February 3, 2013
Iowa State Leadership Experience
On Saturday, February 2, I attended the Iowa State Leadership Experience, or ISLE. It was a very good experience for me as a new peer mentor. It made me think about a lot of things that I haven't thought about before.
The opening keynote speaker Dr. Darin Eich was a good speaker. His message, Innovate Yourself to Create Your Own Path, I thought tied in very well with Iowa State's "Choose your Adventure." Dr. Eich gave us good advice that I thought related very well to what we as peer mentors will do. We need to be creative and be innovative to collaborate, communicate, and create.
Dr. Eich mentioned that employers look most for people who have critical thinking and problem solving skills, communication skills, collaboration skills, and creativity and innovation. I remember in high school, my college English teacher told us the same things: that employers want creative and innovative individuals. I believe that this is true. In this day and age, anything that gives someone an edge can make one's career.
The first session I went to was Creating the Team: Retreats and Team Builders for Student Leaders. It was led by Kyle Holtman, who runs Destination Iowa State. He gaves us good tips for team building exercises and how to plan retreats for individuals. Holtman even offered to e-mail his tips, which I took full advantage of. I hope to use some of these tips and incorporate them into my own recitation section this fall.
The second session I went to after lunch was The Importance of Group Dynamics for Student Leaders. This session was led by Criss Salinas and Alissa Stoehr. It was very informative and made me think about my actions as a leader. They said we as leaders need to become self-aware of our actions and how our actions and words are perceived by others.
All in all, I thought this was a good experience and I hope I can use some of the things I learned as I continue the path as a Hixson Peer Mentor.
Have a good week!
Katie
It's good of your presentation leader to offer to email the tips for team-building. That will definitely help you with your icebreakers in the fall!
ReplyDeleteI thought that was very clever of Dr. Eich to put in that plug close to ours, "Choose Your Adventure at Iowa State." I agree with you on the fact that we need to be creative to collaborate and communicate well with our students.
ReplyDeleteGreat to know that you learned from your sessions, and how you will incorporate them into the recitation sections.
ReplyDeleteKatie,
ReplyDeleteI also enjoyed the opening keynote speaker as well. YOou could tell that he has done this a couple times. Being innovative is something that keeps on being hit against o'ut heads all the time. Sooner or later we will all have the skills the speaker was talking about
-KAt