National Collegiate Leadership Journal Volume 1

Volume 1 December 2, 2013

CONTENTS 03 Introduction

04 “What Would Harry Do?”

08 “College Students’ Definition of a Credible Leader”

13 “Behavioral Impacts in Sorority Mentor Relationships”

19 “Coping Mechanisms for Students Close to ‘Burnout’”

24 “Healthy Bodies, Healthy Minds: A Story of Interdepartmental Collaboration”

*Research findings presented in this journal are associated with particular studies and are not generalizable to a larger population.

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The past couple of years have been filled with firsts for the National Collegiate Leadership Association – first members, first webinars, first LeadersLive!, and many others. We could not be more excited to share with you this first – the first National Collegiate Leadership Journal (NCLJ)!

The NCLJ was created with the intention of providing a space for students to contribute to the scholarship of leadership. We believe that college students who are living leadership experiences on their home campuses have a lot to share and will be able to advance leadership literature through their observations, research, practice, and reflections.

Beyond the obvious value in sharing important leadership experiences for others to learn from, the act of writing can be a powerful tool for synthesizing and analyzing the many messages students receive about leadership. How are you using leadership in your daily practice? What has challenged your thinking or expanded your outlook? How can what you know about leadership impact others and your communities?

Those of us who work in higher education know that having the opportunity to partake in research and writing-intensive experiences such as submitting to the NCLJ can contribute to the overall engagement of students throughout their collegiate career (Kuh, 2008). Additionally, we know that these types of high impact experiences can heighten the learning that happens both in and out of the classroom and help students develop the types of critical competencies (such as writing, analysis, synthesis, critical thinking, etc.) necessary for success in the twenty-first century (Kuh, 2009).

As you read this first volume of the National College Leadership Journal, we hope that you are inspired by the observations and findings of our student writers and that you consider contributing your own thoughts about leadership to this exciting new endeavor!

Jessica Crombie Director, National Collegiate Leadership Association

Kuh, G. D. (2008). High-impact educational practices: What they are, who has access to them, and why they matter. Washington, DC: Association of American Colleges and Universities.

Kuh, G. D. (2009). What student affairs professionals need to know about student engagement. Journal of College Student Development, 50(6), 683–706.

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http://werepair.org/cms/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/hpalightningboltheart01white.jpg

What if a children’s book series was a better motivator for engaging students in social change than involvement in traditional collegiate leadership programs? The popular picture of fandom may be one of screaming girls and lines of costumed movie goers, but fan communities have become highly complex through the use of Internet networks, and fandom activities often include critical analysis of the source material. Such activities have been likened to those of productive citizens outside of fandom culture, and so it is perhaps not surprising that these communities have begun to involve themselves in social change activities for the “real world” in what has been coined fan activism (Kligler-Vilenchik, et al., 2012). One of the strongest examples of fan activism – social activism that utilizes themes from and references to popular media (including literature, film, television, music, and comics) – is The Harry Potter Alliance (HPA).

An international non-profit that reaches an estimated 100,000 members, HPA has used the enormous success of the Harry Potter franchise to organize a primarily youth and young adult audience for social change activities (The Harry Potter Alliance, 2013).

The HPA’s reach makes it clear that this breed of activism attracts participants, but is it truly the inclusion of fandom that motivates these participants, or would they have become involved in social change activities regardless? The purpose of

Janae Phillips The University of Arizona this study is to examine the extent to which fan activism influences a student’s likelihood to participate in social change activities, if at all. The impact of fan activism on student engagement has important implications for the design of future social change programs; fan activism could be a creative new method for increasing student engagement in social change activities.

Literature Review Influences on Student Engagement The culture of a student’s home has been shown to influence a student’s participation in social change activities: the more political issues and civic engagement are discussed or encouraged by parents, the more likely a student is to participate in such activities themselves (Andolina et al., 2003). Direct invitations from organizations or peers are nearly as influential as home environment for students, yet non-profits rarely reach out directly to youth (Andolina et al., 2003). Traditional non-profit and involvement program models may be falling behind in what McGonigal (2008) calls the “engagement economy,” the notion that when modern citizens have so many options for how to spend their time, organizations must work harder to make their activities appealing. She suggests taking cues from the world of gaming to help make traditional civic engagement activities more fun and satisfying for 4

participants (McGonigal, 2008). Fan activism, combining already-enjoyable activities that participants are passionate about with engagement in social change activities, is a perfect example of McGonigal’s suggestion, and indeed members identify this intersection of playful involvement and civic engagement as primary motivation for their involvement in the social change campaigns the HPA organizes (Mizuko, et al., 2013).

Entertainment-Education Almost no research exists on fan activism specifically, but clues about its potential impact on participants can be gained from other forms of media used for education. Integrating what would previously have taken the form of Public Service announcements into general entertainment has become an increasingly popular practice known as Entertainment-Education, or EE (Murphy et al., 2011). EE operates under the Transportation Theory: “To the extent that individuals are absorbed into a story or transported into a narrative world, they may show effects of the story on their real-world beliefs” (Green & Brock, 2000). Consumers of media who feel deeply connected to the narrative, or “transported” into the story, often experience intense emotional reactions and attachment to characters, even when they know that the work is fictional (Green & Brock, 2000). Messages in these narratives are generally better received by consumers because they are not perceived to be intentionally persuasive (as compared to a more traditional advertisement or Public Service Announcement), and consumers in a transported state are less likely to formulate counterarguments for the narrative (Murphey et al., 2011). Consumers have been shown to be measurably changed by the experience of being transported into a narrative, and at least one study has found correlations between intensity of transportation and congruency of real-world beliefs and narrative messages (Green & Brock, 2000). In one case study in India, listeners of a radio show addressing issues of gender equality, dowry, and small family size reported being directly impacted and influenced by the story. Post-survey results found that the show not only changed individual listener perspectives on these issues, but inspired local organizations to start campaigns for gender equality. Furthermore, listeners reported discussing issues covered in the show with friends (Papa et al., 2006). Similarly, in a U.S. study on social messages in the television series Desperate Housewives, the more invested in the series viewers were, the more

messages in the television series Desperate Housewives, the more invested in the series viewers were, the more likely they were to report changes in emotions and beliefs, and the more likely they were to discuss this with others (Murphey et al., 2011).

Fan activism is different from EntertainmentEducation in that the narratives it uses were not created solely for public education. Instead, fan activism utilizes the social change issues and themes that exist in already popularized media. Not surprisingly, consumers who have developed an attachment to the characters in a narrative are even more likely to give attention to the messages therein (Murphey et al., 2011). It may be, then, that the same types of narratives most likely to form widespread fandoms – those with beloved characters and high likelihood of transportation – are also those most likely to influence the beliefs of their consumers.

Methodology The purpose of this study is to examine the extent to which fan activism influences a student’s likelihood to participate in social change activities, if at all. The target population for this study included members of the national Harry Potter Alliance (HPA). Because of travel and communication limitations, a web-delivered survey was used to collect quantitative data. This survey was distributed on the national listserv for Chapter Organizers, who then forwarded the survey to members of their individual chapter members.

The majority of the survey questions gave 5

participants several different pre-written responses from which to choose, and these responses were converted to numerical scales for statistical analysis.

