-
Student Body President Justin Murphy carefully calculates his next move on the tight rope obstacle. Photo courtesy of Diveanne Martinez, SGA Vice President - Committee Coordinator.
-
Miles Shellshear poses for a photo as he navigates the obstacle course. Photo courtesy of Diveanne Martinez, SGA Vice President - Committee Coordinator.
-
Izuh Ikpeama, Flor Gonzalez, and Miles Shellshear take a break on one of the platforms before moving on to the next obstacle pathway. Photo courtesy of Diveanne Martinez, SGA Vice President - Committee Coordinator.
-
Veneeth Mathew and Hector Vargas watch their peers navigate the obstacle course while Paulina Ortega makes it to the end of the platform. Photo courtesy of Diveanne Martinez, SGA Vice President - Committee Coordinator.
-
Kristy Nguyen poses with pride after making it to the last obstacle. Photo courtesy of Diveanne Martinez, SGA Vice President - Committee Coordinator.
-
Kristy Nguyen holds on tight to the support string as she tip-toes across the tight rope obstacle. Photo courtesy of Diveanne Martinez, SGA Vice President - Committee Coordinator.
-
Mohamed Azim waves and flashes a smile before moving on to the next obstacle. Photo courtesy of Diveanne Martinez, SGA Vice President - Committee Coordinator.
-
Flor Gonzalez takes a deep breath before stepping on to the next block. Photo courtesy of Diveanne Martinez, SGA Vice President - Committee Coordinator.
-
Yolanda Barnes, one of the staff who attending the retreat, watches the students conquer the obstacle course. Photo courtesy of Diveanne Martinez, SGA Vice President - Committee Coordinator.
-
After making it to the main platform, the students from the leadership retreat decide which obstacle course to go on next. Photo courtesy of Diveanne Martinez, SGA Vice President - Committee Coordinator.
-
Madi, Sarah, and Ximena tackle the wooden plank obstacle as a team. Photo courtesy of Diveanne Martinez, SGA Vice President - Committee Coordinator.
SLICE makes a significant cut into leadership experience
One of the longstanding events that SLICE puts on to help students grow in their leadership journey is the Student Leadership Retreat. This is a three-day experience for students looking to practice teambuilding skills, explore leadership concepts and create community all while learning their personal leadership philosophy. This year’s leadership retreat was held on the weekend of October 20th at Camp Cho-Yeh in Livingston Texas.
The goal of UHCL’s Student Leadership, Involvement and Community Engagement (SLICE) program is to create an environment for students to learn and grow through the personal development of leadership. This is achieved through servant leadership, civic engagement and leadership workshops.
Since I am a part of SLICE’s Hawk Leadership Institute, I had the opportunity to go to the retreat last year free of charge. To be honest, I went into the retreat thinking that it would be lame and only scratch the surface of what it meant to be a leader. Thankfully, I was wrong. The retreat was easily the best hands-on learning experience that I’d ever been through and I definitely learned a lot throughout the weekend thanks to the amazing staff and facilitators who put on the whole program.
This year, I had the opportunity to serve as a facilitator for the retreat. In this role, I led a small group with a co-facilitator and also helped run various activities/icebreakers throughout the weekend while making sure everything ran smoothly.
Subsequently, I also gave a short speech on a personal leadership experience. My topic was “Taking Risks with Support,” and I planned to talk about how even though I felt limited in my ability to lead because of my stutter, I learned to take risks in my leadership roles with the support of my friends and mentors. I was excited but really nervous.
When we arrived at Camp Cho-Yeh, we introduced ourselves and immediately immersed ourselves in activities ranging from diversity step ins, all the way to competitive team building exercises such as “Battleship” and “The Amazing Race.” I enjoyed helping facilitate various activities that I partook in last year, and it was really interesting to see the learning outcomes from the outside in.
I also got to meet my small group and they were amazing. The conversations that we were able to have about identities and how they affected our leadership in practice really was one of my top highlights of the retreat in general. After a long day, we went to the high ropes course to face our fears and support each other through a literal test of endurance.
Overall, I didn’t think I would learn anything new during the retreat since I had already been on it the previous year, but I was wrong. Being in the facilitator role helped to solidify some of the learning outcomes from the previous year, and it put me in a position to put them to use in an actual leadership role. It was a really fun weekend and I would definitely recommend the retreat to anyone curious about what SLICE has to offer.
