NSU Horizons Winter 2008 - 2009

composed of some of the university’s most prolific student leaders. “By being with other leaders, we learn [new approaches] and reinforce what we already know,” El-Tourkey explained. Members of the Academy of Student Leaders also serve as mentors for stu- dents in the Emerging Leaders Certificate program. NSU also enables leaders to help each other through Omicron Delta Kappa, a na- tional leadership honor society. Being a member of Omicron Delta Kappa, on most cam- puses, is simply an honor to be received. But, NSU’s society, which started in 2006, is actively working to teach leadership on campus. “They are working on planning differ- ent events that will provide leadership opportunities for other students,” Morrow said. While the Emerging Leaders Certificate program, the Academy of Student Lead- ers, and Omicron Delta Kappa are all fairly new to NSU, the idea of developing leader- ship skills in students has been around for awhile. When Brad Williams, Ed.D., now the dean of student affairs at NSU, start- ed working at then Nova University 20 years ago, there were limited op- portunities for students to develop leadership skills. “We learned very quickly that we had great students with a lot of enthusiasm, but they had no lead- ership skills,” Williams said. “So, we developed a student leadership institute, and every single summer, for years, we did a leadership re- treat where I would take the pres- ident and vice president of each club and organization and do three days of leadership training. It was basic grassroots training like ‘How to Run an Effective Meeting,’ but it was very useful and provided a foundation for students to grow their leadership skills.” This leadership training provided through the Office of Student Leadership and Civic Engagement aims for those leadership skills to reach beyond the campus boundar- ies and into the community. Last spring, students took part in the first alternative spring break trip run by the Office of Student Leadership and Civic Engagement. Calling the trip “Leaders Gone Wild,” the six student participants traveled to Albany, Georgia, to help build houses with Habitat for Humanity. When bad weather canceled the home construction activities one day, the students searched for another way to serve. A local church was in need of volunteers to help with their soup kitchen, so the students spent the morning serving food to the needy. Renato Balducci, who moved to the United States from Brazil four years ago, went on the trip as a way to meet new people and travel out of Florida for the first time. He was also quickly awed by the impact he and the group could make helping to build homes. “We met the family while working on their house. You are building their dream,” said Balducci. “The owner of the house was surprised that I was from Brazil and here I was in Georgia, helping him. He had me sign one of the pieces of wood.” The trip in- spired Balducci, a junior studying marine biology, to take on a leadership position and he has applied to start an NSU chapter of Habitat for Humanity. The Office of Student Leadership and Civic Engagement also works with students to become civically active through Project SERVE (Student Enrichment Reinforced Through Volunteer Experiences). In the 2007–2008 academic year, 16,512 community service hours were completed by undergraduate student organizations through Project SERVE. In addition, NSU undergraduate and graduate student organizations contrib- uted nearly $75,000 to community organizations. Students also collected 1,275 books to donate to children in Africa, distributed more than 1,000 DVDs to U.S. military personnel serving overseas, and delivered 1,157 canned food items to Kids in Distress. Continued on page 43 23 horizons Sharein El-Tourkey (yellow shirt) and other student leaders took part in NSU Make a Difference Day this past October.