After a year of planning, the new Impact Leadership Village on the third and fourth floors of Bowen Residence Hall will kick off its program Sunday afternoon.
Annie Kehoe, residence director for Central Campus, said students in the new village will have some additions to their move-in programming, which includes taking a leadership practices inventory, a talk from State House Representative Deborah Ross and a ropes course Monday sponsored by Campus Recreation.
Kehoe said recruitment for the new program focused on freshmen and sophomores. Housing posted bulletins around campus and used the Housing Application Renewal Process system to inform returning students about the new village, and the General Shelton Leadership Center helped recruit incoming high school students.
Most of the residents on the two floors are members, but the few who are not will be given more information about the village and the opportunity to get involved with the program, Kehoe said.
Ebony Ebron, assistant director for Central Campus housing and the driving force behind the ILV, said the village really focuses on students being today’s leaders on campus and dealing with current issues on the local, state, national and global levels.
Regarding the creation and rationale for the new village, Ebron said, “I love leadership … knowing that part of the Student Affairs division’s objectives is to facilitate development of leadership skills.”
Students in the ILV do not have any required academic coursework, but Ebron said the program is in contact with various academic departments across multiple disciplines and is looking at courses emphasizing leadership to offer students in the new village.
Alma Buljina, senior in psychology and a resident adviser for the ILV, said her background as a resident adviser built her interest in leadership programs. She said, “When they asked me, I couldn’t picture myself not doing Impact.”
Buljina said the village will still have all the typical activities and requirements all other residents have to take care of, but most will have a leadership or service-based element.
