Last weekend, I attended the International Student Leadership Conference at James Madison University. The topic of the conference was ethical decision making, something I always strive to do in my personal life and find extremely important to continue in the workplace. We were introduced to the Eight Key Questions one should consider when making a difficult decision and then given hypothetical, controversial situations to apply them to. One aspect of the conference that I really enjoyed was being split into “families.” We were all randomly divided into groups of eight to ten students which we would call our “family.” After some of the different sessions, we would divide into these groups and discuss the presentation- giving us the opportunity to share our thoughts in a smaller setting as well as address and answer any questions that might have been raised. In these groups we also worked through the controversial situations, with the goal being to reach a conclusion we all agreed with and that answered the key questions. In addition, aside from small group discussions, our family also served as our team in which we played games with. Throughout the conference we participated in many team-building activities that would challenge us in different ways whether it be communication, cooperation, trust, and of course, leadership. Overall, I found the families to be a nice method of meeting great, new people from many different places, connecting with them on a similar topic, and learning how to become an inspiring and ethical leader anywhere in the world.
On the second day of the conference we all meet Miki Agrawal, a successful and inspiring entrepreneur who spoke to us about how to start our own projects we are passionate about and become leaders in our community. Her accomplishments were incredible and uplifting and I loved the advice she gave us all about how to solve real problems. The conference ended on high with a red carpet runway featuring beautiful, cultural attire, a beautiful dinner, and a dance party. I loved hearing all the different music from around the world and observing those who knew how to do the traditional dances. Overall, the International Leadership Conference was an enriching experience that I am thankful I had the opportunity to attend.
Daniela Amador