For all questions, the response that indicated the lowest levels of importance, likelihood, or involvement were coded as 1, and the response that indicated the highest levels as a 4 or 5, depending on the number of options for the question. For the question on involvement outside of HPA, free responses were coded for other fandom related activities (i.e. “Quidditch,” a growing sport based on the fictional Harry Potter game). The survey was sent to all registered Chapter Organizers, but it is likely that those who are most engaged in HPA were most likely to respond, and this sample bias could have impacted the data. Because the study population consists entirely of Harry Potter Alliance members, it is unclear whether these results would be consistent for other fandoms. The results of this study should therefore be viewed as a case study in fan activism rather than a definitive representation.

involvement, 32.6% were involved in a Leadership or Service program. The remaining 27% listed a variety of involvement, including academic organizations, Greek life, and cultural groups.

When asked how likely they would be to get involved in other social change organizations if there was not a Harry Potter Alliance chapter in their area, 3.8% of participants said they would not get involved, 42.3% said they “might” get involved, 19.2% said they “most likely would” get involved, 19.2% said they “definitely would,” and 15.4% said they were already involved in this type of organization.

Results Because survey participation was limited to those of 18 years of age or older, respondents were primarily members of institutional and community chapters. Of a total of 52 participants, 46% identified as both the founder and current Chapter Organizer of their chapter, 40% identified as members, 7% as officers, and 5.7% as Chapter Organizers (but not the founder). The average age of participants was 21, with a range of 18 to 37 years old. 85% of participants identified as female, 9.6% as male, and 5.7% as other. 55.7% of participants have been involved in HPA for fewer than 12 months, 15.3% for one year, 19.2% for two years, and 9.6% for three to five years.

For 27% of participants, HPA is their only form of extracurricular involvement, and 5.7% of those who did report other involvement were

When asked how important the Harry Potter themes used in HPA campaigns were to their likelihood to participate, 3.8% of participants said it was “not important,” 17.3% said it was “somewhat important,” 17.3% were neutral, 48.1% said it was “important,” and 13.5% said it was “very important.”

Figure 2: Likelihood of Involvement without HPA 42.3% 15.4% Already Involved

19.2%

19.2%

Definitely Most Likely Would Would

3.8% Might

Would not

Figure 3: Importance of Harry Potter Themes for Involvement 48.1% 13.5% Very Important Important

17.3% Neutral

17.3%

3.8%

Somewhat Not important Important

An unpaired-samples t-test was conducted to compare the likelihood of getting involved in social change activities if HPA did not exist for those who were involved in social change activities Figure 1: Involvement Outside of HPA 34.6% before joining HPA and those who were not.

27.0% 19.2% 13.4% There was a significant difference in the scores 5.7% for the likelihood of those who were not involved prior (M=2.66, SD=1.03) and those Other Fandom Service Leadership Not Involved who were (M=3.7, SD=1.22); t(4)=3.25, p = Involvement Organization Program Outside HPA 0.002. These results suggest that students who involved in other fandom-related activities (either were not engaged in social change activities before fan clubs for other fandoms or Quidditch). Of those joining HPA would have been significantly less who listed some form of extracurricular likely to get involved had HPA not been an option.

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A second unpaired-samples t-test was conducted change activities to consider involvement. The to compare the likelihood of those who indicated continued involvement of HPA members beyond their primary motivation for joining HPA was initial joining seems to indicate that though the involvement in social change activities to those who Harry Potter fandom was their primary reason for indicated their primary motivation for joining HPA joining, the presence of social change activities has was getting involved in the fandom or meeting other not impacted their desire to continue involvement.

Harry Potter fans to get involved in social change Social change organizations may wish to consider activities if HPA did not exist. There was a including fan activism in their programs in order to significant difference in the scores for the likelihood expand program reach to students who are not of those who indicated social change activities currently engaged.

(M=3.32, SD=1.44) and those who indicated There is much room for future research on the involvement in the Harry Potter fandom impact of fan activism on student (M=2.59, SD=1.12); t(4)=2.05, p = 0.047. involvement. As fan activism These results suggest that for students continues to expand, who would be unlikely to participate in similar studies should social change activities otherwise, it is the be conducted to presence of the Harry Potter fandom that is determine if fandoms the primary motivation for students’ outside of the Harry Potter fandom have a involvement in HPA. Further unpaired-samples tcomparable impact on students. Additionally, it tests were conducted comparing these is important to consider whether fan activism that results for those who identified as having is integrated into an existing social change some kind of leadership role organization would have as significant of an impact (officer or Chapter Organizer) to those who as an organization that is http://www.portnoarps.sa.edu.au/Weblinks/images/harrypotter.gif entirely built from fan identified as being a member, and no significant difference was activism.

Conclusion found for either likelihood to get involved or reason for joining.

As options for engagement continue to expand, social change organizations may need to consider Discussion new and innovative approaches to encouraging student involvement. Fan activism is a growing The results of this study suggest that the Harry Potter Alliance, and specifically the use of the Harry method of involving youth and young adults in social change activities, and the current study shows Potter fandom, may encourage students to engage in social change activities who would not have done so that this is true even for students who may not have otherwise. Because those students who indicated that gotten involved in social change otherwise. This is the Harry Potter fandom was their primary reason especially true in the case of those students who indicated that their primary reason for initial for joining HPA were less likely to feel they would have gotten involved in other social change involvement in HPA was the presence of the Harry Potter themes, and not the social change activities activities, it appears that many HPA members are not already social change participants who just independently. As fan activism grows into other fandoms and organizations outside of The Harry happen to be Harry Potter fans, but are becoming involved in social change activities because of the Potter Alliance, it should continue to be explored as a viable option for social change organizations on draw of the Harry Potter fandom.

The implications of this study are important for college campuses. the future of programmatic design for social change organizations. The use of fan activism may inspire Janae Phillips co-founded the University of Arizona Harry Potter Alliance. She is currently pursuing a Master's of Science students who would not otherwise engage in social in Educational Technology at the University of Arizona.

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Amy M. Torres The University of Arizona

“A leader needs to not only act in accordance with their values but also promote other values and characteristics on a community’s behalf to prove to be a credible leader” (Eagly, 2005). This study was conducted to determine what characteristics, traits, and/or behaviors a leader needs to promote to be considered a credible leader by his or her followers.

A focus group, consisting of 11 University of Arizona students was conducted to obtain insights into the question of credible leadership. The most important themes that emerged when considering the credibility of a leader were effective communication, which is the ability to express one’s desires and expectations in a manner that others can understand, and self-belief, which is the ability to portray certain emotions and feelings effectively due to the leader’s belief in the message being communicated. It should also be noted that while many participants stated that gender, race, nor ethnicity change the definition of a credible leader for them personally, some participants stated that these factors do impact the society’s perception of a credible leader.

Kenneth H. Blanchard’s One Minute Manager and John C. Maxwell’s The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership are among the many books that attempt to explain how a person might act in order to be

perceived as a credible leader amongst his or her followers. The books cite past and present examples of leaders and list traits that all of those leaders have in common. These examples aim to describe a formula for the perfect leader by way of the commonality of traits embodied in the leaders highlighted. These books, however, do not specifically identify which characteristics of the leader create credibility in the eyes of followers.

Leaders need not only to act in accordance with their values but also to promote other values and characteristics on a community’s behalf to prove to be credible leaders (Eagly, 2005). The goal of this study is to determine what traits and/or behaviors college students identify as essential to a leader’s credibility. This study will not only focus on what those traits and/or behaviors are, as perceived by followers, but will also examine whether Eagly’s statement is true. In this study, the Social Constructionist Theory will be used, which will help explain how groups and individuals implement different constructs to create their social reality (Burr, 1995). This study will delve further to see what different meanings and assumptions are attached to the words “credible leader.” Some may answer with traits or characteristics, while others 8

will answer by describing behaviors.

access to various types of leadership roles, through education or through the community (Eagly, 2005).

