Slippery Rock University provides opportunities for students to gain a ‘Rock Solid Education,’ friendships and memories to be made for years to come. Students looking to get more out of their time spent here should look into attending a workshop for student organizations, hosted by the Office for Student Engagement and Leadership. With about 200 different organizations on campus right now, there is something for everyone, and whether a student wants to join an existing organization or start their own, these workshops are very beneficial.
Jayne Piskorik, Assistant Director for Fraternity and Sorority Life and the Office for Student Engagement and Leadership, mentioned that the workshops usually last about an hour with the goal of providing guidance and learning opportunities, in addition to supporting student organizations.
Courtney Mullins is a second-year graduate assistant for the Office for Student Engagement and Leadership. She is in charge of directing the Involvement Fairs held at the beginning of each semester as well as designing and presenting the Student Organization Workshops.
“During the workshops, I go over generic information like, ‘what does leadership burnout mean?’ or ‘what does team building mean?’ Then, I ask for their opinions, so that they have an understanding, as well as provide some statics and stories and that sort of stuff,” Mullins said when describing the basic layout of the workshops. “We have done retention recruitment and team building, and we will do event planning, leadership burnout, budgeting and finance, and public relations.”
Student leaders can then take that information back to their organizations and share how they can implement it. Formerly known as the ‘Presidents Leadership Academy,’ they have since been switched over to the new workshops, which began in Spring 2018. These seminars are no longer mandatory, giving student leaders the opportunity to be in control of the workshops they attend and the information they seek from them.
The attendance at these workshops is usually relatively small, around five to 10 students, but they are starting to get more attention as the word has spread of the great opportunities they provide, as well as making advisors more aware to spread the word to their own organizations. The smaller attendance numbers make each seminar more inclusive to help students by providing resources and helping to build stronger, more confident, leaders.
“My goal really is just to be someone on campus that students can reach out to if any problem, challenge or concern ever came to their plate or up in conversation,” Mullins explained.
Her goal is to be a helping hand in making students successful. There are still plenty of opportunities to attend a future workshop this semester and take something away from it.
All workshops will be held on select Thursdays during common hour, located in the Smith Student Center in room 323, and the schedule can be found on CORE. For more information, contact Courtney Mullins at crm1018@sru.edu or visit the Office for Student Engagement and Leadership in the Suite.
