COPE and the IWL partner to present leadership boot camp

The TWU College of Professional Education (COPE) and the Institute for Women’s Leadership (IWL) hosted the inaugural COPE Emerging Leaders Leadership Boot Camp on September 27 to provide leadership training to undergraduate students. The pilot program offered a full day of training to 18 students, who became the first cohort of fellows for the COPE Emerging Leaders program.

“This project is a spinoff of a successful one I developed for college students in my native Puerto Rico” said Dr. Jorge Figueroa, associate professor of bilingual and ESL education and coordinator of the boot camp. “We believe that leadership can be learned, and we wanted to provide our students with the opportunity to engage and learn about concepts and philosophies of leadership and how to apply them in their daily lives and work.”

The boot camp included workshops on leadership and styles, presented by Dr. Laura Trujillo-Jenks, associate professor of educational leadership; leading diverse groups, presented by Dr. Aimee Myers, assistant professor of curriculum and instruction; and behavioral perspectives on leadership, presented by Dr. Diane Myers, professor of special education and chair of the Department of Teacher Education.

Participants also heard from Dr. Lisa Huffman, dean of COPE, and Maj. Gen. Mary Saunders (Ret.), executive director of the IWL.

At the end of the boot camp, the participants were awarded certificates of completion, and the same cohort of students will participate in a second leadership boot camp in spring 2020. They will receive a special recognition upon finishing the program.

Students found the experience to be valuable and can incorporate what they learned into their studies.

“I was able to tie in my education classes with the boot camp, and it solidified some of the things that I had questions about or needed just a little bit more information about,” said interdisciplinary studies (4-8) core subjects with an ESL major Candace Dawson. “The cultural lessons that were presented also helped me take another step toward understanding differences among my future students.”

With the success of the pilot program, there will be an open call for undergraduate students from COPE interested in being part of the second cohort for 2020-2021.

Page last updated 3:48 PM, December 4, 2019