Some are not given certain opportunities because of their gender and/or race, and they are discriminated against in the workplace because whom they are does not match the perspective that the community has regarding women and/or those in minority groups. Therefore, there may be some change in the definition of a credible leader based on the leader’s gender and/or race. Whether they are innate traits or learned behavior, is there a specified list of traits and/or behaviors that define a credible leader?

Literature Review Although leadership has many definitions, the one used in this study is the following: “Leadership is concerned with the ability to have an influence on others to achieve goals” (Hughes, 2009). For many leaders, credibility is not only an attribute, but is also necessary when trying to have others follow your lead (Hughes, 2009). Many others refer to leadership as a strategic tactic that must be put in place, but any strategic tactic is pointless if leaders Methodology do not want to The goal of this study is to determine what traits connect with and/or behaviors college students identify as their followers essential to a leader’s credibility.

(Kouzes & Posner, 2011).

Survey questions Nonetheless, it is a point of were designed to contention raised within many discover the books and articles, including the different meanings two stated above, and and assumptions therefore credibility must be attached to the phrase seen as something that is “credible leader.” of importance in Participants for this effective leadership. study were invited to There are many participate in a focus different group through an email http://1.bp.blogspot.com/perspectives as to sent to 400 students at IES6DlCnESA/UbXH_DVVYhI/AAAAAAAAAHA/of9Hgt1fdPE/s1600/s tewardship.jpg what constitutes a The University of Arizona credible leader. For through email distribution lists example, a leader’s perspective about his or her for a beginning statistics class and leadership role is what makes him or her credible for a leadership club on The (Fairholm, 2004). A credible leader needs to analyze University of Arizona campus. A focus group was the situation to determine what perspective he or she then created from the 11 people that responded, with should use to get the most effective output. all the participants being over 18 and currently Therefore, the leader’s credibility is established by attending The University of Arizona. The group met how well the chosen perspective performs in the once for approximately one hour to discuss the topic specified workplace and by how well the leader of leader credibility. Six qualitative questions were executes the guidelines of the perspective (Fairholm, posed to the group, and each member of the group 2004). The ideas in this article should be taken into answered the questions, prompting a discussion consideration because the definition of a credible amongst the participants. The six questions asked leader, according to followers, can possibly change were as follows: when the leader’s perspective about his or her role changes.

1. Have you been in a leader-follower position However, other studies have shown that gender sometime within the last 90 days? and/or race can influence a leader’s credibility 2. In your opinion, what is the definition of a (Eagly, 2005). Leaders need to portray their own credible leader? values when leading, and they need to promote the 3. What makes a leader credible? values of the community they are serving at the same 4. What specific aspects constitute a credible time. This may be harder for females and minorities leader?

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In your opinion, what characteristic is most important to the credibility of a leader?

6. Does gender, race, or ethnicity change the definition of a credible leader?

5.

All responses were recorded using a voice recorder and were later transcribed onto paper and separated by question. Once all of the participants’ responses were recorded, coding categories were created to encompass the key words and unveil common themes amongst the participants’ answers and to help quantify the qualitative results. The themes include the following: • • • • • • •

Effective Communication Self-belief Personable Knowledgeable Integrity Team-oriented Functionality

The key words in each of the quotes taken from the participants all fall into one of the categories stated above. Once all the responses had been coded, the data was then analyzed and translated into quantitative values by going through each question and counting the number of times a certain key word or set of words appeared in a single response. This data was then put into an Excel spreadsheet, and conclusions were made from the data collected.

Other similarities and trends were also noted, and later analysis and interpretation was performed to see if those trends have any meaning when discussing a leader’s credibility.

There are certain limitations to this study, including the small sample size, which may not

position within the past 90 days. This first question did not reveal any new information and did not serve any use in helping to organize the future data collected. The last question was poorly worded and could have made a person believe that it was morally wrong to answer yes to this question. The question also asks the individual to reflect on the biases they may carry. Many may not confess to their biases, and even more individuals would say that they do not have any biases. Therefore, the question should be reworded to refer to society’s thinking rather than the individual’s thinking. More usable information could then be gathered from data from the reworded question. Another limitation of this study is the varying degrees of leadership training, instruction, and knowledge amongst the participants, since one of the email lists was of participants in Blue Chip, a four-year leadership program at The University of Arizona. As a result, some answers may reflect the extensive leadership training and education the Blue Chip students had previously received. A wider and broader survey would need to be conducted to help validate the accuracy of the findings.

Results The results were concluded after compiling, coding, and analyzing the data obtained from the participants’ responses. Participants responded to most questions sharing traits and behaviors they believed constitute a credible leader. The table outlines the total number of times a word or phrase was used by a participant that related to the theme, followed by a number representing how many of the total 11 participants used or word or phrase that related to the theme.

Effective Communication When asked to give a definition of a credible

Question

Effective Communication

Personable

Knowledgeable

Integrity

TeamOriented

Self- Functionality Belief

2

7,5

3,3

4,4

5,5

6,4

11,4

2,2

3

7,5

1,1

6,5

6,4

6,6

5,4

4,4

4 5

8, 6 3, 3

4,2 12, 4

4,1 8,4

5,4 3,3

1,1 10, 5

6,4 6,3

3,3 4,1

accurately represent the opinion of the greater group of college students at The University of Arizona.

Also, the first and last questions that are stated on the survey either 1) need to be edited or 2) discarded.

Ten out of the eleven candidates, or 91%, responded that they had been in some type of leader-follower

leader, many gave key words that fell into the category of effective communication. Effective communication refers to the ability for followers to understand what a leader is saying, and therefore, understand what the leader expects of them through the communication with the leader. Effective 10

that impact is unknown. The connection of gender and race and/or ethnicity to leader credibility warrants further research and investigation in future studies.

Conclusion In future research, consideration should be given to making several changes to this study. The future researcher should try to answer the question of why college students would think and believe credible leaders to have these traits, and why people automatically associate these traits when thinking about the credibility of a leader. In conclusion, while these results show that

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communication was valued by over half of the participants as a specific attribute that a credible leader should have; no other results were as strong.

The results show that this group of college students value effective communication above all else when trying to determine whether or not a leader is credible. This category continued to be one that participants frequently mentioned in three of the four questions asked.

Self-Belief The second-most mentioned category was selfbelief. In this study, self-belief refers to how a leader presents him- or herself to others and how the followers perceive the leader. For example, a few key words in this category include confidence, courage, passion, and bravery. Leaders must believe in themselves and be able to demonstrate this to followers. Self-belief was mentioned frequently in two out the four questions open-ended questions.

Gender, Race, and Ethnicity The final question asked if gender, race, or ethnicity changed the definition of a credible leader.

While eight out of the eleven participants answered “no” for themselves personally, three out of the eleven stated that in society, gender, race, and/or ethnicity does change the definition of a credible leader. One participant specifically stated:

“It should not, but it does. If a leader is perceived . . . to be weak, dishonest, unintelligent, or unable to convince others due to stereotypes, then his credibility is impacted. Credibility is ultimately tied to the power a leader is given and yields.”

Interestingly, even this quote highlights the perception that leaders are male in terming it “his credibility.” Gender and race and/or ethnicity likely do have an impact on a leader’s credibility; however,

effective communication and self-belief are the aspects most sought out in leaders to prove that they are credible, more research needs to be done with a larger sample to validate the accuracy and reliability of the data and the findings.

