New program teaches students to be club leaders

A new program is teaching new students to take leadership roles in student organizations on campus.

The Asian Pacific Student Coalition — the umbrella organization for Asian and Pacific Islander groups — is teaching freshmen to leap into action through its program, Leadership in Events and Programming, also known as LEAP.

The idea of LEAP is to introduce freshmen to the responsibilities that club leadership calls for. APSC is using this program to teach leadership through experience. The freshmen are also able to meet leaders of student groups on campus and classmates with similar interests.

The club has weekly meetings in groups of three to four students who work together and devise leadership strategies. The freshmen in the program were recommended from affiliate groups of APSC and filled out an application to join the program. The chosen applicants then went through a brief interview process, and then 20 freshmen were selected.

Some meetings involved fun and memorable icebreakers. “We had to read words to people who had headphones in and [then] ask them what we said. Their responses were hilarious,” Wharton freshman Adarsh Battu said about a bonding activity in LEAP.

So far the freshmen have planned a ramen night fundraiser for the APSC. For this event, the freshmen in LEAP sold tickets which participants could trade in for a cup of ramen and a choice of extra ingredients. The event was an experience for the freshmen and allowed them to use the skills learned through the LEAP program.

Later in the semester the LEAP freshmen will host the APSC Olympics, a small field day for APSC members. Here the students will gain skills required to put on events and fundraisers. 

The program is going to continue. “We like the way this program is going, and we’re looking for ways to continue and expand the program,” APSC Vice Chair of Finance and Wharton junior Lawrence Li said.

APSC hopes to start the program earlier so they can give the freshmen even more experience. This year the program only began in the second semester. Next year, APSC is planning to select freshmen to participate in the first semester so they can be more prompt and efficient in training freshmen.

It is still undecided what role this year’s LEAP freshmen will play in the program next year.

“I liked. it I learned a lot about how clubs get funding here and [about] all the groups under APSC,” Battu said.

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