Feb. 17 marked the end of this year’s four week-long Benedictine College Leadership Seminars (BCLS). These seminars are attended by dozens of students each year who seek to participate in any sort of leadership positions on campus.
The seminars cover themes of Benedictine values, and how to apply these values to leadership.
Students gain many benefits from these seminars, some of which extend beyond leadership. Some of these benefits have effects for years, and upperclassman students still notice their effects.
Freshman Learned Benedictine Values and What Makes a Good Leader
This year, freshman attended BCLS in the hopes of learning leadership skills and applying for positions on campus. The talks centered around what makes a good leader, and how does Benedictine College’s values influence that.
Ben Carey, a freshman at Benedictine College, when asked for his takeaway, said “Honing in on your strengths instead of your weaknesses. I got a lot out of this because I tend to focus on my weaknesses a lot.”
Veronica Sousa, a freshman at Benedictine College, echoed this sentiment. “I really liked how they focused on how you need to build up your strengths, not just identify your weaknesses, because I feel like a lot of time in leadership or in growing this person, they’re like, okay, you need to find out what you’re bad at, you can get better at it, but really, we just need to strengthen our strengths.”
Many freshmen go into BCLS with a sense of what they want to do, but sometimes over the course of their sessions their mind might change. Brylie Fenner, a freshman at Benedictine College, noted this in her own case. “I didn’t want to apply to be a student ambassador, until I went to a few sessions, and learned more about it.”
Other freshmen show strengthened resolve in applying for positions after the seminars. Ben Carey says” I was wanting to become an RA at first, and I think some of those fears I had have waned a little bit, because I know there’s that sacrifice to make. I think this is something that if I get into it, God wanted me to do it.”
Seniors’ Leadership Still Benefits From BCLS
Even years after BCLS, students still benefit from these sessions, and apply the principles they learned to their own positions.
Madeline Cassidy, a senior at Benedictine College who has occupied roles on the Student Government Association, gave this takeaway from these seminars in her freshman year: “It’s possible to do all the things you want to do, but if you put all of the small things at the top of your list, it will add up.”
“They used an analogy of rocks and sand. Small rocks were getting coffee with a friend, watching a movie. Big rocks are important things like homework. If you have too many small rocks, you won’t be able to fit the big rocks into your life.”
Similarly, Gabriel Maday, a senior RA at Benedictine College, notes that one of his biggest takeaways was “The importance of planning and organizing your life, because it is applicable everywhere. We are all a team, and knowing how to plan helps leadership as a whole.”
He also said “BCLS changed my perspective on leadership by showing me what Benedictine is looking for in a leader. It used the same foundation as most leadership courses, but it polished them to reflect Benedictine values.”
With the application to leadership cycle dying down, it will be interesting to see the practical effects this year’s BCLS session will have on future student leaders at Benedictine College.