Amy Marie Torres is currently a senior at the University of Arizona, and majoring in Public Policy and Management. She is also part of a leadership organization on campus known as the Arizona Blue Chip Program. This leadership organization inspired her to research and study the theories and thoughts that college student’s associate with the definition of a credible leader.

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Devin Gregory The University of Arizona

This study aimed to explore the unique dynamics of Big and Little mentor relationships within sororities. These dynamics included the extent to which a Big Sister has influence over the behaviors of her Little Sister, the extent to which a Big Sister is viewed as a role model by her Little Sister, and the potential implications of these relational dynamics. An online survey was conducted to gather the perceptions of 44 first-year sorority members. The questions were shaped in order to yield open-response, qualitative data. This survey found that on average, Little Sisters feel that their actions in college were somewhat to moderately influenced by their Big Sister. This sets a tone of importance on these mentor relationships and what they are capable of, both positively and negatively.

New interpersonal relationships do not always have the potential to illicit a substantial change in one’s behavior, but Big and Little relationships within traditional Greek sororities might serve as the exception. New members are likely to have the most support within the chapter because of the typically increased involvement of the Big Sister in the life of the Little Sister. Therefore, the purpose of this qualitative study is to better understand if and how the influence of the Big impacts the behaviors of the Little within mentor relationships in traditional sororities at the University of Arizona.

Big and Little relationships are a part of a mentor program within many traditional sororities in which an uninitiated new member is matched with an initiated, second- or third-year, active member.

The active member, or Big, of a fraternity or sorority 13

serves as a sponsor, advisor and special friend to a new member, or Little, guiding him or her through the new member process and initiation (The University of Arizona Fraternity and Sorority Programs, 2013). The central intention is for the Big to aid the Little in becoming acclimated to the sorority or fraternity and other elements of college life. The Big has the potential to be highly influential on the Little, even extending so far as to provide help or to inflict harm on the Little, especially during his or her new member process and extending through the first year of membership.

This study will be conducted utilizing behavioral leadership theory, which indicates that behaviors can be learned, trained, or influenced by outside sources (Green, 2012).

This theory is particularly important for this study because it will guide the compilation of survey questions needed to gain an inside look on past and hypothetical situations.

Behavioral leadership theory will serve as a tool in framing any potential changes in behaviors of the Little Sisters within sorority mentor relationships. Additionally, it will help to provide a contextual scale to compare the extent of behavioral changes between participants.

The research that this study provides is of importance because of the immense potential associated with these mentor relationships. It is possible that sororities are facing missed opportunities from not having the knowledge of how to best manage these relationships. On the contrary, many new members may be placed in dangerous, peer pressure-like situations that are inflicting harm onto them early in their college careers. In order to have the knowledge and resources necessary to maximize the potential of these mentor relationships, it is imperative to find the answer to the following question: When looking at Big and Little mentor relationships in traditional Greek sororities, how and to what extent might the influence of the Big impact the behaviors of the Little?

Literature Review To date, findings on the impact of the Greek experience on its new members have been complex

to say the least. There appears to be an ongoing battle over whether or not Greek life presents its members with more benefits or harm. Yet, what is often agreed upon is that there is a unique sort of GreekThink that occurs among Greek members in particular. GreekThink, modeled after Irving L. Janis’ term, GroupThink, seeks to describe the phenomenon that utilizes the group’s loyalty to promote agreement amongst its members (Nuwer, 1999). While the Greek pillars of service, friendship, scholarship, and leadership (The University of Arizona Fraternity and Sorority Programs, 2013) are exercised through the cohesiveness of GreekThink, not all of its effects are positive. GreekThink is attributed to effectively lowering collective critical

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thinking skills, engaging in reckless behaviors, and disregarding the best interests of newcomers, often putting them in harm (Nuwer, 1999).

GreekThink is not the only form of external influence that new members may face. Peer pressure is another potentially prevalent element of the new member process because new members are more likely to abide by the expectations or commands of the elder members once they have become part of a tightly-linked organization (Nuwer, 1999). Greekoriented peer pressure is unique because there is a sense of future payoff or retaliation: If a student gives in to peer pressure as a new member in the Greek community, then there is a feeling of entitlement that may allow them to inflict the same behavior onto future new members (Nuwer, 1999).

GreekThink and peer pressure can be observed in having a role on one’s alcohol use. Though alcohol consumption may be considered a normality on college campuses, Greek lettered societies tend to carry this norm to levels of excess, even 14

experiencing more negative consequences than their non-Greek peers (Chashin et al., 1998). The effects of alcohol and other risky substances have been seen in the actual behaviors of Greek students. Because of an experience or multiple experiences with alcohol or other risky substances, 50% of Greek students have admitted to performing less than desirable on a test, project or paper compared to just 25% of the general college population. 70% of Greeks missed class(es) because of an experience with alcohol compared to 33% of all students. 59% of Greeks were part of an unwanted or unintended argument or fight in comparison to 35% of their fellow students due to an alcohol-related circumstance (Chashin et al., 1998).

Seeing trends in Greek behaviors could possibly be linked to the ripple effect. The ripple effect implies that a person who is willing to invest in another will act as the sender by giving, in a variety of capacities, to a receiver. Through this relationship, the receiver then develops the capacity to become a sender and is then likely to become a sender to future receivers (Moerer-Urdahl et al., 2004). In theory, the ripple effect is endless because behaviors can be learned from the mentor and then taught to the mentee (Moerer-Urdahl et al., 2004).

This has the potential to become increasingly problematic when considering the cyclical nature of the Big and Little relationships. Each Little eventually becomes a Big and might teach to her new mentee exactly what was taught to her.

Not all elements of Greek relationships are potentially risky. In fact, Big and Little relationships can have quite the positive effect on levels of emotional gratitude and relational connections experienced by new members in sororities (Algoe et al., 2009). Since this gratitude has the potential to create a relationship building cycle, Little Sisters are more likely to continue the spread of gestures, gifts, and affection to future new members. The more time, energy, and resources that a Big Sister contributes during reveal week is correlated with the quality of their relationship in the future. Reveal week is typically a major celebration within sororities and is the week in which a new member discovers who her new Big Sister is through some variety of clues, activities, tokens, and gifts (Algoe et al., 2009). But the question remains: Beyond the glamor of reveal week, what is the capacity of the influence of a Big sister, and does it typically result in more beneficial or risky behaviors by the Little

Sister?

Methodology The question that has directed this research is as follows: When looking at Big and Little mentor relationships in traditional Greek sororities, how and to what extent might the influence of the Big impact the behaviors of the Little? The study was designed to uncover opinions, tendencies, and behaviors Little Sisters associate with their Big Sisters and therefore determine how these elements might affect the behaviors of the Little Sister.

Since the most relevant data would come in the form of experience-based, open-ended, or opinionated questions, the survey was conducted with primarily qualitative-oriented questions, providing each subject with an open-response box without a character limit to allow for expansion.

There were also six quantitative questions paired with a range or scale for each respondent to choose a level on the scale with which they identify most for any given statement. Examples of these quantitative questions include: • “According to the following scale, how has your Big Sister influenced your actions and/or behaviors in college?”

• “According to the following definition: ‘Role Model - A person whose behavior, example, or success is or can be emulated by others, especially by younger people (dictionary.com, 2013)’ to what extent is your Big Sister in your sorority a role model?”

These quantitative questions served as a control base for interpreting data later in the process.

