Know the Way, Go the Way, and Show the Way.

Last Sunday, all the new student leaders at Loyola gathered in the Damen MPR for the LUC Common Leadership Training session. Students who were first time RAs, Peer Advisors, Welcome Week Leaders, Orientation Leaders, Student Government representatives, and Student Community Board Members were mixed up and split into 30 or so tables of seven to nine people. I attended the workshop as a Student Government of Loyola Chicago (SGLC) representative.

After introducing ourselves to everyone at the table, each of us reviewed the two sheets of paper given to participants prior to taking our respective seats. Printed on one sheet was the Student Promise, while on the other were some words of wisdom from past leaders—predecessors who had held the same position—along with several discussion topics. For me as an SGLC representative, two pieces of advice stood out as most memorable. The first was that, as student leaders we are challenged to live out the mission of the university in all that we do, meaning not only at senate meetings, but in all aspects of our lives. Easy to say, hard to do. The second piece of advice, which will be particularly challenging for me personally but that I really must learn how to do, is “how to say no.” There are so many events to attend and so many problems to fix! “Make self-care a priority. You can’t do it all.” That mantra is intended to remind each of us to take on a single objective at a time and know that people are here to support one another.

At Leadership Training, each student at the table was given two Post-It notes. Additionally, one paper puzzle piece was distributed for the whole table to share. On the first sticky note, we were instructed to write one way that we would ‘care for self’ during the following year, as we stepped into our leadership position. On the second, we listed the ways in which we would care for others through our respective roles. On the final puzzle piece, though we were told that each person could write one sentence on how he or she planned to ‘care for’ the Loyola Community, my table group decided to compose one sentence encompassing all of our individual goals.

The Common Leadership Training allowed us to meet and get to know our fellow student leaders on campus, while providing a structured setting in which to interact with one another, the objective being to discover our similarities. The connections that we established through this bonding and team-building session will push us to collaborate and collectively maximize our diverse array of skill sets in order to create a more interconnected and united student body for Loyola.