Thursday, June 12, 2014

Day Six: Staying In Action

Day Six: Staying In Action

May 3rd, 2014
Learning Goal for the Day: Identifying strategies for sustaining momentum 


The morning of day 6 begins with the last family cluster inspiration with the focus of staying in action. Preceding the day, the on-site coordinator worked to make gifts for the two lead facilitators and wrote out all of the completion certificates. One of the biggest jobs of the on-site coordinator before the commencement ceremony was to create the slideshow to be shown to the facilitators and participants before commencements and that was then shown. 

The commencement ceremony included everyone gathering in a large circle. The lead facilitators gave their remarks and then each of the cluster facilitators were asked to step forward and make their final remarks to both the group and their students. From there, they each gave their students their completion certificates. At the end, each person was handed a stone, and was then explained that each stone represented the ripple effect that each of them would have in the world.

LeaderShape 2014 Slideshow




Day Five: Living and Leading With Integrity

Day Five: Living and Leading With Integrity

May 2nd, 2014

Learning Goal for the Day: Recognize the value of integrity in successful, effective leadership.


The biggest focus of day 5 is further discussing values and how our own personal values contribute to who we want to be and what we want to do. The day is centered around the question, "who do I want to be?" by focusing on the core values of each participant; what they are, how each participant demonstrates them and what can happen when faced with difficult choices.

The big activity for the values day is the t-shirt activity. Each participant is given a paper t-shirt and then asked to decorate the t-shirt displaying their own core values. The purpose of the activity is to show participants that just as we wear a tshirt, we should be constantly "wearing" and living our values in everything that we do. The t-shirts are then hung on a clothesline around the room to display to others in the learning community what each of the participants individually values.

The day concludes with a meaningful discussion on values and their importance in leadership as a learning community. From there, they spend the rest of the night in their individual family clusters for their last family cluster meeting time. On night five, staff put on a celebration bonfire with smores, to celebrate the students last night at the LeaderShape Institute and allow the students to further  bond with each other as a group and celebrate the friendships made.

Day Four: Bringing Vision To Reality

Day Four: Bringing Vision To Reality

May 1st, 2014

Learning Goal for the Day: Define key strategies and relationships that move vision to reality


The majority of day 4 is spent in family clusters. There is a large focus put on building relationships in order to accomplish goals. Time is taken to discuss fears and failures and how those could possibly hinder them moving forward with their visions. From there, the participants start action planning for their visions.



The day concludes with the StarPower simulation which has the goal of addressing the issue of power in large groups.

Day Three: Challenging What Is, Looking To What Could Be

Day Three: Challenging What Is, Looking To What Could Be

April 30th, 2014

Learning Goal for the Day: Develop and share a vision for the future


Day 3 starts off with a family cluster inspiration and then moves into a team builder, with each other the teams being the 6 different family clusters. The team builder was called "balloon castles" and students are asked to try and build the largest, tallest, free standing balloon castle between the family clusters using only balloons and a roll of tape. This activity further promotes positive team work.

One of the main focuses of LeaderShape is for the students to create personal visions. Day 3 is the first day in vision exploration where the students each begin to work on their personal visions. Visions range from all types of different things that impact a community or a certain cause for the better.

Day 3 is also the day where we have the guest leader forum. This year we had many different leaders from the EMU community come out including, Provost Schatzel, Kathy Walz, Keith Jason, Lucas Langdon, Mark Larkin, David Anderson and Elizabeth Broughton. The night consisted of round table discussions about the guests personal leadership experiences and advice.

Day Two: The Value of One, The Power of All

Day Two: The Value of One, The Power of All

April 29th, 2014

Learning Goal for the Day: Recognize personal patterns of communication and influence.

During day 2, the largest portion of the day is spent doing the team challenge course. Because of the setup of the camp, some changes were made to the original high-ropes course that was planned, and other team building activities took place on the low ropes course. The focus of the day is team building, and working the most on learning how to work together and its importance in leadership. 


After the challenge course and team building activities there is a focus put on self-awareness, by completing a behavioral style inventory and relating its importance to leadership. From that information, each participant has an opportunity to set several personal goals for the week and share those with the other members of their Family Cluster. The final portion of the day is spent learning about inclusive leadership through work in the large group learning community. This includes things such as watching "a class divided" and discussing it further.

Day One: Building Community

Day One: Building Community

April 28th, 2014

Learning Goal For The Day: Understand the value of a supportive community in leadership practice

During day one there is a huge focus on all of the participants and facilitators getting to know each other. Students and staff participate in icebreakers along with introductions from both the LeaderShape staff and the camp administration.
Day one is spent with a large focus on making all of the participants feel welcome and safe in order to create the learning community. One of the big focuses of day one are the leadership myths and the leadership truisms. Towards the end of day one, each of the students are placed in their "family clusters" which consist of 9 students per group and a cluster facilitator. During the first family cluster meeting time the groups each create a name for themselves, create a cheer, and also work as a team to design a cluster logo. Everything about day one ties together to create an environment where each participant feels safe and altogether builds a community where everyone can flourish.

During family cluster time, the participants take part in an activity called "The Power of Your Story" where they share their personal histories and how that impacts what they value as a person.

LeaderShape 2014

LeaderShape 2014

The LeaderShape Institute 2014
at Camp Michindoh
April 28th-May 3rd, 2014


  • The LeaderShape institute is a non profit organization committed to teaching young adults how to lead with integrity and have a healthy disregard for the impossible. Their mission is to transform the world by increasing the number of individuals who lead with integrity and a healthy disregard for the impossible. The LeaderShape institute was originally created in 1986 and now partners with campuses big and small across the United States. LeaderShape is six days of dialogue and self discovery in a supportive learning community that helps participants to learn to lead with integrity but also to work towards a vision grounded from their deepest values.

  • LeaderShape 2014 at EMU was held at Camp Michindoh. The lead facilitators from LeaderShape were Leah Gallant from MIT and Chris Carey from temple university who both work in Higher Ed Student Affairs. The student and on site facilitator was Gabriela Majeska and the staff facilitator was Casey Jordan Krone. We had six cluster facilitators all working in different disciplines at EMU. These facilitators included John Feldkamp, Suzanne Gray, Ramona Caponegro, Cheyenne Luzynski, Ellen Collier and Perry Francis. 

  • This year we had approximately 53 students attend LeaderShape with EMU who worked together challenging each other during the experience. The students created close bonds and relationships with each other and also with the facilitators during their time together at the institute. The results that come from the graduation of the LeaderShape Institute include materials and insights that will positively impact the students both personally and professionally.

  • The participants do not require any previous leadership experience before attending the LeaderShape institute. The students who participate vary from all different ages and organizations. The different mixture of students who attend creates an excellent learning environment for all involved.