About Called to Lead

Called to Lead gives students the opportunity to develop leadership skills by exploring leadership styles and skills, personal identity and values, vocation and career choices, larger ethical commitments, and big questions of meaning and purpose.  Following Elizabethtown College's commitment to Educate for Service, Called to Lead prepares students to actively engage in meaningful life work.
 

Called to Lead Experiences

• Participate in peer-to-peer learning with students from over 20 different majors, ranging from business to education to theater, each with different life and leadership experiences.
  
  
• Identify preferred leadership styles and unique leadership strengths.
   
• Engage in one-on-one mentoring with faculty and staff whom the student selects.
   
• Develop a strong sense of community and belonging with students from across campus who have similar interests and goals.
   
• Discover what it means to have purposeful life work.

 

Called to Lead Goals 

• Expand leadership potential by exploring leadership within the context of life meaning and the things that ultimately matter.
   
• Experience the Elizabethtown College mission: To educate students ethically for lives of leadership and service.
   
• Receive recognition for completing program milestones by accumulating points by participating in events and courses and directly engaging in leadership.  Students who reach 1,000 points receive a Called to Lead certificate and signature sash to wear at commencement.  Other milestones are at 300 and 600 points.

 

Called to Lead Highlights

Mentoring

Students report mentoring is one of the most valuable parts of Called to Lead.  Students select a faculty or staff member to work with them in one-on-one mentoring on a topic chosen jointly by student and mentor.  Topics have included leadership issues, personal identity, vocation and career choices, life-work balance, time management, stress management, spiritual direction, and ethical issues.

Dinners

Another popular Called to Lead component are networking dinners.   What Matters to Me and Why Dinners: The What Matters to Me and Why series began at Princeton in the 1980s, was picked up at Stanford in the 1990s, and has been used at many other colleges and universities, including USC, Goucher College, and Dartmouth.  The main goal of the program is to encourage campus reflection on life philosophies, ethical commitments, personal values, effective decision-making, and meaningful work.  Networking Dinners: These dinners feature opportunities to network with other student leaders, alumni, and experts in various fields.

Experiential Learning

Learning by doing and learning from real experience is one of the hallmarks of Called to Lead.  A high ropes course experience is one of the ways students learn about teamwork and understanding both themselves and others.  Students also gain hands-on leadership experience on campus, in the community, and around the world.  Students learn to analyze their experience, describing the definition of leadership in the current setting and analyzing the various aspects of their leadership situation, experiences, and outcomes.