Last Sunday, Feb. 16 at 12 p.m., the Inter-Society Council (ISC) hosted the second annual ISC Leadership retreat in the Sadove Conference Room. The ISC is a student organization meant to govern all private societies and act as a voice for the Greek societies on campus to communicate with the administration.
Assistant Dean for Student Engagement Travis Hill, who oversees Greek life on campus, led the workshop alongside his wife Liz, who coordinates Career Services at Mohawk Valley Community College (MVCC). The aim of the workshop was to help the student Greek life representatives focus on their individual strengths as leaders.
Members of the societies present included students that held leadership positions in their societies such as president, vice president and treasurer. To help students recognize their leadership qualities, the leaders present were asked to determine their top five strengths before the workshop using the Clifton Strengths test. Those attending the workshop received personalized materials based on their results of the Clifton Strengths test at the event. Students compared their results with the other society representatives to examine how their leadership qualities came together and how they can improve as leaders.
Another part of the retreat focused on overall improvement of the Greek societies on campus. Discussions touched on how each society exhibits its values through practices such as rush, pledging, chapter meetings and everyday interactions. The leaders also had the chance to collaborate and propose more ideas on how they can increase the presence of their values into the practices discussed.
President of Phi Beta Chi Mason Sheridan ’20, notes that the workshop gave her “the specific language to describe [her] strengths and why [she succeeds] in [those] areas.” For Sheridan, this both empowers her to know more about herself and is useful for job interviews. Additionally, the workshop helped her realize “that strengths are not necessarily just what areas you excel in, but what kinds of tasks fuel and leave you invigorated, rather than drained.” Overall, Sheridan feels that “the workshop served as a great reminder to always strive to better our society as a group and as individuals.”
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NOTE: This story has been updated as of 3/4/20 to correct “Lisa” to “Liz” and reflect that she was brought in due to her role coordinating Career Services at Mohawk Valley Community College (MVCC).
