Colors of Westminster: Sophomore Leadership Experience

On Saturday, September 28^th and Sunday, September 29^th, 29 sophomore students and eight junior leaders participated in Colors of Westminster: Sophomore Leadership Experience.

Colors of Westminster is an overnight retreat that brings emerging sophomore leaders together in an off-campus setting to talk about issue of diversity while developing leadership skills and cross-cultural competencies.

The sophomore students that participated in the retreat were nominated by our faculty and staff because of their promising leadership abilities in and outside the classroom.

The 8 Junior leaders (Martin Roa, Sandra Nivyabandi, Sanaa Khan, Freda Boateng, Pabel Vivanco Cardenas, Rachel Ewalt, Shauntay Larson & Bongiwe Shongwe) were students that attended Colors of Westminster last year and volunteered to help lead the retreat this year.

The program is coordinated by the Office of Intercultural Engagement in the Emerson Center for Leadership & Service.

The students engaged in activities such as:

• Team-building activities and exercises to help them get to know each other and learn more about teamwork
• Workshops to develop leadership skills through better understanding of personal strengths and of the Emotional Intelligence Leadership model
• Development of cross-cultural competencies through discussion of cross-cultural communication, self-identity identifications and privilege

“Colors of Westminster gave me the opportunity of interact and create strong bonds with some of the most ambitious and genuine students at Westminster,” said Sergio Pirla Lopez ’16. “It expanded my contacts inside the student body, while allowing me to get to know my strengths and weaknesses better.  It made me a better leader by expanding my interpersonal and intrapersonal abilities.”