Although incoming freshmen are just starting their college career, many of them want to start preparing for their career after college as well.
Replacing Freshman Leadership Program this upcoming Fall, Emerge aims to build leadership skills in students by having them work together on projects that fill a need. This dynamic leadership program is Auburn's way of making students more prepared for the workplace.
"What employers are desperate for are leaders who know how to work in a team, can communicate well and can actually solve problems," Assistant Vice President for Student Engagement Lady Cox said. "Our goal is that when people get resumes that say Emerge on it, they'll say 'that is the student we need.'"
One thousand freshmen will be a part of Emerge, and they will split into teams of 30 people who they will work with all year on a "SOAR project" that is laid out by appointed team leaders. These will be community action projects that fill needs previously being unattended to.
Sydney Nicholas, president of Emerge, looks forward to carrying over the relationship building aspect of the Freshman Leadership Program while also presenting students with a new curriculum of leadership skills.
"A lot of people in our freshman leadership program formed relationships and that was a huge deal that we hope to foster as something we are trying to carry over," Nicholas said.
The curriculum, as described by Cox, is specific to Auburn so that Emerge members will have a distinct approach to leadership.
"The curriculum is built on the principals of the Auburn creed; it's a curriculum designed for Auburn students," Cox said. "Each component focuses on being a leader in the Auburn Family and it will be very specific and unique to our university; it's not a pre-packaged program that we bought from somewhere else"
Students who join emerge, along with their community project, will be expected to attend a 1-hour meeting every week. Once every month a speaker will come to campus to speak at these meetings, the first of which being Jeff Foxworthy at the Emerge kickoff August 27.
"We hope students will be inspired and empowered in knowing that they can make a difference right now," Nicholas said.
Applications for Emerge are due July 20.
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