On January 24th, KU Hillel kicked off its' 2012 Freshman Leadership Series. This annual program brings together 25 freshman participants from different leadership backgrounds. These students provide necessary insight into what they want to see from their Jewish community while learning new leadership skills. Through this 5 session program, students learn about themselves as leaders and then work on improving the engagement process to reach out to uninvolved Jewish students. The first session consisted of a variety of team building exercises as well as some get-to-know-you activities.
During the second session on Tuesday, February 7th, students will work with Ruben Perez, the Director for Student Involvement and Leadership Center at KU and learn about a variety of leadership opportunities that KU offers. One of the sessions includes a Shabbaton which in the past has been many of the students favorite part of the series. Participants will spend a significant amount of time brainstorming plans for the Fall 2013 incoming freshman class. The participants talk about what worked and what did not work during their own engagement process. Many of the students who participate in Freshman Leadership Series become interns and active in committees within Hillel where they put their ideas and engagement skills to practice.
When asked why students chose to participate in Freshman Leadership Series, many of the answers were the same. Freshman Mackenzie Litt from Minnesota said, "I was really involved in BBYO (
B'nai B'rith Youth Organization) and gained a lot of leadership experience through that but I know I can always continue learning to become an even better leader. I hope to learn how to apply this series to benefit campus organizations. I also wanted to meet more of the Freshman class and build relationships with them."
The Freshman Leadership Series also helps students get more involved in KU Hillel in hopes that these students will become the future leaders of the Jewish Community at KU.