as the fall retreat, but each year they tend to get more and more publicity so more students can benefit from the speakers and group activities.
“I think each retreat always has something different,” said Ortiz. “For the next one, I would love to see the clubs and organizations work together to make up a program for the following semester. One that all the clubs could be a part of.”