The participant pool included all of the Fall 2012 and Spring 2013 new member classes within the eleven traditional sororities at the University of Arizona. The 2012 New Member Educators from Alpha Delta Pi, Alpha Epsilon Phi, Alpha Phi, Chi Omega, Delta Delta Delta, Delta Gamma, Gamma Phi Beta, Kappa Alpha Theta, Kappa Kappa Gamma, Pi Beta Phi, and Sigma Kappa were contacted and informed of the logistics surrounding the survey, including how the identities of the participants, their Big Sisters, and sorority affiliations would not be collected, making this survey completely anonymous. The New Member Educators then distributed the information and survey link to the qualifying members. Initially, the respondents were not as plentiful as was needed to 15

increase the validity of the survey. Therefore, an additional email reminding the New Member reminding the New Member Educators to disburse the survey became necessary. This resulted in the survey timeline extending from 2 weeks to 3.5 weeks of data collection. This outreach was also responsible for tripling the number of respondents and therefore provided increased accuracy and validity of the findings. This was possible because increased responses accentuated the common responses and outliers, which guided the interpretation of data in a more controlled way.

The data was downloaded into an Excel document where each open-response answer was included for interpretation. The responses to the experiencebased, open-ended, and opinion-based questions were organized through a form of coding that included scaling the data from risky to healthy behavior. The coding served to separate answers that were classified as risky from those that were not for more defined interpretation.

Risky behaviors included reference to illegal activities, drugs, alcohol, and unhealthy sexual behavior, or depicted ease at giving in to peer pressure.

Responses that did not include these elements were added to the neutral, less risky, or healthy side of the spectrum as appropriate. Since 11 of the questions were open ended, the sorting of the responses on this scale was done as carefully as possible while looking for trigger words that indicated a specific placement on the scale rather than jumping to conclusions about the participant’s intended responses. This guarded process helped to preserve validity of the responses.

The type of personal information the survey was collecting increases the limitations of this study.

Many sorority women may feel allegiance to their Big Sister and/or their sorority. Therefore, they may

have been less likely to be honest or even partake in a survey that collected such specific and invasive information about their experiences in their sorority with their Big Sister. The 2012 New Member Educators acted as middle-women in distributing the link to the survey, which may not have been sent to all 11 groups or each of the eligible women within them. The survey was distributed during a busy time within the academic year, which may have decreased the likelihood of a woman participating in a freeresponse survey projected to take 20-30 minutes.

Additional limitations lie within the participant selection pool since the participants are only firstyear members of traditional sororities at the University of Arizona. This eliminates all fraternity men, women in sororities at other institutions, women in non-traditional sororities at the University of Arizona, and members of sororities outside of the Fall 2012 and Spring 2013 New Member classes.

With such a specific target group, the data collected is equally as specific and therefore is likely to be less transferrable to other groups or mentor relationships.

Results and Discussion This survey yielded a variety of positive and alarming responses regarding the ways in which sorority mentor relationships affect the behaviors of the mentee. On the positive side, 88% of women surveyed felt that their Big Sister was at least somewhat of a role model, and 70% felt that their Big Sister was mostly or significantly aligned with the definition of a role model. With 88% of women agreeing that their Big Sister is at least somewhat of a role model, one can determine a heightened level of allegiance or admiration that the respondents feel toward their Big Sisters. There appears to be a positive lens through which most of them view their Big Sister.

Big Sister as a Role Model Furthermore, the survey results indicated that women who had a positive view of their Big Sisters most enjoyed doing the following activities with their Big: 33% most enjoyed going out to eat with their Big, 32% most enjoyed attending a sorority sponsored event with their Big, 17% most enjoyed going to a movie or activity with their Big, and 10% most enjoyed having conversations with their Big. These findings have helped to conclude that spending time doing activities that were ruled as legal and healthy help leave the best perception of 16

the relationship in the mind of the Little. The 10% of participants who indicated that their Big is not involved in their life at all did not have positive views of their Big as a role model or of the time they have spent together.

Influence of the Big Sister Of all women surveyed, 77% indicated that their behaviors are indeed influenced by their Big Sister.

When asked, “How would you handle a situation where your Big Sister told you to do something that was illegal or made you feel uncomfortable?” 88% of women indicated that they would not participate in something of this nature. Yet 12% said they would partake in an activity that was illegal or made them feel uncomfortable if their Big asked them to.

When asked, “How would you handle a situation where an older member who was not your Big Sister told you to do something that was illegal or made you feel uncomfortable?” 21% of respondents indicated they would partake in such an activity with an active member who was not their Big. Since 12% of women would agree to partake in an illegal or uncomfortable activity prompted by her Big compared to 21% of women who would agree to partake in the same type of activity that was prompted by another active member, one can conclude that new members feel more comfortable to be themselves and make their own decisions with their Big than with a less familiar member. One woman stated, “I would do whatever she [the active member who was not her Big] told me to do because I want her to like me.” Another said, “I feel comfortable enough with my Big to tell her ‘no’ when I don’t want to do something. I can’t say the same for other members in my house [sorority].”

This presents a substantial case for increasing close interpersonal relationships within sororities so that the new members are comfortable enough to avoid peer pressure.

In addition, a Big Sister can influence a Little Sister’s behavior regarding alcohol use and risky sexual activity but has a greater influence over alcohol consumption. Using an unpaired t-test, it was found that a Big Sister has a greater influence over the alcohol consumption of her Little Sister (M=.295, SD=.632) compared to the influence she has regarding risky sexual behavior (M=.0227, SD=.151), t(86)=2.79, p=.0066. 43% of women noted that they do drink in college but also indicated that they do not feel pressured by their Big Sister to

do so. Of that 43%, 49% noted that they often enjoy drinking with their Big Sister because it is an activity they do together after consciously deciding that they both want to. One woman indicated, “I didn't drink before college, but then I went out with her and she asked if I wanted anything and I felt comfortable so I did.” Another stated, “She didn't make me; she was drinking so I wanted to as well.”

And another commented, “We always talk about how fun it would be to go out together. A few times we have gone to a party together but it was both of our decisions and she was by no means pressuring me into going.” Comments such as these highlight less of a peer pressure factor and more of a comfort to engage in this type of behavior with someone she trusts.

Future Research Future research may include taking an investigative look into the “buddies” that new members are paired with during the first few weeks of their membership before they are paired with a Big Sister. This would present an interestingly expansive research opportunity since these pairings are typically random women that the new members do not know or hardly know at all. It would be a curious project since the relationships between the new members and their weekly buddies are less developed and therefore may hold less weight of allegiance and admiration. Fraternity mentor relationships might bring a new level of intensity to this study. Additionally, it would be informative to view other collegiate mentor relationships outside of Greek life.

Conclusion In conclusion, since 88% of Little Sisters view their Big Sisters as role models, and 77% admit that their Big Sister has an influence on their behaviors, sorority mentor relationships carry significant importance. These relationships carry a unique potential for both positive and negative influence.

Therefore, it is imperative to use that influence with the best intentions to implement positive behaviors within the lives of sorority new members.

Devin Gregory graduated from the University of Arizona and currently resides in San Diego, CA.

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Call for programs opens September 1 Registration opens November 1 Register online at www.leadership-conference.org

Web: www.leadership-conference.org Email: nclclead@gmail.com Phone: (520) 626-1572

www.facebook.com/nclclead @ nclclead

The National Collegiate Leadership Conference brings together hundreds of college students from across the nation for a leadership experience they will never forget. Participants will have the opportunity to learn new leadership skills, cultivate social responsibility, break down leadership barriers, and adopt leadership as a way of life.

