LeaderShape

LeaderShape is a not-for-profit organization that strives to enable college students to lead with integrity. Founded by the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity in 1986 as a leadership program specifically for the fraternity's own use, it was promptly turned over to an independent party in order to help the organization remain impartial in its processes. It has since become a prestigious leadership organization with international influence. It has also been recently denoted an exemplary program by the W. K. Kellogg Foundation

essions

LeaderShape sessions (called "The LeaderShape Institute") can be attended at either the national location or a campus-based session. National sessions have been held at the Allerton Convention Center in Allerton, IL since 1986. The first campus-based session was held at the University of Michigan in 1992. Since then, over 70 different campuses (including one in Qatar and Canada) have held LeaderShape sessions on top of the 8 annual national sessions. Each type of session has its advantages, as the national session addresses universal issues, while campus-based sessions are able to address more campus-based issues.

Sessions consist of a six-day program in which the participants will be operating on a 12+ hour schedule. Approximately 60 students attend each session, with over 3,500 students attending LeaderShape annually.

Curriculum

The LeaderShape Institute maintains a consistent curriculum consisting of each day being broken up into themes. Each of these themes centers the activities of the day on completing specific tasks meant to build towards the goals of the day. The themes are:

* Day 1: Building Community
* Day 2: The Value of One, The Power of All
* Day 3: Challenging What Is, Looking to What Could Be
* Day 4: Bringing Vision to Reality
* Day 5: Living and Leading with Integrity
* Day 6: Staying In Action

The themes and all lessons within are taught and administered by a team of eight LeaderShape staff members, consisting of five cluster facilitators, two lead facilitators, and an on-site coordinator. In addition, guest leaders will be brought in on Day 3 to lead a specific portion of the session in which they will share their experiences with the participants and field questions.

Family Clusters

Family clusters are a term used for the small group sessions held within the larger session. Participants are broken down into evenly distributed teams, each led by a group facilitator. These teams are encouraged to work together over the course of the week, becoming closer as they address the issues in a more intimate environment than the large session.

It is within the family clusters that participants are given an opportunity to share their experiences, reflect on the days events, and focus on developing and fleshing out their vision for the world. Participants are encouraged to develop a blueprint for their vision so that measurable success may be attained within the subsequent calendar year.

CATALYST

LeaderShape also maintains a one-day program called CATALYST, which encourages students to go deeper, wider, and farther in their definition of who they are and how they can make an impact. The program focuses on:

* Examining what it means to "take your own path".
* Understanding how to connect and contribute to organizations the participant cares about.
* Challenging themselves and their organizations to expand opportunities for possibility.

While technically a stand-alone program, CATALYST can also be utilized as a complementary program to the standard LeaderShape Institute program. CATALYST is offered as a strictly campus-based program and is a popular follow-up for many colleges who already maintain many campus-based LeaderShape Institute graduates.

Notable Alumni

*Larry Page, Co-Founder of Google. [ [http://www.engin.umich.edu/alumni/engineer/01SS/profiles.html Engineering Alumni: Alumni Profiles ] ]

References

* [http://www.leadershape.org/ LeaderShape Official Website]