Leadership and Service Center

By Holly Poag

@UofSC_LSC @uofsc_lsc

The Leadership and Service Center is the central home for involvement, leadership, community service and civic engagement at USC. This year, the LSC will o er many returning and revised programs and opportunities to students who want a more well-rounded experience at Carolina.

For students looking to get involved on campus, the LSC is the o ce that helps oversee the 500-plus student organizations at USC. One of the earliest and most visible events the LSC holds, the student organization fair, features representatives from di erent organizations giving out information and answering questions from potential recruits. This year’s fair will be held in person on Aug. 25, in two sessions from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and from 4 to 7 p.m., on Greene Street.

The Leadership Center also provides educational workshops and one-on-one coaching for student leaders “so that they continue to grow their organizations, recruit students, retain those students, and really make an impact on campus,” according to Joshua Cauble, the associate director for leadership and student organizations in the LSC.

One of the more structured opportunities for leadership development is the Close Family Emerging Leaders Program, or CFELP, which is an in-person, sevenweek program for students who want to build their leadership skills and learn how to bring change to the Carolina community.

Older leaders of junior or senior standing can also attend the Student Leadership Summit to network with other engaged students and brainstorm ways to positively impact campus. The Student Leadership and Diversity Conference, held annually in the spring, is a multi-day conference with workshops, prominent speakers and opportunities to network with other leaders from USC and other institutions.

One of the Leadership Center’s new programs is Camp Cocky Leadership Retreat, an overnight outdoor recreation retreat that encourages students without a positional leadership role to network and use their unique skills to improve their team’s cohesion, no matter what that team looks like.

“Students are able to come do some outdoor programming like ropes courses, climbing wall, kayaking and canoeing, but just engage with one another and learn how to be team members and do high-functioning teamwork,” Cauble said.

For students who’d like to give back to the campus and local communities through service work, the LSC has options ranging from connecting with dozens of community partners to hosting regular service events to spending a fall, winter or spring break doing a larger service project somewhere in the state or region.

One LSC initiative that provides a service to students alongside opportunities to serve the community is the Gamecock Pantry, which allows any students, faculty or sta with a CarolinaCard to receive up to 15 free food and toiletry items per week in an e ort to help and bring awareness to food insecurity on campus. In addition to this ongoing resource, the Leadership Center plans to host a Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week in November, including a campus-wide donation drive called “The Great Food Race.”

The LSC also encourages student involvement in areas of civic action, such as voter registration drives and the Civic Leadership Education and Action Team, or CLEAT for short. CLEAT is a group of students who plan and execute nonpartisan events and programs that encourage engaged and active citizenship.

Students interested in leadership, service, civic action or anything in between should follow the Leadership and Service Center on social media or check out the information on the LSC website at sc.edu/leadershipandservice to learn more.

PHOTOS PROVIDED BY STEVEN TAPIA-MACIAS / DEPARTMENT OF STUDENT LIFE

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