Student leaders attend Summit

Tech is not only an institute full of engineers, artists and scientists; it is an institute of leaders and entrepreneurs.

With so many well developed organizations on campus, Tech students get a full taste of leadership before stepping into the real world.

Consequently, Tech offers many opportunities for student leaders to develop their skills and better govern their organizations.

Last Sunday, the President's Council Governing Board (PCGB) held its annual President's Summit program at the Student Center.

PCGB was established to promote communication and collaboration among all student organizations at Tech and to increase organizational interaction and capabilities.

"PCGB is an excellent way for diversely involved student leaders to use the skills that they are developing to better serve all student organizations and the Tech community as a whole," said Tauhira Hoossainy, the chair of PCGB.

The aim of the Summit is to promote interaction between organizations and give presidents and executive members of campus organizations tools to make their organizations more successful.

The day consisted of networking, panels, discussion groups and workshops to promote interaction between all Georgia Tech student organizations.

"Summit brings together the presidents and the highest executive members of campus organizations together to develop their own leadership skills in areas directly relevant to Georgia Tech student life," Hoossainy said.

Although the Summit is a good opportunity for all current and future leaders to broaden their views, the program is not open to all students as of this year.

"Invitations are sent out to all organizational presidents, and they are can bring one guest to the event," said Danielle McDonald, the director of Student Involvement and the Advisor of PGCB.

Throughout the day, guests participated in personalized programs focused on what they consider to be the most important needs of the organization or their leadership styles.

In addition, they are given the opportunity to attend a number of workshops and mingle with some of Tech's administrators to further improve their leadership and communication skills.

The theme for this year's Summit was "Fortify Your Organization," with clever session titles like "Event Planning Like a Rock Star."

A number of Tech's administrators provided workshops and seminars to fully meet the need of Tech's young leaders.

Just to mention a few, Sally Hammock, the associate director for Programs at the Student Center, focused her workshop on how to effectively hold and manage a meeting. The workshop provided strategies to evaluate an organization meeting and taught leaders to make them more productive and enjoyable at the same time.

Stephanie Ray, associate dean of Students and the Director of Diversity Programs, presented scientifically formulated programming strategies for both active and exhausted student leaders.

Knowing how important it is for an executive team to set the tone as a whole for the organization, Amy Stalzer, the assistant director of Success Programs, gave valuable advice on how to select the best officers, members and advisors.

Additionally, Danielle McDonald hosted a session on how a leader's personality style can influence his/her leadership and how to meet the needs and get the best from an executive team and organization.

With more than 90 RSVPs, PCGB felt that the event was overall very successful.

"The event went extremely well; we had great speakers who hosted great workshops," McDonald said.

Students who went seem to have benefited from this event as well.

"I think the Summit gave me a great opportunity to network with Tech administrators and alumni, talk to them and learn from them," said Katie Dieterman, the president of Omicron Delta Kappa.

"I've already started using some of the resources that I learned from the workshops provided and I hope to utilize the tools I learned and make a difference in my organization," Dieterman said.

PCGB plans to continue fostering communication initiatives between the members of the Presidents' Council, which is comprised of the presidents of all the student organizations.

"We plan to move forward with Presidents' Council meetings as a forum for campus presidents," Hoossainy said.

The first Presidents' Council meeting is scheduled for Thursday, Oct. 11. The president or an equivalent representative from every student organization on campus will be invited to discuss both specific and general issues concerning organizations.

Want to get involved? PCGB typically holds recruitment early in the spring semesters and is tentatively planning to conduct a recruitment drive at the end of this fall semester.

Now that this year's Summit event has ended, students can look forward to other PCGB events such as Up with the White & Gold with Ambassadors and the Burdell's Best Awards.