Consortium holds Emerging Student Leaders Conference

Worcester, MA - The Consortium-wide Emerging Student Leaders Conference was held at Assumption College on February 11.

The conference brought together freshman and sophomore students from institutions throughout the Consortium who hold student leader positions or are interested in taking on the responsibility in the future. The event was organized by the Consortium Student Activities Group.

“The Student Activities Group, which is made up of student activities professionals from each of the Consortium institutions, wanted to reach out to emerging student leaders and get them engaged in their communities both on and off campus,” said Karen Manson, director of student affairs for the Consortium. “These goals were achieved by introducing students to the skills they will need to develop in their leadership careers as well as getting them to think about their commitment to the city and fellow schools as future leaders.”

Ed Gerety, a motivational speaker and author, started the day with an uplifting and entertaining presentation about the importance of caring for others and using student leadership opportunities to improve student life on campus. The day continued with students attending workshops presented by student activities professionals from several different institutions. Presenters covered topics such as public speaking, event planning and communication skills.

Lunch was sponsored by the USA Today Collegiate Readership Program and included a brief presentation. Students were then asked to work in teams and explore the newspaper for the top story. Following lunch, students attended a second round of workshops which covered topics such as recruitment and retention, student leadership ethics, and creating a personal portfolio.

The conference concluded with a presentation by Mark Bilotta, CEO of the Consortium. Bilotta expressed his vision for Worcester to become a destination city for prospective college students, faculty, administrators, and staff. He plans to use student programming to create events that will allow students to venture off their own campuses and into the city.