Maricopa Community Colleges host Student Life retreat for young leaders
Maricopa Community Colleges will host a Student Life retreat at the end of September at Camp Pine Summit for new and returning students who are interested in college leadership opportunities.
The three day retreat, taking place Sept. 22- Sept. 24, will give students the opportunity to interact and engage with other leadership students in their area while sharing new ideas about student government.
The retreat will include workshops, keynote speakers, and team building exercises for students to participate in. Topics covered will include communication, group dynamics, and fostering team success.
Along with learning about leadership, there will be fun extra activities such as hiking and bonfires, as well as team building events that will have students working together to achieve a common goal.
“This is sort of an introductory leadership retreat because we do it at the start of the semester with the anticipation that students that are new to college, that are new to leadership opportunities, that are, you know, excited about getting involved now that they are starting their college journey,” said coordinator of Student Life and Leadership Erica Horihan.
All 10 of the Maricopa Community Colleges, as well as Coconino Community College, come together to collaborate on the event. Students from all of the schools will be attending and have the opportunity to engage with each other and swap ideas about student government to bring back with them to their own campuses.
“The purpose is opportunities to meet other students, make connections, to sort of get a basic understanding of why leadership is important, and the kind of opportunities that they can get connected with on their own campuses,” said Horihan.
The Student Life program funds the retreat, making it entirely free for students to attend. Transportation, food, and lodging will all be covered by the program. The funding for the retreat is taken out of the Student Life office’s annual budget.
This will be the second year that the retreat will be taking place in person since the pandemic.
“We know in student life that students that are involved at their college are more successful than those who are not,” Horihan said. “So we’re just sort of catching them early and introducing them to some of the different leadership concepts and primarily just giving them a chance to meet and connect with other students and student leaders from all around our district.”
