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Student Leadership Summit
A component of the Learning College’s initiatives, the Summit provided an opportunity for influential student leaders to come together to build leadership skills, voice their opinions on specific College concerns, and ultimately unite the students on all three campuses. The event has slowly evolved into a semester tradition, and will continue to do so, says Dr. Clarice Somersall, vice president for Academic Initiatives & Partnerships and event coordinator. Montgomery College President Brian K. Johnson opened the afternoon’s programming, recognizing the powerful nature of this student leadership-focused summit. That day marked the first for Dr. Johnson where he has had the chance to speak to students from all three campuses. He also said this was the first opportunity he had to visit the Takoma Park/Silver Spring Charlene R. Nunley Student Services Center, newly dedicated the night before at Dr. Nunley’s farewell gala.
Dr. Mary Kay Shartle-Galotto, executive vice president for academic and student services, also helped put the Learning College into context for the students as she explained briefly about the Learning College Retreat (see page 3 for more information) which had taken place two weeks prior and had focused on the College’s new interest in international education.
Students then had the opportunity to make presentations of their own, informing each other of campus projects. Gabriel Spiro, a Germantown student and member of the Tri-Senate Committee, spoke about how his Committee has addressed collegewide smoking, safety/security, and transportation problems. He hoped that his report would educate those from other campuses and draw everyone closer together.
The second portion of the Summit consisted of students dividing into two focus groups led by two directors of student life: James Walters from Takoma Park/Silver Spring and Debi Holmes-Higbie from Germantown. The students were asked to give their opinions on the newly developed Student Support & Retention Services website. “We deliberately focus on changing lives,” said Johnson. “Everything is in transition…We have to periodically step back and ask if we are evolving.” Step back they did, and students came alive with suggestions for creating a more student-driven, student-focused website. Following the focus groups, students reflected to each other and said how much they appreciated the opportunity to be consulted on issues that affect them directly. They felt valued and respected.
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Twenty-four of Montgomery College’s top student leaders joined together on April 13, 2007 to participate in the College’s third Montgomery College Student Leadership Summit.
In addition to defining the Learning College for the students, Johnson repeated what another speaker, Dr. Robert E. Parilla, said at Nunley’s gala. Johnson discussed the profiles of leadership: trust, teamwork, work reflection, and the tendency not to jump to immediate judgment. According to Johnson, leaders need to understand the reach of their decisions, and he urged students to think about how they could be quality leaders. He also recommended the book Reframing Organizations: Artistry, Choice, and Leadership by Lee G. Bolman and Terrence E. Deal, for it discussed the four quadrants for leadership success.
“International education has not become a frill,” said Dr. Shartle-Galotto. “We do it because people in the United States have to be global citizens. We have to participate in the rest of the world.” Explaining further about the Learning College, the executive vice president said that the College’s new approach to education changes the relationship that occurs in the classroom. In the previous model, students were treated as “empty vessels” waiting for the knowledge that teachers would pour into them. Today, she says, there is an engagement between students and faculty so that faculty must meet their students at their individual levels, and students must take responsibility for their own share of the learning.
Another student Oluklemi Onigbinde, spoke about two of the Takoma Park/Silver Spring initiatives: a book exchange website where students can trade their old, used textbooks, and a systematic orientation approach geared toward new international students.