40 students make biggest turnout for emerging leaders retreat

by Cynthia Taura assistant copy editor

The location is Sea Isle City, NJ. The dates are from Jan. 29 to the 30. The emerging leaders retreat is talcing place for all those who have the honor of being nominated by peers who serve as R.A.s, members of the student government, the student development staff, and first-year advisors who see them as potential leaders.

Emma Legge, Dr. Andrew B. King, Ph.D, Karen Pollack, who is in charge of the peer educators, and Helen Martinez, a third-year doctoral student at Immaculata College who is working at Cabrini this semester as an intern, will lead the retreat.

Although first-year students will dominate the retreat, upper classmen can also be nominated to go.

Those going on the retreat will be leav- ing the campus on Friday at 4 p.m. at the parking lot behind the Widener Center, and will return to campus on Saturday at approximately 6 p.m. the retreat. Each program helps students become more comfortable and will help them discover what a leader really is and what assets they possess to contribute to being a leader. as conflict resolutions and assertiveness skills.

"This is an opportunity for students to assess leadership skills and to learn about opportunities at Cabrini and develop better leadership skills" says Legge.

King, director of counseling services, will be ministering and giving feedback on the retreat. He will be administering the Myers-Briggs personality type indicator.

It is defined as a non-psychiatric personality assessment and will define personalities on four scales: introversion and extroversion, sensing versus intuition, thinking versus feeling and judging versus perceiving.

"We think of leadership as flashy stuff we see on TV, but leadership is really hard work," King said. "Leadership can be taught."

Over 40 people are expected to go this weekend, making it the largest number of people going on this retreat ever.

If another large turnout occurs, then King says that the retreat may be held each semester instead of once a year.

It is King's hope that after the retreat, there will be an emerging leaders group meeting on Monday afternoons.

"A good leader helps people understand each other," King said.

Past participants have a positive response to their experience after going on the retreat.

Junior Christie Ellison, an R.A. in Woodcrest who went on the retreat last year, says, "It is a good thing for first-year students because it helps develop leadership skills and meet new people. It was a great experience and a lot of fun."

Lee Gamble, also a junior who went on the retreat during his first year, says, "It was a wonderful experience. After I went on it, I learned to be an effective student leader."

According to King, a person will score somewhere between each of those extremes.

There are seven programs all together on

The group will develop advanced skill building for people who have already attended in the past.

Together they would work on such areas

At the end of each fall semester, a letter goes out to all faculty, staff and student leaders to nominate someone for this retreat. •