Excellence in Leadership Sessions
Excellence in Leadership Sessions (ELS) allows GW students to develop and refine their leadership skills. Students can participate in sessions designed to prepare them for future leadership positions, on or off-campus. ELS is also the primary source of training for student organization leaders.
Program Features
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Series of 1- to 2-hour workshops
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Open to all GW students
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Choose which sessions you want to attend
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Attend as many sessions as you want
Program Benefits
By participating in the ELS, you will:
- Increase your self-awareness
- Improve your communication
- Increase your sense of social responsibility
- Discuss diversity, equity, and inclusion, including intercultural competence and social justice
- Learn how to manage organizations, particularly student organizations
These skills will make you more:
- Prepared for leadership positions
- Effective when working in groups, teams, and organizations
- Able to create positive change for the causes and communities you care about
- Marketable to employers
231
Sessions offered in the 2019-2020 academic year.
97%
of participants agreed they gained knowledge during their session that will make them a better leader.
2,002
Students attended sessions in 2019-2020.
Topics
ELS topics fall into two main categories: personal leadership development and student organization management. Personal leadership development sessions are topics that are applicable to any student, regardless of their role on campus. Student organization management sessions are targeted to student organization officers and may not appeal to students outside these roles. Some sessions fall under both categories. When available, you can browse session topics by searching the ELS schedule on Engage.
Schedule
Each live session is listed as an event on Engage. Navigate to the events page by clicking the “Events” tab at the top of the homepage. Select “Excellence in Leadership Sessions (ELS)” from the Categories option on the left sidebar. You may also search by “Excellence in Leadership Series.”
Student Organization Requirement
ELS is a great opportunity for any individual to further their leadership abilities and knowledge. Additionally, participation in ELS sessions is required for student organization annual registration. As part of the training, student organizations must send an officer to a total of two different sessions to be eligible for re-registration annually in March. Failure to meet this requirement will result in loss of privileges, such as recognition status.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Who can attend the sessions?
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Anyone is welcome at the sessions. For an organization to gain credit for attending, the representative must be an active officer of the organization, RSVP on the Engage event page, and use the sign-in page at the session. Students attending for Leadership Exploration Certificate credit must RSVP on the Engage page and use the sign-in page at the session as well. Your session attendance will be updated within 5 business days.
- Where is my attendance updated?
- Where do I find the assessment form?
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The assessment form will be e-mailed to you after you attend a session. You may need to click the "View Notification" button to navigate to the Engage form.
- Can our organization send more than one representative to one session?
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Yes, but the session will only be counted once for the student organization.
- Can our organization send representatives to different instances of the same session?
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Yes, but the session will only be counted once for the student organization.
Many sessions are offered multiple times, but the organization can receive credit for each session topic only once.
- Can I represent more than one organization at a single session?
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Yes, you can represent up to 2 organizations in which you hold an officer position.
- How do I find out how many sessions my organization has attended and completed the assessment for?
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Student organizations can use the Student Organization Requirement Tracker to track their progress. You may also contact Org Help.