Many Auburn campus activities and organizations have been limited in how they can connect with incoming freshmen because of remote Camp War Eagle and the closing of campus. Emerge is one of the many such student organizations new students will have limited knowledge about the program for the upcoming fall semester. 

Emerge is a student-run leadership development organization that helps University students throughout college, teaching them life skills through workshops and retreats.

“Our goal is to make leadership development accessible to all students on Auburn’s campus,” said Jediael Fraser, senior in software engineering and president of Emerge. 

Emerge aims to develop student leadership skills in three different phases. The first phase, Explore, focuses on personal leadership style and introduces leadership development through skills like resume building. The second phase, Spark, focuses on service and servant leadership where students learn about their personal passions and motivations for being a leader through service projects. The third phase, Transform, helps students learn how to take their leadership skills into the real world. 

Each year, the organization gets an average of about 500 new students that apply to be a part of Emerge. Last year, it gained 488 new members in the fall. Many of the new students each year come from the incoming freshman class, and Emerge usually benefits from promotions from Camp War Eagle to gain those numbers. 

“We have relied on Camp War Eagle a lot in the past and word of mouth from Camp War Eagle counselors as well,” Fraser said. “This year, what we are trying to do is supplement that by reaching to incoming students where they are … seeking them out on social media and sending out material to them to get them excited about the new year.” 

Fraser said Emerge is still performing outreach through the remote orientation incoming freshmen are participating in this summer. He also said the organization hopes to make revisions to some of its phases in the 2020-21 school year.

“We are looking forward to solidifying our phase two and three programs, because we have been trying new things and responding to feedback,” Fraser said. “We are looking forward to getting more people to engage in leadership at different levels and reaching out more to other organizations and collaborating in different ways.” 

Students interested in becoming new members of Emerge may complete the 2020-21 application for the upcoming school year on AUInvolve.