3 Things I Learned at the Colors of Westminster Retreat

An annual event sponsored by the Emerson Center for Leadership and Service, Colors of Westminster is an overnight off-campus retreat involving workshops and activities to help develop multicultural competencies and leadership skills of students. This year 20 students attended the event from September 18 to September 20, 2015.

“The retreat is aimed towards emerging sophomores with skills to become global leaders that we inspire them to be,” says Tony Mitchell, Westminster Fellow for Intercultural Engagement.

Below, students share three things they learned while at the event.

Jacque Erasmus – Pretoria, South Africa

1. I should have appreciation for my fellow classmates, their lives, views, and values.
2. I should develop deeper friendships with people I know and those that I didn’t know before the trip.
3. I loved the opportunity to enjoy the company of others outside of school borders and norms. It helped me see people in a different light.

Victoria Moser – Hermann, Missouri

1. No matter what we have been through or what opportunities we have had, we are all at the same location which is Westminster College.
2. Everyone has their own leadership style even if it is not known. The retreat was a huge eye-opener about how my leadership style corresponds to my lifestyle. Reading about my leadership style was like reading my life story.
3. The international and domestic students actually have a lot in common and share the same values and struggles – they can become friends.

Jon Antel – Columbia, Missouri

1. Encompassing diversity is crucial to being a leader
2. Group work can be enjoyable and very helpful. You just have to learn how to get along with your group and effectively work with them.
3. You can never look at someone and accurately or fairly judge them. You must get to know them.

Sam McHaney – Kennett, Missouri

1. I learned that society is becoming more culturally diverse.
2. In order to understand global issues one must be able to accept other cultures and gain a basic understanding of them before drawing conclusions about global issues.
3. Interacting with individuals from other cultures is a great way to learn about other cultures.

Students who attended Colors of Westminster 2015 …

• Jacque Erasmus ’18
• Sawyer Young ’18
• Ayush Manandahr ’17
• Nicolas Lopez ’18
• Stefanie Eggleston ’18
• Victoria Moser ’18
• Sydney Sexton ’18
• Jinyu Wang ’18
• Nathan Wilson ’18
• Jon Antel ’18
• Sam McHaney ’19
• Jeremy Hill ’17
• Krista May ’18
• Carson Honeycutt ’18
• Lucy Savio ’18
• Rupa Kumari ’18
• Shahil Sheresta ’17
• Nick Hardeman ’18
• Shafa Fathimath ’18
• Morategi Kgomokhumo ’18
• Sireen Tamrkar ’17
• Joseph Opoku ’18