LEADERSHIP EDUCATION AT MISSISSIPPI STATE UNIVERSITY

Mississippi State is developing tomorrow’s leaders through its Global Leadership Continuum that begins with high school students and continues through undergraduates’ four-year experience.

“When the history of the Fogelsong era at Mississippi State is written, a positive will be the development of student leadership programs,” said Ed Clynch, Rotary past president, introducing our speaker.

Hawken Brackett, MSU senior psychology major and Starkville native, explained the continuum from the perspective of a participant turned counselor.

The program functions through three basic curricula: Young Guns Leadership Development Camp for rising high school seniors, Day One Leadership Community for MSU freshman, and the Appalachian Leadership Honors Program for MSU sophomores, juniors, and seniors.

Young Guns is a free camp sponsored by Meridian’s Riley Foundation. It targets a diverse group of Mississippi high school seniors. About 50 students are chosen from a varied cross-section of gender, race, socioeconomic status and education. Four week-long sessions serve four different groups throughout the summer.

“It’s a mobile camp,” said Brackett. “We start on campus then move to Choctaw for ropes course problem-solving activities. After that we travel to the Meridian Community College campus.”The remainder of their activities occur at MSU’s Riley Center where they are charged with solving a real-world problem. This year’s challenges were Mississippi’s growing high school dropout rate and post-college brain drain.

Day One is the freshmen leadership program comprising a diverse group of 300 students each year. Cresswell Hall is the Day One residence. Participants attend a weekly leadership forum class and academic classes together. Through the year they complete 47 different service-learning projects in groups of 5 to 7. “Each of the 47 action teams has volunteer mentors from the MSU faculty and staff, said Brackett. “This has had a great impact on student retention.”

The Appalachian Leadership Honors Program serves sophomores through seniors. Thirty students are selected each fall to participate in the 3-semester program. Transfer students from community colleges are eligible as well as current MSU students.

ALH members assist the Day One program with its service projects. Each ALH Fellow completes a capstone project.

Brackett’s project was to establish the Borderless Hosts cultural fellowship program this past January. As a conversation partner in the university’s English as a Second Language program, he realized a need for help in transitioning to American culture.

The experience of having 3 international roommates increased his sensitivity to the need for more cultural interaction. And, his time in South Korea this summer helped him understand the need to experience a culture on a more personal basis.

“I really didn’t know what to do but to volunteer my time,” said Brackett. “The Appalachian Leadership Honors Program aided me in getting direction to do something larger than myself that would continue beyond my time at MSU.”

Borderless Hosts matches volunteer Starkville area host families with international students. It is not a residential program, but encourages social interaction. Three formal events are the opening, mid-semester, and closing dinners. Brackett has observed that the interactions are not limited to the one semester.

Fifteen students have participated from 8 different countries: Cambodia, China, France, Honduras, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, and Venezuela.

This year there were 20 to 30 applicants, but only thirteen families volunteered. So the program was limited by the number of volunteers. His goal is to get the word out for more volunteers.

A group of Day One students is working to promote and expand the Hosts program. It will continue as an ALH capstone project.