Summer 2009

The Department of Leadership Development, Service and Engagement (LSE) Offers Opportunities to Lead, Serve and Learn
Nancy Mathias, Associate Director of Leadership and Service

Where can students go to find a club, intramural team or organization to fit their interests? What programs offer students the opportunity to learn leadership skills while serving others? Why is the First Year Experience program important for new students?

You can find the answers to these questions and many more from the department of Leadership Development, Service and Engagement (LSE). LSE offers students a variety of activities where they meet new people, gain valuable job and interpersonal skills, and practice leadership on and off campus. Through these experiences, students learn to lead, lead to serve, and serve to learn. 

Three LSE programs that new students should pay particular attention to are the First Year Experience (FYE) program, Emerging Leaders program, and Turning Responsibility Into Powerful Service (TRIPS), an alternative break service trip program.

The fall FYE program assigns all new students to small groups with 10-15 others, and each group is led by a trained peer mentor. These FYE groups meet daily during the students' first three days on campus, and then weekly for the first six weeks of class. In these small groups students get to know each other, serve together in the community, and learn the ins and outs of the campus experience, including tips on academic success. Students who successfully complete this program are well-prepared in their transition to St. Norbert College.

The Emerging Leaders program is a competitive, application based program that recruits new students interested in campus and community leadership positions. Participants attend a fall retreat, four training meetings, and complete a fall campus leadership project led by a peer mentor. Graduates of this program are well-prepared for campus leadership positions such as resident assistant, interns, student organization e-boards and a variety of mentor roles.

The TRIPS program, co-led by Campus Ministry, kicks off in August. Students who want to spend a fall weekend, or a week during winter or spring break, serving others should apply as soon as possible. Interviews and selections are made in September for each trip. Groups of four to 12 students are each led by one or two trained and experienced student trip leaders. Weekly activities before and after the trip, along with daily discussions during the trip, provide a potentially transformative opportunity for each student to “walk in someone else’s shoes.” One hundred percent of the students who participated in a trip last year said they would recommend it to their friends.

Researcher and educator Ernest Pascarella has shown that, “college students who are actively involved in both academic and out-of-class activities gain more from the college experience than those who are not so involved.”