Rockland Community College would like to see underrepresented groups more active on the college campus. The attrition rate of underrepresented populations are traditionally higher than the dominant culture. By being an active participant in the college community, we believe retention will increase.
The program objective for the "Today's Leadership Team" is to develop knowledge, skills, and abilities in students that will assist in becoming a new type of leader in a rapidly changing world. After completing this leadership series, we will position these students to become active agents of the college.
The program is designed to have students participate in weekly (1.5 hours per session) interactive workshops, activities, and student engagement exercises, geared at challenging current perspectives. Our vision is to have students develop/establish building blocks in regard to value clarification, goals, critical thinking, pursuit of purpose, and decision making. Some of the core workshops presented are as follows:
Value Clarification
Team Building
Pursuit of Purpose
Goal Setting
The Pros & Cons of Leadership
Decision Making
Planning for Success
Run Your Race
The Effective Listener
The program has been developed and active since September of 2003. The participation level has reached an average of approximately 5 members per academic fiscal year. In total, we have had 24 active participants. Of the 24 students, we have 7 graduates, 9 transfers, and 8 matriculated RCC students. The 24 active participants have contributed the following to the RCC community and abroad:
The cost of the program is no more than $500.00 per semester for the food and beverages.
The co-facilitators Brian Merritt (Director of the Haverstraw Extension Center) and Nilda Aragones (Faculty Counselor - Student Development Division) have volunteered/dedicated their time to this initiative to promote non traditional student engagement models. In short, the program has been quite effective and cost effective. The human capital invested in this program is of no additional charge.
Student Development Division agents of the college are periodically and intentionally used to assist the co-facilitators. For example, Kathy Carroll (Career Counselor) is utilized for the purpose of providing personal/career inventories to position our student leaders to make well informed choices in regard to their interests and skill sets. Len Gersten (Transfer Counselor) is also used to position our students for Higher Education opportunities beyond Rockland Community College.
Last but not least, we formally have each student at the end of each semester meet with an agent from the Student Involvement office to learn how they can make a meaningful and organized impact as leaders at the RCC campus. As they transition from the "Today's Leadership Team", we have the majority of our students either become active in the college community and/or their local community. The process is primarily effortless because these students normally are "self motivated" at this point.
Upon "full" completion of the program, all students will receive a certificate of completion that is signed by The Dean of Student Development (Dr. Suzanne Phillips), Nilda Aragones (Co-facilitator of the "Today's Leadership Team"), and Brian Merritt (Co-facilitator of the "Today's Leadership Team").
We have had 24 active participants over a four year period. The results are as follows: