Fifteen students enrolled in the Action Leadership class started off their last session Tuesday by forming a circle and tossing a Koosh ball to each other at random. As they tossed the ball, they shared words that represented their experiences in the class, such as “cooperation” and “unity.”
But then the facilitators, who help the class perform activities, asked every member of the circle to touch the ball in the quickest amount of time possible.
After considering several possible solutions, the students placed their hands in the middle of the circle, and once their fingers were touching, one of the facilitators dropped the ball. As it fell, the ball brushed past everyone’s hands before hitting the floor.The Action Leadership class, PEL 399, is offered every term and allows students to practice being leaders and to learn group problem-solving techniques in a fun atmosphere. It is also part of L.E.A.D. — Leadership through Education, Activity, Development — a program that offers one-credit classes to help University students and staff explore leadership.
“Everything is experimental,” said Nancy Heapes, one of two facilitators for PEL 399 and the creator of L.E.A.D. “It gives you a great awareness of who you think you are.”
While many classes at the University tend to rely on textbooks and lectures to instill knowledge, L.E.A.D. classes take students through a series of fun activities. In these classes, students participate in exercises such as obstacle courses, timed missions and relay races to learn how to become better leaders.
“There is no time to plan,” said Heapes, the director of aquatics with Physical Activity and Recreation Services. “They have to solve the problems as they go along.”
Annalee McBee, a senior psychology major, said much of what she will take away from this class applies to her personal everyday life as well as to her work as a kayak instructor for the EMU Outdoor Program.
“It has made me more aware of the ways you can approach people to be less confrontational,” she said.
Brandon Moran, a junior business major, sat with three other classmates Tuesday, working with 20 plastic drinking straws and three feet of blue masking tape to devise a protective package for an egg, which would then be tested in an egg-drop contest.
Moran said he would recommend that everyone take the class because participants become better people through the emotional and physical challenges they face, and their experiences will be beneficial in their future careers.
“It is learning to lead,” Moran said. “It is learning to follow.”
Moran said through the class he has learned to be less selfish and to “let other people run the show.”
Heapes said when she came up with the idea for a leadership class more than a year ago, she did so with the intention of giving students a way to learn from both themselves and others.
Some students who have taken the L.E.A.D. classes have gone on to develop their own leadership initiatives and workshops that they bring back to share with future classes, Heapes said.
Freshman Nicole Steiner took the Action Leadership class this term and the Leadership for Women class winter term. She said she enjoyed Action Leadership because it allows men and women to converse with each other while confronting obstacles.
“Not one person leads this class — not even the facilitators,” Steiner said. “We learned different ways to do things instead of the conventional ways to do things. I wish everything was taught this way, because it incorporates more knowledge than just one person’s opinion.”
Nathan Nicholson, a sophomore biology major, said the class members didn’t know each other well at the beginning of the term, but as time moved on they learned to work together as a cohesive group. He said while some of the class members were quiet, they were forced to step outside their boundaries by interacting with other students.
“I have learned a lot about group dynamics and how to bring out the strengths and weaknesses of each individual in a group,” Nicholson said. “It changed my perspective of the range of ways in which a leader can go about getting [his or her] job done.”