Taylor Leavitt

Tooele, UT

Economics

Leadership Engagement Center

​

The Call: Leadership Weekend

My EDGE project was planning, organizing and executing Southern Utah University's Leadership Weekend; The Call. I worked along side my coworker, Truman Smith, and boss, Amie Tukufau to plan the event. Leadership weekend is an event for prospective high school students to try out for a leadership position on campus. The event is held at the end of March every year for the incoming class. This is a great way for incoming students to get involved on campus even before their college career has started. 

 

Applicants must first submit an application and video resume as a preliminary round, then 125 students are selected to come to the actual weekend. Once on campus, we planned interviews, leadership activities and fun events for the students to participate in. I worked with other leadership organizations on campus to make sure students knew of the possible leadership organizations available on campus. Each organization evaluated the students throughout the weekend and then offered positions to students of interest a few weeks after the event concluded. The weekend was a success and I was able to gain valuable leadership skills as well as give others the chance to develop theirs. 

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

 

 

 

 

 

I accredit my amazing experience at SUU to being apart of the Presidential Ambassadors. I had 55 new friends my freshman year before school had even started. I was nervous and scared to move away from home to a new city by myself but having the opportunity to be apart of a great organization washed away those fears as soon as I arrived at retreat. My inspiration for my project came from the opportunity leadership weekend gave me when I came as a senior in high school and I wanted more than anything to give those opportunities to incoming freshman as well. The beginning of my future started at leadership weekend and it has developed into an experience of a lifetime, I want to share that experience with others. 

​

The Call was a huge success and we were able to place over 100 incoming students into leadership positions on campus. However, with every success story comes failure and complications. There are only so many positions available on campus and we had almost 200 students apply to the weekend. We had to turn away great applicants and this was the hardest part of my EDGE project. It is hard to reject an applicant who would love to have a position at the weekend but it had to be done. We also had a few applicants who weren't pleased with the organization that picked them at the beginning so we had to work with them to encourage them to still accept their position and convince them that they would succeed in that organization. 

​

We also had smaller complications during The Call, such as the gymnastics meet going longer than expected and putting us behind schedule. A few items were broken during our mystery rooms in the beginning and we had to think fast to fix them before the next group entered the room. I learned that you just have to be flexible and go with the flow during events. The biggest tip I received was to stay calm, access the situation and then find a solution. Fortunately, we did not have any major hiccups and the event ran smoothly. 

​

My project allowed me to benefit other people as well as myself. Over 100 students received leadership positions and I have had the chance to work with a few of the students on a personal basis through ambassadors. Our organization took in 15 incoming freshman and I have been able to watch them develop as people and find a love for SUU, as I did. The Call allows for great leaders to get involved on campus and have a lasting effect on our campus. I was able to help provide an experience to incoming freshman that they will remember for the rest of their college career and hopefully lifetime. 

​

The project benefited me most months after it was finished. Working with the leaders on campus and being able to see them flourish within the organization they were picked for is the reason I loved my project. Yes, I gained leadership skills and learned how to organize and execute a successful event but the benefit comes from how I made others feel. I love that I was able to assist in giving opportunities to incoming freshman to succeed and love their college experience at Southern Utah University. 

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

"We had our first planning meeting for The Call today, great things are to come and I cannot wait to get start sifting through applicants and inviting them to the weekend."

​

"The Call is over and although it was a ton of work to prepare for and took months of planning, it was worth every minute."

​

​