News
Levitt Leadership Institute heads to Washington D.C. for spring break
By Noelle Connors ’19
March 30, 2017
Tags news
From March 11 to March 16, 20 participants of the Levitt Leadership Institute traveled to Washington D.C. to explore leadership in government and the nation’s capital. Ambassador Prudence Bushnell and Professor Susan Mason of the Education Studies program led the program along with student Levitt Center employees Sarah Hogoboom ’17 and James Mesiti ’17. Over winter break, Levitt Leadership Institute participants explored their own personal leadership styles and how they affect group dynamics. In the second week of the program, which took place over spring break, the participants each organized meetings with leaders in fields of interest to see how leadership affects their daily lives.
Jack Wright of the Class of 2019 summarized, “It was a great opportunity to see how leadership and life in the ‘real world’ works in D.C. Ambassador Bushnell’s experiences and stories also provided invaluable lessons.”
To learn about Public Health in D.C. and globally, the students met with Robert Clay, Vice President for Global Health of Save the Children Foundation. From his over 34 years of experience in the field, Clay emphasized the importance of global health issues and public health, and the impact that United States policies and NGOs have on these issues. From a leadership perspective, Clay emphasized the importance of resilience in the long term. He showed that leading can often be frustrating in the day-to-day work, but overall can have tremendous impact. Furthermore, he emphasized the fact that everybody makes mistakes, and after some self-reflection, it is essential to move on.
Later in the week, students met with Matthew Marks and Allison Hoppe at the Environmental Protection Agency. Hoppe is a law clerk for the General Counsel of the EPA who specializes in issues of Federal Native American law, and Marks is an Attorney-Advisor for the Office of the General Counsel of the EPA. Marks described two important traits of a leader: the ability to drive change and the ability to motivate and empower people. Additionally, both Marks and Hoppe emphasized the importance of remaining optimistic and resilient in the face of challenges in the workplace and creating a community of shared motivation to drive change.
To learn about media and communication fields, the participants met with Matt Yglesias, a co-founder of Vox, and Sarah Schultz, the communications director for Young Invincibles, a non-profit that works to make young people’s voices heard in politics. Both leaders in the communications field emphasized the importance of humility as a leader and the importance of innovating without disregarding old conventions. They also emphasized the importance of having confidence to make decisions but being willing to accept criticism and change one’s argument. They led an engaging discussion on the importance of obtaining balanced news in the face of the fake news debates and encouraged everyone to read a variety of sources to see a broader perspective.
Levitt Leadership Institute participants were very fortunate to meet with Antwan Wilson, the Chancellor of the D.C. Public School system. Wilson, who has experience at all levels of education and education management, emphasized the importance of prioritizing the student and ensuring that the student is the priority in every decision, as he believes that education is a basic human right. As a leadership style, Wilson emphasized the importance of curiosity and the belief that you will always be wrong twice as much as you will be right, so you should never be afraid of failure and reflection.
Acacia Bowden ’20 describes, “For me, LLI was a great experience because of the people. We had the opportunity to learn from leaders in many different fields and since I am interested in pursuing a career in health care, being able to talk with Robert Clay, the Vice President of Health and Nutrition at Save the Children, was particularly insightful. And when we weren’t at scheduled events, we got to know each other better as we enjoyed all D.C. has to offer.”
In addition to speaking with these incredible leaders in various fields, participants were able to explore Washington D.C., visiting the monuments, museums, the Supreme Court and the Capitol. Overall, this trip provided incredible experiences for students to learn more about working in fields they are interested in and applying leadership skills to various careers.