2016 Update 3/11
After a few announcements, we began our class time with reports from the each of our committees. Highlights included the Fundraising Committees decision to hold two Cookies to Go-Go events this semester and the Promotion’s Committee’s immensely successful Elon 101 visits (12 different classes and lots of positive feedback from students saying they were going to apply!).
We then discussed two leaders of development agencies in Central America who would potentially come to Elon, perhaps as Pericleans-in-Residence. Casey Morrison is in contact with Sarah, a key member of the Center for Development in Central America whom she met in Nicaragua. This organization works on sustainable, community-initiated projects in areas such as health, agriculture, and general economic development. Sarah will be coming to Elon on April 24th to speak about the work they have been doing in Ciudad Sandino, Nicaragua.
Morgan Abate has been communicating with Maggie, the executive director of Summit in Honduras. This organization works on a variety of projects in rural Honduran communities, including water purification, health, and school construction. Maggie is enthusiastic about finding partnerships for her organization and is excited to talk more with us. The class decided we would like to Skype her to hear more about Summit and the work it does.
During the second half of class, we were lucky enough to have Steve Mencarini, director of the leadership fellows, come in and talk to our class about working together as an effective team. As he went through the team model, he asked questions about how we had worked together thus far, and we identified what we the strengths and the weaknesses of our class were. What we found was intriguing—most of our weaknesses could double over as strengths in different areas, and vice versa.
The session with Steve ended with a few questions for our class to consider. The first was learning more about each other as people and developing our sense of trust. With trust, we would learn how to use our individuals talents effectively as a whole.
Now, as we embark into the second half of the semester, Steve’s talk prompted us to revisit our roots: why are we Pericleans? What are our motivations? What have we done thus far and what can we improve on? What does being a Periclean mean to us?
–Lauryl and Casey
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