Bryn Mawr College

Leadership Empowerment & Advancement Program

LEAP’s Intensive Leadership Development Program offers students the opportunity to develop skills that will help them become more effective group leaders, group members, organizational members, and on a long-term basis, better employees. Students participate in an intensive, experiential learning process that will help them develop more advanced leadership skills.

Students participate in 45 hours of workshops as a cohort over two semesters.

LEAP uses a variety of learning techniques such as games, role plays, lecturettes, group discussion, self-reflection, and service projects. The workshops run 2.5 hours in length for evening sessions. There are also 2-3 full days of training that take place on week-ends. Topics include:

• Finding Resources For Student Organizations and Budgeting

• Understanding Your Leadership Style

• Understanding How Groups Work

• Building An Effective Team

• Managing Conflict

• Strategic Planning For Student Organizations

• Managing Meetings

• Project Management

• Bringing Leadership into Your Resume and Interviewing

Training is interactive, applied and enjoyable, and involves a significant time commitment over the course of a semester, but there are many benefits for participants:

• Completing the Intensive Leadership Development program qualifies you to earn up to two PE credits.

• Athletics, Residential Life, Student Activities, the Civic Engagement Office, the Office of Intercultural Affairs, and the Career Development Office will look favorably upon applicants who have completed the Intensive Leadership Development Program when reviewing applications for coordinator or leadership positions.

• Student participants in the Intensive Leadership Development Program will have a voice in deciding how they will use their skills to either contribute to the leadership retreat planned for the fall OR future leadership training workshops.

• Coaches encourage any athletes who will be in season during LEAP training to speak with them about adjusting their training sessions in order to accommodate participation.

• Completion of the LEAP Intensive Leadership Development Program will look great on your resume!

Community Service Requirement:   Students are required to complete a community service project that requires at least 8 hours of volunteer time. The project may be within the LEAP program or through another experience on the campus or in the community. Projects will be approved by the LEAP facilitators.

Who can apply to the program?

This program is open to freshmen, sophomores, and juniors who are interested in participating in a year-long leadership training experience. Students with all levels of leadership experience are invited to apply. There is a particular emphasis on helping emerging leaders to develop their skills. A LEAP committee composed of students and staff selects participants.

Leadership Certificate: Students will be awarded a leadership certificate upon their successful completion of this program.

 

 

Program Staff

The series will be coordinated and facilitated by Vanessa Christman, Acting Director of Intercultural Affairs. Vanessa has served on the LEAP steering committee since its inception, acted as the LEAP Cohort Coordinator in 2008-09, and for the last two years directed the Intensive Leadership Development program. She was also a facilitator for the Dean’s Leadership Retreat. Prior to coming to Bryn Mawr, Vanessa was an educator, actor and film consultant. In addition to her work at Bryn Mawr, Vanessa’s leadership responsibilities currently include the Alumni Board of Franklin and Marshall College and serving as co-president of the Haverford Township High School Parent Teacher Student Association. She previously served on the board of First Person Arts.

Vanessa’s contact information is:

Office: 610/526-6594                 

Email: vchristm@brynmawr.edu

 

Ellie Esmond, Co-Director of the Civic Engagement Office, will be convening the LEAP Planning Group and coordinating the LEAP Leadership in Action Externship Program.  In addition, Ellie will be an occasional facilitator of the intensive leadership series. LEAP began almost four years ago as a result of a grant to the CEO from the Surdna Foundation to support LEAP’s development into a sustainable student leadership program on campus.  Although LEAP is housed primarily in the Civic Engagement Office, its programs are made possible by collaboration between the following departments:  Office of Intercultural Affairs, Student Life, Residential Life, the Undergraduate Dean’s Office, Career Development Office, and the Athletics Department.  Representatives from each of these departments comprise the LEAP Planning Group.

Ellie’s contact information is:

Office:  610/526-6591

Email:  eesmond@brynmawr.edu

 

The series was developed and will still be facilitated occasionally by Dr. Margie DuBrow. Margie has 30-plus years of combined experience as a trainer, organizational consultant, and administrator in educational systems and social service organizations. She has worked with both county human service departments and small to mid-sized nonprofit organizations in strategic planning, outcomes-based evaluation, fundraising, and human resource development. Currently the Director of Bryn Mawr’s Nonprofit Executive Leadership Institute, Margie holds a doctorate in organizational development.