Sophomores Exchange
Vacation Days for
Leadership Growth

Forty-nine CMCers traded a few days of summer vacation for a few days of on- and off-campus activities that focused on self-awareness, personal growth, and leadership enrichment. That's the largest turnout yet for the Kravis Leadership Institute's Sophomore Leadership Experience (SLE), established by the Institute in 2007 so that second-year students could explore their leadership knowledge, potential, skills, and development through a series of interactive activities in a mountain setting.
Held Aug. 26-29 at a camp and conference center near Big Bear Lake, the soon-to-be-sophomores used their time away together to talk about personality preferences, leadership styles, communication, personal values, stress and time-management, and their own mission statements. They also spent a day on low and high ropes courses conducting individual and group challenges, facilitated by Lodestone Inc., as a way to increase self-awareness and encourage breakthroughs.
Kravis Leadership Institute's Assistant Director for Leadership Programs Jessica Briggs '03 says students used words such as "powerful," "challenging," "self-examining," "intense," and "unforgettable" to describe their experiences in the program this summer. Among the objectives is that a significant number of sophomores start the year focused on leader self-development. That also means making sure they have some of the necessary tools to achieve their own leadership goals.
"Before attending this retreat I was nervous about beginning my sophomore year how I would approach my work, academics, and personal [matters]," participant Cecilia Ledesma wrote at the end of the program. "Now I am much more confident about how to approach each through the goals I made."
"This program deeply affected me in learning about myself and learning about my peers," Taylon Johnson noted in his comments. "I feel more focused and prepared to begin the school year." Classmate Michelle Kahn said the experience taught her that her class, as a whole, is "a lot more insightful than what I could gather at parties. I will trust my classmates with more responsibility in the future."
Students returned to campus on Saturday, Aug. 29 with personal and group goals for leader self-development and class unity. They were also treated to a panel discussion on leadership with Vice President of Student Affairs and Dean of Students Jeff Huang, Registrar Elizabeth Morgan, and Director of Athletics Mike Sutton.
This year's Sophomore Leadership Experience was managed by the Kravis Leadership Institute's Assistant Director for Leadership Programs Jessica Briggs '03, in collaboration with Professor and Director of the Kravis Leadership Institute Ron Riggio, postdoctoral research fellow Ketan Mhatre, CGU student Jenny Reece '09 and Rosey Friedheim '10.