By Sherry Bube
Student Senate President

True leadership consists of contributing to worthwhile endeavors while enabling and empowering others to do the same. Each of us is called to leadership in its many forms. Be it from spearheading the fundraising committee in a club you are a member of to organizing an activity night for your dorm wing, leadership does not necessarily entail holding an office or being involved in everything. Instead, leadership requires collective collaboration with others, as well as humility to have others help you and to listen to and utilize their ideas.
On Jan. 21, Student Senate hosted a leadership summit entitled Leaders Under Construction. As the governing student body on campus, Senate firmly believes that not only is each one of us an integral part of the Woods community, but we also are important members in helping to lead and shape the world around us. Therefore, a leadership summit that could help hone and cultivate these skills was perceived as a need for the student body.
Because leadership entails many different aspects and at different levels, the summit was based on the idea of providing opportunities for developing and forming essential building blocks of leadership in an interactive way. Sessions ranged from how to run a meeting without stealing the show to what style of leadership one possesses.
Attendees were able to gain and improve necessary skills regardless of the level of leadership one possessed. Leaders from our own Woods community, along with the Terre Haute community, came together to provide this experience.
As a leader in her own field and community, Kimberly LaGrange, from Prime Resources, Inc. of Terre Haute, IN, was the keynote speaker. She shared with us ways to build that strong foundation in order to achieve excellence in leadership. In all, this summit focused on engaging and empowering students of the Woods.
Because leadership is not simply holding a position on a committee or an office, here are a few tips to get involved and become a leader:
Find a cause or group with which you are passionate or interested about or in
Utilize your talents and abilities in an invested role with that cause or in that group
Get others involved – who else is interested in that topic or cause? Think of ways to get them invested as well and how to utilize their abilities in conjunction with your own
Can’t find something? Start it! Find a current club or organization that shares a similar focus or begin something new!
Leadership is leading the way, being the way and showing the way. How are you being a leader today? And how will you be a leader in the future?

Sherry Bube, Student Senate