Miguel A. Acero, Jr. The University of Arizona

Attaining a degree is a stepping-stone to a chosen profession, but are students at colleges and universities doing too much to get to where their dreams are guiding them? When students are involved in activities beyond school, it seems that college life becomes more challenging and stressful, leading students to have a difficult time balancing various responsibilities. To better understand how students deal with that stress, this study will focus on determining the mechanisms that undergraduate students at the University of Arizona use to cope with mental exhaustion otherwise known as “burnout.” Burnout is defined as demands given to an individual that exceed allotted time for an individual trying to accomplish a task (Greenglass & Burke, 1990). Burnout differs from stress because stress is having several responsibilities at a given time that can eventually be controlled. For someone who is “burned out,” however, it is an emotional, mental, and physical state of being overwhelmed so much so that at one point, an individual loses interest

or motivation to accomplish a chosen task. This is problematic because it can lead to an individual’s reduction in productivity, feeling of disengagement and carelessness as well as increased feelings of helplessness and hopelessness (Smith, 2012).

Understanding this information will be helpful in evaluating if other students can learn coping mechanisms so that they do not reach a state of being overwhelmed when taking on several responsibilities.

To effectively demonstrate this, behavioral theory will be used to provide evidence for possibly making this learned behavior so that future students can adopt coping mechanisms without becoming burned out if they desire to take on numerous activities. In general, behavioral theory focuses on individuals learning by observation and practicality to obtain specific skills rather than being born with them (Katz, 1955). By learning how to cope with participating in various activities, it will be easier for students to deal with a rigorous schedule and 19

therefore not reach the feeling of being burned out.

Literature Review Research regarding burnout began in the early 1970’s (Gold, 1985), and much of the focus was on professionals in the workforce, primarily in the service sector, where individuals spent much of their time helping other individuals deal with their problems (Greenglass, 1990). Some of the occupations observed included teachers, nurses, police officers, and several others. From there, research began to focus on other areas of the workforce, but research on college students was limited to college residential assistants (Jacobs & Dodd, 2003). Since then, researchers have begun to investigate burnout with the general college population. The purpose of this study is to find ways that students deal with the demands of holding a job and participating in extracurricular activities, all while having a full academic schedule to become more competitive and sought-after graduates.

Research on student burnout has provided evidence that indicates that having many things to balance can decrease educational performance and increase levels of stress. A study focusing on working while studying at an institution of higher education showed that off-campus employment was negatively related to GPA as well as a general state of being overwhelmed (Catherine et al., 2005). It can be difficult to fulfill the role of a successful student when one has responsibilities elsewhere; doing so can be detrimental to one’s academic standing.

Additional research has found that mental exhaustion has been proven to result in symptoms related to physical, emotional, and behavioral health (Ajmera, 2009). Physical symptoms include feeling tired most of the time, getting sick often, and most notably, changes in appetite and sleeping habits.

Emotional symptoms have pointed to feelings of self-doubt, helplessness, loss of motivation, and less satisfaction and sense of accomplishment.

Behavioral symptoms include withdrawing from responsibilities, isolating oneself from family, procrastinating, or getting frustrated with people (Ajmera, 2009).

To cope with the stresses of a demanding

schedule, other research has found that often students use coping mechanisms such as drinking and drug use; seeking emotional support, religion, social companionship; exercising; and effective time management (Hudd et al., 2000).

Methodology To better understand the coping mechanisms that students use to deal with burnout, interviews were conducted with five undergraduate students at the University of Arizona. This study was focused on finding qualitative information, and interviews were chosen as the best method because they would allow for more in-depth information due to its conversational component in probing questions.

Participants were referenced by colleagues, administrators, or by answering through email to the main researcher to find additional participants that fit the description required for the study. This snowball method was useful for finding participants because it allows better access to a rare population identified by members of that population (Thompson, 2002). If participants met the qualifications, which are defined as attending college full-time, working part-time defined as working 10 or more hours on or off campus, and being involved in extracurricular activities, then they were asked to be interviewed.

Each participant was asked 36 open-ended questions, each focused on determining his or her involvement on campus, school, family, and work life; why participants had such busy schedules; and what strategies or outlets were used to cope with going to school full-time, working part-time, and being involved in extracurricular activities.

The location for each interview varied and was generally chosen by the participant. The reasoning for this was to allow the participants to feel at ease and to encourage longer answers to questions asked.

Interviews were held later in the evening, as many of the participants were busy and could only meet between breaks, during study time, or right before or after meetings. Throughout each interview, information was typed on a portable computer and recorded as a voice memo on a cellular phone. This allowed for easy accessibility with notes missed or errors in findings. While participants were asked 20

questions, in addition to taking note of their answers, body language was observed to determine comfort level with a question. Wandering eyes, constant body movement or an uneasy smile constituted as negative body language, and if noticed, a question was skipped or clarification was provided.

Participants were notified that if they were not comfortable with a question being asked, there was a choice to skip the question and go back to it later or not answer it at all.

The data was analyzed and interpreted based on the type of answers that participants gave. Questions addressed included: • Amount of units taken • Hours worked and why working was important • How participant felt about participating in many activities • If participant have a social life • Participant’s drive in achieving goals • The health of the participant • How participant felt about the idea of dropping out of school • If there was any part of his or her life from which they felt disconnected The responses were coded based on different categories, such as responsibilities, physical and mental health, and escape mechanisms. There was an overwhelming amount of evidence obtained from the interviews that resulted in the group of participants sharing many of the same experiences, beliefs, and feelings about taking on so many activities.

These consistencies are important to realize the validity of this study because participants’ answers were similar.

The limitations of the study include a sample size of five participants. The specifications of the study also point to a particular type of student, which also made it difficult to effectively find various participants, even

with the snowball method being used. Additionally, non-traditional students, defined as students who do not enroll in college right after finishing high school, were not included in this study.

Results Reasons for Involvement Trends emerged across many categories related to how involved participants were in school, extracurricular activities, and work, as well as the repercussions of this involvement. All participants enrolled in 13-15 units in the semester, worked 1530 hours per week, and held leadership roles with at least one organization. The data suggests that participants are generally overwhelmed with the amount of activities they participate in but continue to stay involved with several activities to build their resumes, develop leadership skills, and have the “full college experience.”

Work played a variety of roles specifically for students who paid for school, worked to gain experience in a specific field, pay for nonessential clothing and apparel items, and pay for bills that included rent, car payments, and cell phone.

Each participant claimed that they were overly ambitious as they attempted to get the most done with the least amount of time and mentioned that they felt underappreciated in extracurricular activities or at work. Participants said that they were “taken for granted” because they were willing to do more for a club or organization but never received recognition for their work.

Effects of Involvement Participants acknowledged that this ambition and extensive schedule would even cut into their sleep time.

Generally, most participants slept anywhere from 5-7 hours a day, and one participant even claimed that sleep would be last as a priority compared to finishing homework or completing extracurricular responsibilities. The participant also said, “[I sleep] probably like five hours, maybe six. And I take some sleeping pills to 21

sleep…How sad is that?” As a result of having an irregular sleep schedule, most participants also claimed to have unhealthy eating habits.

After being asked if the thought of dropping out ever crossed participant’s minds, 50% claimed they had considered dropping out of college. Those who said they had not considered dropping out of college indicated having a strong support system or knowing that one needs to attain a degree to acquire a good job in the future.

Most importantly, nearly all participants felt that that they were disconnected from their families due to being consumed with the amount of activities in which they participated.

