The 26th annual Quinnipiac Leadership Conference caught the attention of many students looking to use their intellectual skills in both college and beyond. The conference, highlighted by many speakers with diverse backgrounds, was overseen by Nicolette Yevich, Associate Director of the Student Center. It was broken up into specific seminars explaining different aspects of the importance of leadership in students of today. The intent of the seminars was to give those in attendance a different perspective on how to keep commitment to goals in life.

Special guest Joe Urbanski started the event with a keynote address in Alumni Hall, encouraging students take their thoughts and put them into action. Students got to interact with the leaders through the many workshops held during the educational sessions. The educational sessions were formatted into two separate blocks in which a student could take part in one workshop each. There were five workshops per session and students were allowed to attend whichever one they felt suited their needs. After a slight break, there were four roundtable discussions involving decision making at QU to close out the event.
The reaction to the conference by the students was generally positive, as many felt they had gotten a lot out of the event.

“I thought it was really good, because it was able to get students involved.,” freshman class representative of SGA Katie Fischer said. “It will definitely help me out in the future with student government.”
Anthony Cirino, another freshman class representative, was also very pleased with the results.

“The whole experience was great because it not only taught me how to be a great leader, but also a leader with integrity,” Cirino said. “It also taught me how to be someone others look up to. The three steps are vision, belief and action.”
Senior Dan Runcie works for the Student Center and had assisted Yevich in setting up for the forum.

“It was great to hear opinions from those outside the Quinnipiac community as well because it gives advice we might not hear most of the time,” Runcie said. “A lot of people were pleasantly surprised how the speakers came from here and other schools.”
The conference was not limited to those who hold leadership positions in SGA or other student-run organizations, as it was open to all Quinnipiac students.