Freshman Leadership Academy to Groom Newcomers on Howard Leadership Practices

The Howard University Student Association has decided to continue its goal of bringing students together and getting them involved on Howard's campus.

Through Howard's mission of creating leaders for the global community,HUSA has taken on the responsibility of grooming future leaders through the Freshman Leadership Academy (FLA).

"The goal of the program was to identify and develop freshman and transfer students for potentially leading Howard and the community, not HUSA and student councils," said Marcus Ware, a second-year law student and director of the program. "We selected 52 freshmen, most female because the majority of student leaders at Howard have been males."

The full-year program will consist of three components, including bi-weekly workshops, mentorship, case studies and field trips.

The workshops will be lead by student leaders across campus, in different organizations, from HUSA and The Hilltop to homecoming and Mr. and Ms. Howard.

The mentoring will be done by student leaders who sign up to help students, and will be required to educate their mentees in their particular interests.

They will groom the mentees, by allowing them to fill that position, showing them budgets and allowing them to attend meetings.

The case studies and field trips will allow students to visit other schools to see how student government is run and understand what is required to become leaders.

"It was a program that was thought of last year, but sort of fell through," Ware said. "The program [came] from observing that student leaders were underdeveloped in leadership roles and were dealing with $100,000 budgets and could have benefited from a program like this."

Ware, who sat on a student leader panel during Freshman Orientation, reached out to students by sending messages in the Class of 2014 Facebook group, placing posters and applications in dorms and sending mass e-mails through university communications.

Some students have begun to see a positive benefit to the program.

Darius Thomas, a freshman broadcast journalism major, said that being a part of the FLA was one of the best decisions he has made.

"My experience, thus far, in the Freshman Leadership Academy has been outstanding," Thomas said. "The things that are in store for the students in the Academy will be life changing and will play a major role in our lives."

Sydney Gould, a freshman accounting major, is also looking forward to this opportunity.

"I am looking forward to going on field trips and participating in our bi-weekly workshop. I believe this will be an excellent start to my career at Howard University," Gould said. "My experience, thus far, has been a great one."

In addition to grooming leaders at Howard, the FLA is also geared develop influential figures in the community.

Each student will have to attend off- campus leadership workshops across the city, with planned visits by program leaders.

The students will assist in the community by mentoring students at a Washington, D.C. middle schools and providing advice on topics from academics to the importance of a positive social life.

"I remember wishing that I had someone to show me the ropes, so I think it'll be a great program for the selected students," Ware said.