Residential Leadership Community Finds New Home Within College
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| The success of the Residential Leadership Community program can be partially attributed to the contributions from its staff, contributing students, and interns. Student interns, pictured back row, left to right: Joseph Mehfoud, Michelle Casey, Matthew Werder, and Amanda Cox; front row: Michael Jabs, Derick Stackpole, Michael Werder, and Kelsey Haynes. |
The College of Agriculture and Life Sciences’ Department of Agricultural and Extension Education has recently become the new home for Virginia Tech’s Residential Leadership Community (RLC).
“We’re very excited to have the program in the department; we think it’s a good home for the program,” said Rick Rudd, the department head.
The RLC is one of 12 themed-housing options offered at Virginia Tech and was designed to help students develop different skills in order to become more effective leaders. This year, students were chosen from a pool of more than 400 applicants based on their resumés and their answers to three essay questions. “We look for students truly interested in developing leadership, experiencing leading, or wanting to develop those experiences at Virginia Tech, [as well as] overall character, commitment, and capability of the applicants,” said Denise Trudeau, assistant professor of agricultural and Extension education and RLC program director.
First-year students involved in the RLC are required to live in Peddrew-Yates—a residence hall consisting entirely of program members. This creates a close-knit environment and enables students to interact with both underclassmen and upperclassmen who are still involved in the RLC.
The leadership curriculum is the focal point of the rigorous program that is founded in academic theory. To enhance classroom learning, leadership students are immersed in the application of the curriculum through experiential learning opportunities. Second-year students continue with courses in organizational behavior and team dynamics. “Students have a minimum of six to 12 credits of core leadership curriculum, theories, and team dynamics,” said Trudeau. “Students are expected to not only comprehend leadership theory, but understand the facets of each theoretical process. They also apply and synthesize these theories by becoming involved in the leadership speaker series, the Form and Function Leadership Conference, various community service projects, and this year we are partnering with the YMCA of Blacksburg to work with eight to 10 of their projects.” By completing these courses, students have the opportunity to get a two-year leadership minor. Although currently you must be in the Residential Leadership Community to get the leadership minor, Rudd said he hopes to open it up to all students.
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| Students have the opportunity to participate in several activities outside of the classroom, including community service projects, conferences, and retreats. Pictured is a group of second-year students at a recent retreat. |
The choice to move the program into the Department of Agricultural and Extension Education makes sense, said Rudd. “It seemed like a logical home. The Associate Provost, David Ford, had made the recommendation that we consider it. ... We have a very strong leadership component in our department; particularly we have a pretty strong graduate emphasis in leadership, so this was a good chance for us to add an undergraduate emphasis.”
The Residential Leadership Program got its start in 1995 when then-Vice President of Student Affairs Landrum Cross created a Student Leadership Development Program Committee, which discovered that no civilian program existed for undergraduate leadership development. The committee presented a proposal in 1996 to develop such a program, which was then amended to include the residential living component and a leadership minor.
Since that time, the program has become very successful and is now offering a two-year leadership and social change minor. Including freshmen, there will be more than 300 students with leadership minors through the program this year. According to Trudeau, students are drawn to the program because of the rigor of the academic environment and experiential environments as it applies to their ability to transfer effective leadership, interpersonal, and team skills to their individual careers. These skills, including time management, organization, and communication, also help students get ahead in the work place.
“This minor is something that our graduates can have as an extra boost on a resume,” explained Rudd. “If you go in and you are an animal sciences major and you also have a leadership minor, or if you are a food science major and you have a leadership minor, it is going to separate you from the crowd as you go out into the job market.”
The switch is also beneficial for both the Department of Agricultural and Extension Education and the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Not only has the program added a new graduate research assistant to help teach classes, Rudd sees a brighter future for the program in its new location. “We have researchers in the college, particularly in the department, who are looking at leadership across many avenues, so I think that opens a lot of doors,” he said.
Students Spend the Summer "Horsing" Around
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| Student interns presented Virginia Tech-bred foal Landmark VT and earned an unprecedented win at Dressage at Devon — the most prestigious dressage competition in the hemisphere and the largest sport-horse breeding show in the world held annually in Devon, Penn. The students competed against top professional handlers and the country’s leading horses. This is the first time any horse owned by a university or shown by university students has ever taken a blue ribbon at Dressage at Devon. Pictured from left to right: senior Claire McGill of Monroe, Conn.; senior Alison Parker of Herndon, Va.; senior Rebecca Arnold of Martinsville, Va.; and senior Kelli Beavers of Lebanon, Va. |
When summer rolls around, things tend to slow down at Virginia Tech’s Smithfield Equine Breeding and Teaching Center. While many students head home for the summer, a barn full of horses still needs to be cared for and trained. Rebecca Splan, an associate professor of animal and poultry sciences, saw this as an opportunity to provide a great learning opportunity for students.
Splan created the Sport-Horse Internship — a program that provides an opportunity for students to learn about the sport-horse industry by working closely with the horses, veterinarians, and industry leaders. In addition to helping with general herd health and maintenance, the interns also assist with the reproductive work, research projects, and training and handling the young horses. “On top of that, we have some classroom sessions,” said Splan. These sessions teach them about genetics and bloodlines, the history of sport horses, industry basics and fundamentals, and the theoretical aspects of horse training.
The internship program, which finished its third year in 2008, is highly competitive. Interested students must first submit a resume and short essay; those who make the first cut are interviewed. Only three to four students are chosen to participate each summer, with one spot usually reserved for a non-Virginia Tech student from a university in the United States or Canada. Because this is such a unique program, Splan said they typically receive 30 to 35 applications from students around the country.
Alison Parker, a senior majoring in animal and poultry sciences, thinks the internship was very beneficial: “It showed me exactly what the industry is going to be like. I have gotten contacts that are invaluable in the industry, and I have gotten to see firsthand some of the amazing horses that are out there. It has just given me a preview of what’s to come once I graduate.”
Although the internship provides the students with plenty of practical experience, the highlight of the internship seems to be the chance to take the horses to various shows on the East Coast.
“As part of the internship, students have the opportunity to show young horses bred here at Virginia Tech at a couple of shows during the summer,” said Splan. “Because the horses are so young, they are shown in-hand, rather than under saddle, and the horses are evaluated on their conformation and gaits as future performance prospects. Handling at these shows is typically done by professionals, but we prepare the students well and they do a fantastic job, holding their own to win many prestigious titles with our horses.”
The Sport-Horse Internship program arms students with a wide range of knowledge and experience, gained from classroom study and hands-on experience at shows. Intern Kelli Beavers, currently a first-year veterinary student, said she believes that it is this knowledge that will make her a better veterinarian in the future. But it is not practical things she learned that she believes have been the most important. “It’s the sum of the little things,” she explained. “It’s being there for your favorite mare to foal; it’s being here day in and day out and getting to see the progress the foals make, and then getting to go to the shows and being so proud when they do what they are supposed to do. It really is the sum of the experiences that make it really special. It’s getting to work with great people who help you and are fun, so that most days it doesn’t even feel like work.”