Northwest Missouri State University/15 students graduate from Exemplary Leadership Academy(노스웨스트미주리주립대학교)
Fifteen Northwest Missouri State University students graduated April 5 from the third cohort of its Exemplary Leadership Academy.
This spring’s graduates are Sadhana Bhattarai, Courtney Bishop, Jack Camenzind, Elena Czyz, Mason DeVooght, Asma Hassan, Lucy Hilliard, Chloe Johnson, Alyssa Lincoln, Marlon Oliver, Oderah Osakwe, Bailey Schomburg, Alissa Stott, Madison Weaver and Madison Yarbrough.
The Exemplary Leadership Academy is a curricular and co-curricular, eight-week course, based on “The Student Leadership Challenge,” a behavioral-based leadership model built on five practices demonstrated by exemplary leaders. In addition to learning, connecting and applying the five practices, students engage in peer-to-peer discussions and highly-interactive group activities to connect their acquired knowledge to their personal experiences.
“Leadership is not just limited to organization, but it is also necessary in personal and professional life,” Bhattarai, a senior biomedical science major from Kathmandu, Nepal, said. “ELA gave me confidence and taught me to respect people’s ideas and work in different scenarios.”
Lincoln, a sophomore biology and psychology major from Omaha, Nebraska, added, “ELA will allow me to approach each leadership opportunity with a fresh, new perspective to the situation. I hope that I will be able to have my leadership abilities stand out in an interviewing process or in the workplace.”
The five practices are model the way, inspire a shared vision, challenge the process, enable others to act and encourage the heart.
“As a future educator, you have to be a leader each and every day to your students and co-workers,” Weaver, a sophomore elementary education major from Omaha, Nebraska, said. “All of the five practices of leadership has at least one element that will assist with how I react to any situation.”
As a result of their work in the Exemplary Leadership Academy, Weaver and Hilliard, along with peer advisor Becca Kasper, graduate assistant Delaney Kramer and Amy Nally, assistant director of student involvement, were selected to attend the National Conference of Student Leaderships (NCSL) March 29 through April 2 in Orlando, Florida. Hilliard received a NCSL scholarship to attend courses at the conference.
“I learned how to be fearless as a leader, how to never self-doubt, and there is always someone there to support you or push you along the way,” Weaver said of the conference. “Not only did we get to have a little fun, we also got to connect with other schools and talk about current issues they have as leaders in their schools.”
To be eligible for the Exemplary Leadership Academy, a student must be recommended based on their leadership skills and need to extend those skills. Participating students must be a sophomore or junior, involved in at least one student organization and have a minimum grade-point average of 2.75. Two scholarships are awarded annually to graduates of the course. Applications will be available in the fall.
