Leading UK Into the Future By Creating Change Today

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Sept. 23, 2009) – Weekends in the fall for most college students are spent studying, relaxing or cheering on their favorite team on the gridiron. However, for one weekend in September, several UK students dedicated their time to making UK a better place.

One hundred top student leaders gathered Sept. 11 through 13 for the fifth annual University Leadership Summit. This retreat gives students time to network, get to know one another and discuss the issues facing our campus.

Students are nominated for Summit and then go through an application process for the 100 positions. Summit participants represent groups and organizations from across every aspect of UK's campus life. The weekend is planned by the Office of Student Involvement's Office of Leadership Development and a group of student peer facilitators.

"Leadership Summit is a program for some of the best and brightest students at UK," Lauren Goodpaster, leadership and service program director, said. "This program really allows student leaders to connect with one another and talk about how they can make a difference in the UK campus community and the greater Lexington community."

The 2009 Summit took place at a retreat center outside of Shelbyville, Ky., a place where some technological luxuries didn't work so well.

"The facility is kind of in the middle of nowhere," said Bryan Kennedy, a Summit alumnus. "There's no cell phone service, no Internet. But it helps us bond with one another, which is a good thing."

Students first connect in small groups, each led by a peer facilitator and a faculty or staff facilitator. These small groups are where ideas begin to flow and walls begin to come down. These groups discuss issues and participate in team-building activities. Everything at Summit aims to develop and connect student leaders to create positive change for the University of Kentucky campus and community.

This year, Summit focused on three issues facing campus: involvement, campus unity and community service. These issues came directly from the essays that applicants wrote to participate in Summit as the biggest issues facing UK's campus today.

"The reason that we do retreats like this is because our university is our life, our home," said Lizzy Heaton, a peer facilitator at Summit this year. "This is our society, so why wouldn't we want to do anything we can to make it better?"

Summit is not just one weekend. In fact, the weekend retreat is just the beginning of the Leadership Summit experience. Each month, this group of leaders will gather to continue their discussions on the issues facing campus, on how they can improve them and how they can make a difference in their own organizations.

"College students are sometimes pigeon-holed into the stereotype of partiers or people who are apathetic and don't care about the community or get involved," Zach Brien, peer facilitator coordinator, said. "But Summit goes to show that there is a large group of leaders, a large group of voices that have passion for this university and who want to make things better and have been very successful in creating change."

Summit has made an impact on campus over the past five years. The TallyCats program, the redesign of the UK Homepage and the K Book are just a few of the projects that were born out of the University Leadership Summit.

"The ultimate goal of Summit is to improve things over time," said Kennedy. "A lot leaders and people want things to improve overnight, and it's hard to realize that that doesn't always happen. But things do change."