SDCN to Hold Third Annual Student Leadership Retreat

(Sustained Dialogue Campus Network)
The Sustained Dialogue Campus Network (SDCN) will host its 3rd annual Student Leadership Retreat in Washington DC August 6 – 8, 2010. Over two-dozen student leaders from 15 campuses with Sustained Dialogue programs across the country will attend.

Students attending the retreat will work with one another and the SDCN Program Directors to strengthen Sustained Dialogue chapters and to more effectively address identity-based tension on campus. Throughout the weekend, students will participate in exercises to build self-awareness and understanding of work styles, map community stakeholders and develop recruitment plans, plan large-scale events to broaden SD’s reach, and learn tools for innovative social action.

“The goal for the weekend is for all of the student leaders to develop a strong plan for making change happen on their campus,” says Rhonda Fitzgerald, SDCN Program Director. “It’s crucial for the students to arrive on campus with a plan for the year. We work with students to develop those plans through both one-on-one time with each school as well as workshops for all of the attendees.”

The Leadership Retreat will feature workshops from organizations that specialize in creating social change, including Ashoka’s YouthVenture program, which provides tools to catalyze social innovation. Speakers Stephanie Potter of Ashoka YouthVenture, Vernon Wall, a nationally renowned speaker on issues of social justice and leadership styles, Ileana Martin, Senior Program Associate of the Kettering Foundation, and Rich Harwood, founder and President of the Harwood Institute for Public Innovation, will expose students to strategies to bring change-making skill sets into post-college workplaces and communities.

“Alumni of Sustained Dialogue programs go on to do amazing things in a all sectors, such as law, business, and education,” says Amy Lazarus, SDCN Executive Director. “The speakers at the retreat help students realize how powerful of a skill set they are developing not just for college, but for life.”

The students that attend leave feeling confident and prepared for the year ahead. They leave with new strategies to implement, as well as a support network of their peers from across the country.

“The Retreat was a much-needed planning session,” remarked Roger Williams University student Travis O’Dell following last year’s event. “I feel immensely more prepared after hearing other people's experiences and learning best practices from across the network.”

For more information on the Student Leadership Retreat and to learn about student sponsorship opportunities, please visit www.sdcampusnetwork.org/studentsponsorship

About the Sustained Dialogue Campus Network

The Sustained Dialogue Campus Network (SDCN) trains, mentors, and connects student leaders who initiate and sustain dialogues to build cohesive, engaged, and diverse campus communities, thereby preparing the next generation of civic leaders. SDCN is an initiative of the International Institute for Sustained Dialogue, which is a 501(c)(3) organization, formed in collaboration with the Kettering Foundation, that promotes the process of Sustained Dialogue for transforming racial, ethnic, and other deep-rooted conflicts in the United States and abroad.

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