More than 90 first-year students who recently joined the LEAD Program gathered Sept. 9 at the Tier Team Reveal in McKinnon Hall to meet other LEAD participants and their Tier Team captains.
The LEAD Program is a three-tiered, self-paced leadership education and development program open to all students.
Within Tier I of the program, participants are placed in a Tier Team. A Tier Team is a group of approximately 15 students who come together to build relationships, enhance their leadership skills, and develop community through Tier I of the LEAD Program.
Over 170 first-year students have signed up for LEAD this far. These students will participate together in LEAD as well as Tier Team specific events. Upperclassmen LEAD students will mentor these groups as Tier Team Captains throughout the school year.
Tier Team groups compete against one another throughout the academic year, earning points for attending LEAD workshops, Tier Team specific events, and other Center for Leadership-sponsored activities. This year’s competition themed around the Summer 2016 Olympic Games, so each Tier Team represents a different country around the world. Countries include: Italy, Germany, Brazil, Australia, France, Norway, China, South Africa, Nepal, Mexico and Jamaica.
Tier Team captains this year are sophomores Shannon Brits, Ben Driscoll, Frankie Filandro, Olivia Hobbs, Sarah Holdren, Avery Jamison, Reena John, Carolyn Rauch, Nikki Sanz, Evan Seder, and Gabby Vance.
At the reveal, LEAD Program Community Director and Elon sophomore Bethany Lake, who oversees Tier Teams, welcomed students with an Olympic-themed presentation. She introduced the program, how to earn points throughout the year, and then revealed each captain and his or her respective country.
The reveal began with introductions as each captain was awarded a medal – gold, silver or bronze – as they stepped on stage and were announced by Lake. Captains dressed in costumes to represent their country and make the atmosphere of the event light-hearted and exciting!
Following the reveal, participants broke out into their teams where their captains led introductions and a group activity. To help students break the ice and get to know one another, each team was asked to come up with a creative way to introduce their team to the larger group. Groups then presented to everyone, where the judges, LEAD Program Directors, selected the top three presentations.
Students interested in learning more about the LEAD Program can contact Dana Carnes, the Associate Director of the Center for Leadership, visit the CFL website (www.elon.edu/lead), or email lead@elon.edu.