Students convene at conference to sharpen leadership skills

As part of a “toxic popcorn” team-building exercise at Pitt’s Emerging Leaders Program, groups of students worked together to transfer popcorn kernels from one coffee can to another using only two materials: string and a strap. 

Once the 15-minute warning sounded, one team hurriedly utilized a complicated mess of strings to successfully complete the challenge. But as the can toppled, popcorn poured onto the floor, and the opposing team loudly cheered.

The exercise was just one of many during the Emerging Leaders Program, a weekend-long event that took place on the fifth and sixth floors of the William Pitt Union from Jan. 31 to Feb. 2. The program, which required a $60 registration fee from student participants, encouraged students to learn about different forms of leadership and how to incorporate their own leadership into their daily lives during and after college. About 90 participants were divided into four groups led by a facilitation team, which led the proceedings and included a trained faculty or staff member and two student peers.

Students could also register with members of student organizations they belonged to for a registration fee of $40. 

This weekend’s sessions took place from 6 to 9:30 p.m. Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday.

Summer Rothrock, assistant director of leadership development and Greek affairs, said the toxic popcorn exercise aims to evaluate how students respond to an unusual situation.

“The purpose is for students to engage in understanding group dynamics by solving a problem that’s outside of their academic fields,” Rothrock said.

Allen Howard, a freshman majoring in information sciences, said he participated in the weekend program because he commutes from Monroeville and wanted to be more involved in on-campus events. 

He also plans to pursue the Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences leadership certificate, a program offered to students to motivate and inform them of how to better serve their communities. The Emerging Leaders program fulfills a requirement for the certificate.

“It was a step out of the comfort zone to work with people we don’t know, which is very important for leadership,” Howard said.

The Emerging Leaders program has existed in some form at Pitt since the 1980s, Rothrock said, but the current curriculum has been a staple of the Division of Student Affairs since 2004. Last spring, the University began to offer two weekend-long programs each semester.

This semester’s nine-week program is still available to students between Jan. 29 and April 3. 

According to its website, the Emerging Leaders program aims to instill “fundamentals of leadership” — self knowledge, valuing others, integrity, personal accountability and change — within participants.

Janine Fisher, the Student Affairs communications manager who helped coordinate the event, said this weekend’s event was a condensed version of the nine-week event for students looking to brush up on their leadership skills.

“The same lessons are taught but only in the timespan of three days,” Fisher said. “[The weekend-long program] is used as another option for students who prefer to get it done quickly.”

Fisher said that although the nine-week program takes longer to complete, students can pick from certain time slots to meet with their groups, allowing more flexibility for busy students.

On Saturday, activities included a Myers-Brigg assessment — a test designed to determine personality type — as well as a discussion on stereotypes, a break for lunch and other workshops that addressed issues such as conflict management and power and influence. 

On Sunday, activities included workshops on ethics and values, marketing leadership and resumé building. 

After the first day of the program, Howard said he got a lot more out of it than he expected.

“I really liked it because even though there was a lot of information given, it went smoothly,” Howard said. “The facilitators mostly let the students control discussions and activities and gave pushes when we needed them.”

Brittany Lewis, a sophomore pre-pharmacy major, completed the weekend-long program last year and returned as one of the peer facilitators for the new group this year.

“I am more of an introvert and before the program I thought that to be a leader you had to be outspoken and demanding,” she said. “Emerging Leaders taught me that I could use my own strengths to help others.”