Although there was a disconnect with family, participants validated their actions by claiming that it was important to be involved in so many activities to be an example for their families.

Coping Strategies Social connections with friends and family provide participants both a source of enjoyment and essential emotional support to cope with burnout.

Social connections constitute participants’ social lives, which they defined as connecting with others rather than going out. Half of the participants discussed speaking to co-workers and being active in class with other students as their form of a social life. One participant said, “It’s there…I keep my circle small. I hang out with [my friends] on campus, but don’t really go out on the weekends because I am either at work or too tired to go out.” To deal with stressful schedules, participants find emotional support in hanging out with friends and family because they allow the participants to forget about the stresses in life and remind them of what is truly important, family and friends. The results of this study are in alignment with research by Hudd et al.

study are in alignment with research by Hudd et al.

(2000) in that emotional support and social companionship can help one deal with internalized stress from a demanding schedule. Other findings by Hudd et al. (2000) including substance use, exercising, religion, and time management as coping mechanisms were not factors that emerged in this study.

Discussion There was agreement amongst participants that extensive academic, work, and extra-curricular involvement is great for improving skills and one’s resume, but the costs are high.

Consistencies regarding emotional, physical, and behavioral symptoms of burnout emerged across participants.

Due to feeling overwhelmed and having irregular sleeping and eating habits, participants felt tired most of the time. But, they indicated that they would be willing to sacrifice their health to make sure that school, work, and extracurricular activities were being accomplished, even to the point of taking sleeping pills.

Participants also noted feeling underappreciated by peers and colleagues and disconnected from their families due to time constraints. They crave emotional support to validate their hard work, ambition, and commitment from the very people they are disconnected from. It is evident that the best mechanism for students coping with burnout is to maintain strong social connections with and emotional support from friends and family.

Implications Knowing that many students will continue to become overinvolved, either out of necessity or out of their own interest and sense of ambition, there are implications for the findings of this study for 22

students, faculty/staff, and families. First, with this information, it may be easier for students to understand how important social companionship and emotional support are when deciding to participate in numerous roles while in college. In order to stay healthy in their mind and body, students may need to be very conscious in making sure to have the emotional support and network of friends and/or family necessary to handle stress and burnout that comes with being overly involved. Emotional support from others would help them prioritize and stay motivated, as well as validating their experiences. In addition, social companionship would help them have an outlet to burn off stress.

Second, faculty and staff in the college setting can work with students to ensure that they have some type of emotional support and social companionship outside of their classes, whether that is through organizational involvement, social networks, or support groups.

Third, family members may need to understand that emotional support is vital to their student’s success so that they can be more conscious about the emotional support they are providing for their student and when it might be the right time to step in and provide more support based on the level of their involvement. Families may also need to understand that although there may be a sense of disconnection between students and their families, emotional support and social companionship is no less important.

Further research needs to be conducted to validate the findings on a larger scale. The sample size for this study was small, but a larger sample size could provide a broader perspective for understanding. Other considerations could also include social class, race, experiences in high school, and if a student is non-traditional or not. These considerations could be influential in understanding if they impact a student’s ability to take on so many activities and find ways to cope with burnout.

Conclusion This study sought to explore the mechanisms that college students use to deal with burnout from extensive involvement in school, work, and extracurricular activities. It is clear that students who are involved in various activities do so out of necessity, ambition, and/or to be an example for their families. However, it becomes burdensome in many ways, so much so that for some students it affects their health and ability to sustain important relationships with family, which is vital to coping with burnout. Limiting involvement to avoid burnout may be a healthier approach, but some students out of necessity or

interest may still get overinvolved. Making an effort to spend time with family and friends can provide the emotional support and companionship that is helpful in students’ dealing with burnout. Family and friends can also continue to remind the students what they are trying to accomplish by being in college and help them prioritize their involvement.

As a first generation college student, Miguel Acero Jr. endured several obstacles during his undergraduate experience while simultaneously working as an orthodontic assistant at an office in Tucson, AZ. He was very active in organizations around campus and soon realized that he was becoming overwhelmed with the various responsibilities he took on and as a result wanted to find if other students around campus felt the same way. He recently graduated with a BA in Sociology, minor in Leadership Studies and Practice and plans on continuing his education by applying to dental school in the summer of 2014.

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Healthy Bodies, Healthy Minds: A Story of Interdepartmental Collaboration

Nicholas P. Palumbo State University of New York at Geneseo

During the 2012-2013 academic year, a new series of workshops were made available to SUNY Geneseo students involved in the on campus leadership program, Geneseo Opportunities for Leadership Development. This series of workshops entitled, “Healthy Bodies, Healthy Minds”, is the synergy of what was once two separate programs offered by Geneseo’s student leadership education and health and counseling departments. As a result, once the same health and wellness workshops became available through GOLD, the student participation rate increased by nearly 900% over the course of one year. And, 83% of students surveyed reported implementing at least one of the new skills learned. Given the success of this collaborative workshop series we believe it may be a model that other institutions will be able to use to blend health and leadership programs.

Campus Culture The campus culture of The State University of New York (SUNY) at Geneseo with an undergraduate population of 5,347 students is best represented by voluntary extracurricular

participation in service and leadership. This is seen not only in the over 200 student organizations, but in the active participation of 26% of the campus in Geneseo’s award winning student leadership program, Geneseo Opportunities for Leadership Development (GOLD) (SUNY Geneseo, 2012). This 26% of the undergraduate student body constitute students who attended one or more workshops during the 2012-2013 academic year and 3,092 journal reflections about the workshop(s) they had attended were submitted (Geneseo Opportunities for Leadership Development, 2013).

Leadership Program The GOLD Program is a student leadership education program utilizing the Relational Model of Leadership to educate students outside of the classroom. GOLD is available to Geneseo students and the surrounding community. Students may earn one or more of the 10 leadership certificates through attending workshops which often connects them with service and civic engagement projects. GOLD provides Geneseo students an opportunity to develop their own personal leadership model, while fostering 24

connections with their surrounding community.

GOLD serves not just to develop leaders, but also embolden the practice of ethical, exemplary leadership, not only as Geneseo students, but forthcoming citizens of a global community (Matthews, 2013, p. 17).

GOLD distinguishes itself as a student leadership program through its interdepartmental collaborative structure. Only two years after its inception GOLD collaborated with Multicultural Programs and Services and Volunteerism leading to the creation of the Opal and Sapphire certificates. A task force working on ways to increase the professionalism of students employed on campus worked with GOLD which in time led to the creation of the Emerald Career and Professional Development Leadership Certificate. Yet again, in 2006 the library faculty approach GOLD hoping to teach workshops on Leadership in the information age which in time became the Ruby Information Management and Digital Leadership Certificate.

It is this type of collaborating which would ultimately lead to the creation of three more interdepartmental certificates and a six interdepartmental series of workshops (Matthews, 2013, p.

24). The latest collaboration “Healthy Bodies, Healthy Minds” (HBHM), a series of workshops on developing techniques for students to focus on their mental and physical wellbeing instructed by Geneseo’s Lauderdale Center for Health and Counseling staff.

HBHM infuses two seemingly separate constructs: student leadership and health. But in reality, these two areas are more similar than one would think. If student do not know how to take care of their physical or mental health, their effectiveness as student leaders will surely be impaired. One afternoon I picked up an advertisement flyer on a dining hall, and the connection between leadership and health snowballed into a new series of workshops.

