STUDENT SPOTLIGHT

EMU SGA co-presidents Aman Seyoum, Faith Manickan, and Philip Kraybill with keynote speaker Sarah Nahar, doctoral student, Mennonite minister, former executive director of Christian Peacemaker Teams and former SGA president of Spelman College.

PHOTO BY CELESTE THOMAS

STUDENT SPOTLIGHT

FALL LEAD CONFERENCE PROMOTES COLLABORATION

NEARLY 50 STUDENTS active in 22 clubs and organizations attended a two-day LEAD Conference at Highland Retreat this fall. Hosted by Student Life, the event helped students enhance their leadership skills, engage with campus resourcing, and “think about the role they play in moving EMU towards where we want it to be,” said Leda Werner, a member of the conference planning committee and project director of Safer Together. “This was really an opportunity to think outside the box, to talk together about the ways their goals intersected, so that they could collaborate toward the change they want to make on campus.”

The planning committee also included University Chaplain Brian Martin Burkholder, Director of Multicultural Services Celeste Thomas, and Director of Student Programs Rachel Roth Sawatzky.

Student facilitators played an important role, along with keynote speaker Sarah Nahar, a scholar-activist, community cultivator, and doctoral student in environmental studies and religion at Syracuse University. She also served as SGA president at Spelman College, her undergraduate alma mater.

Elementary education major Ashley Schoenhardt is a co-vice president of Campus Activities Council and a peer educator with Safer Together. As a commuter student, she especially enjoyed the connections made during late-night conversations, as well as making new friends and learning more about the “how” of leadership. “I also found that I got a lot out of our unstructured down time, from taking a hike with a few friends, playing Uno, coloring, and just having impactful conversations with other leaders within my own club and others,” she said.