Student Leader Spotlight of the Month
Nominate a student who has gone above and beyond in service and leadership to their respective organizations, or the Carolina community as a whole.
Student Leader Spotlights shine a light on leadership across campus. The Student Leader Spotlight is an ongoing process where a student (or students) is recognized for their great contribution to campus. Recipients selected monthly will be notified, featured in Leadership Programs Newsletter and presented with a certificate of recognition. Faculty, staff and students are eligible to nominate. We also welcome self-nominations.
Nominations will be due by the last Friday of each month.
Lindsey Rogers
Adaptive Recreation for the USC Outdoor Recreation
Year: Senior
Major: Marketing/Management
Nominated for: Lindsey took it upon herself to create a new program at Outdoor Recreation, the Adaptive Recreation program. Mission Statement: to promote empowering experiences and outdoor recreation services to all students of USC through inclusive activities and adaptive recreation. Adaptive recreation was founded with the intent to allow all students, of every physical and intellectual ability, to be able to participate in all the programs we offer. Lindsey began with programming on the challenge course that utilizes "Universal Programming". Lindsey also expanded our program to encompass the 52 foot climbing wall with an adapted route for students. This semester she has expanded to include 2 of our sustainability service waterways trips. Outdoor Recreation is making big strides to include every student on campus and we will continue to grow and expand this program in the future. Additionally, she encouraged the students in the Carolina Life office to rent a plot in the Carolina Community Garden. She visits the garden with them on a weekly basis and encourages them.
What Lindsey Learned: Outdoor Recreation has helped me become a leader by giving me the opportunity to take on responsibility in many areas of our program. What I have learned by being a manager, trip leader, and rock-wall instructor has spilled over into a lot of what I have learned into my business classes. I am very thankful for the opportunities that Outdoor Recreation has given me and I know I will use what I have learned about being a leader for the rest of my life.
Recent Spotlights
February
Constants Adams
EMPOWER Team Leader
Year: Senior
Major: Biological Sciences
Nominated for: Constants consistently goes above and beyond in her dedication to sustainable positive change on not only our campus, but in the greater Columbia community. As co-team leader of EMPOWER Constants lives up to her name and consistently inspires her peers to ask not only more of themselves, but of one another as well. Constants rarely gets frustrated, but continues to fight for things that she feels are needed on our campus. One examples is a service project she is leading through EMPOWER. This project, in collaboration with Alpha Phi Alpha and a few other organizations will reach out to elementary aged students to begin to teach them the value of diversity and equality through the telling of stories.
What Constants learned: "You all have encouraged me to explore who I am, inspired me to be myself and empowered me to confront my fears." When I read such comments after giving diversity education presentations, I am reminded of why I joined EMPOWER. Part of my training encompasses learning how to interact with students who are discovering their identity and those who have social disabilities. This has helped me communicate with students with Asbergers, body dysmorphic disorder and those with sexual identity conflicts.
January
Corey Stevens
Intramural Employee
Year: Junior
Major: Sport and Entertainment Management major
Nominated for: Corey was selected to officiate at the 2011 American Collegiate Intramural Sports (ACIS) Flag Football National Championships. Corey was one of 44 officials selected from across the nation.
What Corey Learned: It was a great opportunity to experience games at such an advanced level and ref with other high quality officials. I am able to take the information and experience back to campus to help our officials. I definitely felt a sense of pride coming from the University of South Carolina; in fact, I was the only official from our state. The experience at this tournament has challenged me to try and make the national basketball tournament, as well as come back to this next year.
November
Melinda Gulledge
President, Sorority Council
Year: Senior
Major: Finance and Economics
Nominated for: Melinda doesn't just go above and beyond every once and a while, she does it all the time. Her nominator says, "She has truly found her leadership voice in her current position and has really helped to move our sorority community forward." She has encouraged the sorority presidents to sit down and talk about real issues. Under Melinda's leadership, Sorority Council has also developed a much better relationship with the National Panhellenic Conference and even won 2 biennial awards this year- one in scholarship and one in progress. Melinda also cares greatly about fostering new leaders and served as a Greek Camp facilitator and as an EL P Mentor. Her nominator says, "Melinda isn't necessarily loud, but when she speaks people listen because they know she is truly a leader."
What She Learned: Being a student leader on campus has helped me understand the value of diversity; Implementing change does not come from one idea, but from a diverse array of ideas and perspectives. I have learned that if a leader can create a positive impact through a combination of their organization's ideas, that is when a difference is made.
October
Kallie Linsberg
Special Programs Coordinator, Carolina Productions
Year: Sophomore
Major: Sport and Entertainment Management
Nominated for: Kallie recently spent 4 days at the headquarters for the National Association for Campus Activities (NACA) on the Showcase Selection committee. A broad view of campus activities and a strong ability to work through the decision-making process as a group is essential to the process.
What Kallie learned: My experience on the NACA National Convention selection committee allowed me to learn how diverse each university can be and it also helped expose me to different ideas that our programming board can use to improve. I feel that this experience helped me grow as a leader because I had to be able to articulate reasons and express my viewpoint on the choices I felt would be best. Also, it gave me a better understanding of how important it is to listen to other people's opinions and take them into account before making a decision.