Leadership Training Initiative
The Order of the Gown preserves each community member's ability to participate in an academic experience of Honor, Community, Respect, and Equality. These values of integrity and community are those that we instill and uphold in every student as they represent Sewanee scholars and community members. The Leadership Training Initiative is working to provide leadership training through communication skills, conflict resolution, and strength and weakness identification to provide student leaders the tools to set and achieve goals and lead the community forward in the right direction.
The Leadership Training Initiative is led by Izzie Berthelot '23, EQB Chair. The committee is working with the Sewanee Center for Leadership and various student leadership organizations.
"One of my main initiatives this year is to find ways for students to grow as community members and as adults who are nearing their entrance to the workforce, specifically focusing on providing more leadership training opportunities on campus for those who are in leadership positions as well as those who would like to get more training. Surprisingly, Sewanee has no leadership training for student leaders, including even the highest leadership positions which oversee many important aspects of Sewanee student life. We have a wonderful EQB guide which lays out the rules and regulations that allow us to prevent conflict and build community, but students, especially student leaders, are not given the resources to navigate through difficult conflicts with peers and committee members and to best communicate with those around them. This year, the Order of the Gown is hoping to work with leaders in our community to find ways to share this leadership experience and training with Sewanee student leaders as well.
We are working with the Sewanee Center for Leadership who have helped staff and faculty grow as leaders and hope to spread that to Sewanee Student leaders as well. Our goals for training are to navigate through conflict, learn to communicate well, and how to assess the strengths and weaknesses in one's own work approach. "
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-Izzie Berthelot
