“A premier opportunity for leadership development”
The Universty of Southern Mississippi’s Office of Leadership and Student Involvement (OLSI) hosted the third annual Student Leadership Summit on March 3 at the Trent Lott National Center on the Hattiesburg campus.
Fifty delegates from the Hattiesburg campus and six delegates from the Gulf Coast campus were selected to attend this year’s event. The application was open to all Southern Miss students and student leaders involved in campus organizations were encouraged to attend.
According to the OLSI website, the Student Leadership Summit is a day dedicated to equipping students with tips and tools to add to their leadership skills.
The mission statement of OLSI according to the website, is to provide valuable co-curricular experiences that exist to foster student growth and development while creating pathways for students to engage in the Southern Miss community.
According to the OLSI website, social integration in college is most often connected to student involvement. Students who are involved out of the classroom can perform better academically. Additionally, involvement helps to build community.
“We’re delighted to offer the Summit again this year to our student leaders on campus,” said Director of the Office of Leadership and Student Involvement Emily Holmes. “We designed this event to be a premier opportunity for leadership development for any student at Southern Miss.”
Assistant to the Dean for Strategic Initiatives André Heath delivered the keynote presentation. Heath said there are three main points of leadership: purpose, passion and persistence.
After Heath’s speech, delegates had the option to choose from four educational session blocks with a variety of presentations. Various staff and faculty members from across campus submitted their applications and were then chosen to be presenters for these sessions.
Assistant Vice President and Dean of Admissions Kate Howard and Assistant Director for Orientation Programs Laura Laughlin discussed the topic “Essentialism and Leadership: How to Do Less But Better.” Other topics covered throughout the day included “Who Do You Think You Are?” in which participants took personality tests to discover various aspects of their leadership style and “Conflict Management: How to Make It Work for Your Leadership Style.” Sessions ranged from topics such as how to avoid microaggression to how to use social media to market oneself to potential employers in the future.
The day concluded with a photo of all the delegates and an impromtu Q and A with USM President Rodney Bennett. Following his speech, Bennett stayed for a reception in order to meet some of the student leaders and take pictures with them.
