For students looking to develop leadership skills, the upcoming XCEL Leadership Conference offers a valuable opportunity.
The goal of the event is for students to develop leadership skills through a variety of workshops and presentations, according to Grace Fama, coordinator for leadership and development programs. Fama said the topics explored in the different discussions may include sessions on social justice and equity in our society, discussions on the financial market and whether it is sustainable, and strategies for how student organizations can develop financial plans.
The activities at the conference, which will be held on Oct. 2 in Lecture Hall 1, will vary from lecture-based to more interactive.
According to Fama, the event will begin with an opening session and will be followed by four breakout workshop sessions. Fama said the sessions will focus on many topics that could be applied as strategies for new and emerging leaders. The program will end with a closing presentation.
This is the first year the conference has a theme, which is leadership and sustainability. Fama defined the conference’s theme as the ability to provide for the next generation. The focus of discussion will be how students can work to create a healthy environment, economy and community.
“We want students to learn how they can create a community of people that are engaged,” Fama said.
The idea of sustainability is relatively new, according to Fama. She said that the idea that things need to change is catching on in the media.
“The levels of poverty and homelessness serve as evidence that this society is not sustainable,” Fama said.
Fama believes the strategies discussed at this event can be applied to the environment at the University, as funds “tighten” and officials face working with smaller budgets.
While she does not believe the purpose of the conference is to deliver clear-cut answers to student inquiries, Fama does believe that as a whole generation, students will “decide [upon] the answers.”
This is also the first year that students have been involved in planning the conference in five years. Fama said students are organizing everything.
For the convention, the workshop facilitators are different student leaders throughout campus. She said they consist of professors, members of the faculty and staff as well as graduate and undergraduate students. A greater number of professors will contribute to this event than in past years.
“At the University we have a lot of professors at the cutting edge of research on this topic,” Fama said. “We realized we had a lot of information at our fingertips.”
Gem Qin, a member of the marketing team for the conference, said she believed it is important for students to get more involved.
“Anyone can make a proposal for a program; it should be engaging, interactive and informative,” Qin said.
Qin said that the conference could be useful to a wide variety of students at BU, especially for students who wish to start up their own clubs or groups. She also said she thought the discussions at the conference could be utilized by upperclassmen.
“They can learn how to create their own businesses through the application of leadership skills,” she said.
Oct. 22 is the last day students can register for the free event. Check-in will be outside of Lecture Hall 1. Students who sign up will receive more information. For more information or registration for this event, visit xcel.binghamton.edu.