Enhancing Student Leadership through Structured One-on-One Mentorship

Matthew Cummings Coordinator of Community Servicematthewcummings@depauw.edu

Speaker Introduction

• MA Urban Studies and Community Development

• Coordinate Civic Programs• The Hartman House:– Spiritual Life, Social Justice, Civic Engagement

Programs– “People of purpose building community to

improve the world”

DePauw Community Service Model• 25 structured volunteer programs with over 350

students participating, each with a student leader• Student leader duties include:– Bi-weekly one-on-ones, 30 minutes– Monthly group meetings– Leading end of semester reflections– Recruiting volunteers– Tracking volunteer hours– Promotion, communication, and PR of Civic Engagement– Paid $250 per semester

What we want our Student Leaders to Learn?

• Develop professional competencies through DCS leadership experience (NACE)

• Provides evidence of experience in civic engagement activities and describes what she/ he has learned about her or himself as it relates to a reinforced and clarified sense of civic identity and continued commitment to public action (AACU)

• Connect to Servant Leadership philosophy

Influential Framework for Leadership Development

• Robert Quinn, Gretchen Spreitzer, Matthew Brown– Changing Others through Changing Ourselves

– Seeking to create an emergent system– Recognize Patterns of Hypocrisy and patterns of self-deception– Personal Change Through Value Clarification and alignment of behaviors– Freeing oneself from the system of external sanctions– Developing a vision for common good– Taking action to the edge of chaos– Maintain Reverence for others involved in change– Inspires Others to Enact their Best Selves– Models counterintuitive paradoxical behavior– Changes to self and the system

– Advanced Change Theory– Deep Change, Change the world

Influences

• Student Leadership Challenge– Model the Way– Inspire a Shared Vision– Challenge the Process– Encourage Others to Act– Encourage the Heart

Other work

• Leadership for a Better World (Social Change Model)

• The Servant Leader by James Autry• Myth of Leadership, Creating Leaderless

Organizations

How do we bridge all these theories…..

…… to practice?

Structure One-on-Ones

• Meaningful conversations, moving beyond “updates” and “how’s your program doing”

• Active note taking and recording through Google Docs

• Bi-Weekly, 30 minutes• Emphasize oral discussion to enhance verbal

communication

Curriculum Implementation

• August- Student Leadership Orientation – Assessments: Strengths and Student Leadership

Practices Inventory– Individual and group goal setting– Introduce basic leadership theory

September 1x1s

• Develop Leadership Action plan– Revisits Goals– Set vision for program – Describe how they want volunteers to be

impacted and how to interact with volunteers– Set up volunteer encouragement plan

October

• Value Clarification– Identify top values from a list– Who have you seen implement these values– How did these values become important to you in

your life?– What values do you struggle with and how would

you like to grow

November

• Appreciation– Leaders go back to appreciation plan, write thank

you letters, pizza party, etc..– Organize end of semester volunteer reflection

• Resume Preview• Start to identify possible plans for the summer

December

• Blog Prompts for Student Leaders– What have you learned from doing service that

you hope to take with you after DePauw?– What was one big problem that may have

surfaced through your leadership experience and how did you solve it?

– What was your most memorable experience of the semester at your service site?

– Revisit Goals, did you reach them?

February

• Summer Preparation– Identify 3-4 internship/post-graduate

opportunities– Letters of Recommendation Criteria

• Goal setting for second semester, program development, improvements

March

• This I believe NPR Series• Leaders formulate “This I Believe” blog

prompts (2-3 paragraphs)• Continue summer plan development• Identify personal narrative of service– How did service become important in your life– Key influences

April• Connecting Service to Justice– What were the major social issues explored at your

service site?– Do you perceive your work is making a positive

impact?• End of Semester volunteer reflections– Leaders take volunteers out pizza, ice cream, brief

reflection meeting• Review Goals and if they were able to accomplish

them

What we’ve learned • Students develop demanded skills

– “I was able to recruit more male volunteers through partnering with a Greek House”

– “I integrated the first STEM-based activities at Headstart”– Work in teams, solve problems, learn to verbally communicate with persons

(NACE)• Students are ready for the summer/post-DePauw

– 23:25 students had plans from internships, jobs, to going to graduate school• Students are learning to be leaders

– “I received over $2,000 in grant support for my organization”– “My volunteer retention was much higher this year as I was able to connect

with more volunteers”– “Our community impact has risen from serving just 20 families to 150 families

in the last three years”

Questions?

• Matthew Cummings• matthewcummings@depauw.edu• 765-655-4862 (office)• 500 East Seminary, Greencastle, Indiana 46135