Weekly Workshops Offer Discussion and Skill Building
Physical Plant Director Richard Edwards started the semester’s first leadership workshop by saying, “Leadership is lacking. It’s probably the number one problem we have in society today.”
Edwards was giving the introduction to his presentation called “The Four Foundations of Leadership.”
Louis Coplin, Director of Student Activities, hopes to address this leadership deficit in our society by giving a series of workshops throughout this semester. A different workshop will be given every Monday from 3-4 p.m. in Campus Center 150.
The workshops were inspired by a national conference on student leadership that Coplin attended. “We have the space on campus, we have the talent. Let’s bring something along the lines of a leadership conference on campus spread out over the course of the semester,” he said.
“Places of higher education and learning should be offering these things,” said Coplin.
According to Edwards, the four foundations of leadership are character, courage, responsibility, and positive attitude. He drew upon his experiences in the military, where he achieved the rank of colonel, to simplify the characteristics of good leadership into these four main categories.
The scheduled workshops will continue to build on Edwards’ foundations of leadership and also provide a forum to discuss hot topics in the news. For example, domestic disturbances will be the focus of the next workshop, on Oct. 6.
“There’s been domestic violence for the ages. It is getting highlighted because of recent accusations in the highest profile league in the country,” said Coplin, referring to the NFL, “and it was mishandled.”
Some workshops will also give information specifically for students at Hudson Valley. For example, right before midterms, on Oct. 20, the workshop will be about understanding satisfactory academic policies.
Each workshop will be facilitated by one or two of the members of the ten-person leadership team, made up of Hudson Valley faculty, that Coplin put together to prepare these workshops.
“The real objective is to have people walk away with something new and be able to teach someone else what they learned,” Coplin said.
Along with the opportunity to learn leadership skills and have discussions on important issues, students will also be able to win gift cards in a drawing at each event. Students who complete five of the ten scheduled workshops this semester will receive a certificate at a semester-end banquet.
Coplin plans on having another series of workshops in the Spring semester. “This is something I plan on doing for the rest of my working days here,” he said.
Schedule: Mondays at 3 p.m. (For sidebar)
Oct. 6 – Domestic Disturbances
Oct. 20 – Understanding Satisfactory Academic Policy
Oct. 27 – Social Media and the Bystander Effect
Nov. 3 – The Politics: Who are these people (The He’s/She’s and They’s That Tell Us What To Do
Nov. 10 – Leadership Styles
Nov. 17 – How Self Reflection Can Improve Leadership Skills
Nov. 24 – Develop & Maintain Valuable Professional Relationships For Life
Dec. 1 – Commit. Complete. Compete