The Story Behind HBHM Who would have thought raising a simple question based on a seemingly obvious problem on campus could elicit change? Before the start of the

GOLD program in the fall semester of 2000, Geneseo’s Health and Counseling center offered health and wellness tools to students (e.g., Stress Management). In the spring, as a second semester sophomore, I had no idea about their program, but I did know that every time I ate lunch at our à la carte food dining hall on campus I saw neon 2x3 inch flyers propped all over the tables. One day I decided to pick-up one of these fliers and it read, “Stress Busters”. Being a Psychology major I was instantly intrigued, and the flier was advertising a workshop at 1-2 o’clock that Thursday in the library. The workshop was titled “Mind over Mood: Changing Your Thoughts to Decrease Stress”, I was free during that time on Thursday and I decided to check it out. I arrived at room 109 in the Milne Library about 5 minutes before 1 o’clock that Thursday and was instantly greeted by Dr. Cholette, a staff psychologist at our counseling center. I was shocked to find that I was the first student there, but I was even more surprised when after 5 after 1 o’clock only two other students showed up for the workshop. It was captivating, fun, and memorable. I left the workshop relaxed, reenergized, but also confused. I thought to myself, “How is it possible only two other students and I took advantage of such an amazing workshop?” I ended up attributing the low attendance to the fact that it was late April, finals were around the corner, and as a student I know trying to sell any event between 12pm in the library is nearly impossible. The following week, I picked up another neon fliers and I was delighted to see another Stress Buster workshop on “Increasing Academic Efficiency”. Again, I was free during that time, and again showed up five minutes early. I was the first person there and met the instructor Dr. Carlo, another staff psychologist at our counseling center. A few minutes later, the student walked in, and he would be the last. I was shocked! Though this was only the second workshop I had attended, the low attendance trend was evident 25

to me. An hour later, I left this workshop feeling excited and with study “tools” I had never thought to employ before, but this time I had to talk to someone about this. I went straight to Dr. Matthews, Associate Dean of Leadership and Service and the director of the GOLD program. As a GOLD Leader Mentor knowing the ins and outs of the program, I knew that GOLD had a rich history of collaboration between departments on campus and was convinced GOLD could certainly aid their workshop series.

After explaining the observations I had made, we debated for an hour on why this might be occurring.

Dr. Matthews and I agreed that low attendance rates are a combination of the location, time, and availability. The greatest lesson I have learned working with and mentoring students as a GOLD Leader Mentor is being cognizant of what appeals and motivates my own cohort to participate in extracurricular and on-campus programs. That being said, I believe, the mistake our health and counseling staff had made was assuming that students would commit to attending workshops solely on the basis of advertisements and flyers. While GOLD uses an online sign-up and drop system for getting students to sign-up for workshops, decreasing the likelihood that students will be “flakey” and not attend workshops. I raised the inevitable question, “Do you think Lauderdale would collaborate with GOLD to incorporate their program into ours?” Dr. Matthews suggested I start that conversation with Ms. DuBois, the Administrative Director of Student Health and Counseling. I sent her an email that night and the next day I received a very encouraging reply; we planned a meeting at the end of that week to share my vision and hash out the logistics of this merger.

And the rest, as they say, is history. A couple more meetings, a few emails, and many phone calls later the “Healthy Bodies, Healthy Minds” series in GOLD was born.

Unique in its Implementation for Our Area The 2012-2013 academic year was the first year the workshops from this series were taught in GOLD. When incorporating this program into GOLD my thought was the content and tools taught in these workshops would best serve freshmen and underclassmen; the idea being, to get students new to the college environment to learn strategies and think about importance of their health related to leadership. So, we decided to list these workshops at the Bronze and Silver certificate, which are normally

earned by first year and transfer students. We believe this collaboration is a model that other institutions will be able to use to blend health and leadership programs.

How it works These workshops are no different from any other GOLD workshops. Students can log into their personal online GOLD account survey available workshops and may take any of the following 16 HBHM workshops: • An Introduction to Yourself • Breathing and Meditation: Simple Techniques for Relaxation • Building your Stress Toolbox: 10 Techniques for Managing Success • Cultivating Happiness • Everything You Want to Know About Sex, but are Afraid to Ask • Exercise as Medicine • Healthy Relationships • How’s Your Sleep • Increasing Academic Efficiency, Study Skills, and Test Taking • Just Breathe!

• “Liquid Courage” and Other Myths • Mind Over Mood: Change Your Thoughts to Decrease Stress • Safe Zone Training • Self-Hypnosis • Stress and Your Health • Stress Management Although this is a series, and not a certificate, students who have taken more than 5 workshops and earned their bronze certificate at the 2013 annual award ceremony received a HBHM designation on their bronze certificate.

Measure of Success In 2012-13, the GOLD HBHM program increased participation from 78 (over two years and 25 workshops) with the “Stress Busters” to 769 participants over 33 HBHM workshops, a nearly 900% increase. This significant increase in participants suggests the overwhelming success of the first year and the student interest in the workshops connecting wellness into student leadership. At the end of the academic year Ms. Dubois and Ms. Minton of our Health and Counseling center sent an 5 question survey to 416 participants who took at least one HBHM workshop 26

over the year. This post-assessment survey only had 61 responses, with a response rate of 14.66%. The questionnaire found 89% of the students would attend additional workshops from his series. But, from a student leadership and wellness educational perspective, the most rewarding data from this questionnaire was that 97% of students indicated gaining at least two new skills, and even more relevant, 83% of students indicated implementing at least one of the new skills they had learned (Lauderdale Center for Student Health and Counseling, 2013).

Tips and Suggestions for Implementation The only challenge I have found in integrating a wellness series into any student leadership program for any collegiate institution is just starting the initial conversation with the campus health and wellness staff. Developing the workshops, scheduling, and finding instructors is the easy part. Every collegiate institution with an established student leadership program is already equipped with the necessary tools. The success of GOLD’s HBHM program synergizes the importance of student leaders own wellbeing with leadership; health and counseling often share the goal of promoting both physical and psychological wellbeing for their students. Ultimately, my personal belief is that once student leaders become healthy leaders the impact of their leadership and service on any college campus will be dramatic.

What I Have Learned This idea was not a novel one. The integration of individual wellbeing and leadership has been

around for a while; institutions such as The Drucker School of Management, Wharton Business School, and Harvard Law School all offer classes or seminars on mindfulness (Cape Cod Institute, 2013).

Outside of Academia, Fortune 500 companies, specifically Google, promote wellness offering classes on mindfulness and physical wellbeing.

Google is finding that their employees when they are offered courses that aid in their personal wellbeing improved their work and leadership within the company (Kelly, 2012).

What I have learned from this experience has been invaluable and life changing. Before the creation of this program I had only seen the impact of my work and service on strictly an individual level, which is incredibly rewarding. But, never have I made an impact to change so many lives through my passion of student leadership education. Every day the media portrays individuals that inspire change through a mission, idea, or cause which positively impacts the lives of so many on a global scale, but as undergraduate students we do not need to shoot to ameliorate global issues.

What undergraduate students already have at their disposal is a beautiful thing, their college campus and surrounding community. I am from the school of thought that a lot of change on a microlevel in our communities and societies can have significant impact our global community. My advice to any undergraduates would be to take a moment when you are waiting for class, walking around campus, or eating lunch and read those seemingly pointless flyers, because you never know where they might take you.

Nicholas Palumbo is a senior psychology major and biology minor from New Hartford, New York. Besides being a GOLD Leader Mentor at SUNY Genseo, Nicholas is an Undergraduate 27

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Š National Collegiate Leadership Association, 2013