The Center for Leadership was lucky to have Pam Brumbaugh, Director of Experiential Education at Elon University, present her first Strengths Workshop yesterday evening. Brumbaugh inspired the LEAD Program participants who attended the workshop to focus on their strengths and to encourage themselves in their ventures: “You need to be your best cheerleader.”
This workshop allowed for students to reflect on their top 5 strengths attained by completing the Strengths Quest Survey. Students participated in activities that demonstrated how their strengths relate to others’, as well as the importance of working in groups in which each person has different strengths than the others. This small group of students worked in pairs to discuss their strengths and how they are working to improve upon their weaknesses. “A leader is very aware of their own strengths and weaknesses,” said Brumbaugh as she encouraged students to understand themselves better. Brumbaugh introduced the concept of a “genius statement” to the students, which states how the talent is valuable to the individual. She personalized this workshop by reading a genius statement for one of each student’s top five strengths. This workshop presented how each person can work on these talents to improve upon their personal, academic, and career undertakings. This group of students worked really hard to uncover the meaning of their personal strengths and to help their peers practice explaining their strengths to them. These students are one step closer to becoming the self-aware leaders they strive to be in the LEAD Program, at Elon and in life.
