Danielle Weaver ’07, from Jamestown, NY, was a history major and educational studies minor.  She’s not kidding when she says she took advantage of leadership opportunities at St. Lawrence; she was Class of 2007 president for three years, was a student delegate to the Alumni Council, co-chairs her Class Gift Committee, and was a member of the Student Alumni Association.

Learning to Lead
Find a College Where Being a Leader is Part of Being a Learner
By Danielle Weaver ’07

What is leadership? Who is a leader? How do you know when you are leading? These are questions you’ve probably asked yourself at some point.  From over 100 student organizations to independent or collaborative research with your fellow students or your professors, St. Lawrence excels at bringing you close to the answers.

Prior to my arrival at St. Lawrence four years ago, I was sure leadership occurred only outside of the classroom, that there was only one way to lead, and that I couldn’t learn leadership.  Like many first-year college students, I was proven wrong.

Being a leader on any college campus is no easy task.  Whatever you’re involved in, you are responsible for a lot of details and you have to work with people to make sure they get done.  But, leadership roles teach you life skills that will help you in the workplace and your community; you learn to work with people who are different from you in any number of ways, and, often, you learn to work as a team.  Being a leader at St. Lawrence allows you to learn with other leaders who can challenge you because they are being challenged, too.

St. Lawrence encourages students to learn how to become strong and effective leaders by offering experiences that allow students to find the leader within themselves.  During my junior year, I enrolled in a class titled Transformational Leadership, Peacemaking and Non-Violent Communication.  The class met weekly on campus and included a spring break trip to Los Angeles.  Over the course of that week, nine fellow students and I were trained in anti-bullying tactics that we then taught to inner-city kids, hoping to inspire them to pass on the tactics to their friends.  Here, I realized I could learn how to be a leader while also teaching others how to be leaders.  We encouraged fourth- and fifth-graders to be leaders in their community, and gave them some tools to do so.

St. Lawrence provides an environment in which leadership can be learned in many other ways as well. Here’s just one example: at a leadership conference held annually on campus for St. Lawrence students and sponsored by the University’s Leadership Academy, faculty, staff and students share workshops focusing on an array of leadership components.  I presented in both my junior and senior years on “Group Dynamics and Balance Mastery.”  It was rewarding to present in front of my peers, because they were able to gain knowledge from a student’s perspective.  There is something for everyone at this day-long conference.  Athletes, new leaders, experienced leaders, those who are looking to get involved and those who are involved already can all come away with new knowledge, insights and skills.

I learned a great deal about myself through leadership at St. Lawrence.  I learned that I am capable of more than I thought I was, and can encourage others while challenging them at the same time to complete a project successfully.  I learned the logistics of putting on events and paying particular attention to details.  I also learned that the more people who are involved, the easier the planning and executing of events--but that getting people involved can be tough! 

Learning what it means to be a leader is an ongoing process.  Many students come to St. Lawrence with some leadership experience, but it is through the outlets which St. Lawrence offers that they are able to venture outside of their comfort zones and discover and apply leadership skills they never knew they had.