D-LAB Session 2: Leadership from Within, Part Two

This ongoing series shares the experiences of participants and facilitators in D-LAB (Dartmouth Leadership Attitudes and Behaviors), a student-facilitated program designed for first-year students to discover the relationship between leadership and personal values.

D-LAB participants during the second part of the Leadership from Within session. Photo by May Nguyen '18.

The second session of D-LAB, part two of Leadership from Within, focused on individual values. Participants were asked to choose the ten values that are most important to them and another ten that are the least important from a list of forty values prior to attending the session.

After dinner, participants split into their groups and were asked to identify a person they viewed as a role model and explain what values they had that they appreciated. It was interesting to see the broad differences in people’s role models. Everyone from moms to authors and politicians were mentioned, but when it came to explaining why these people were role models, similar values were brought up such as honesty and integrity.

Looking on, D-LAB facilitator, Deep Singh '17 shares a laugh with participant, Spencer Lambdin '18, during Monday night's session. Photo by May Nguyen '18.

The conversation then shifted to the values that the participants chose. Participants were asked to identify their top three choices, which proved to be a difficult task, and then explain why these values were important to them. Participants and facilitators also shared an experience that shaped these values.

During the discussion, the facilitators asked the participants questions about their values that made them realize that even though these values are important to them, they are not things that they consciously think about everyday even though they practice them everyday. Participants were then asked to find antonyms to the three values that they picked. This seemingly easy task was in fact quite challenging.

D-LAB participant Jay Raju '18 talks with student facilitator Nicole Simineri '17 during the Leadership from Within, Part Two session. Photo by May Nguyen '18.

Next, the discussion moved towards the Dartmouth community, and the participants and facilitators shared their opinions on President Hanlon’s Moving Dartmouth Forward plan and discussed how the Dartmouth community can work together to improve the school.

Finally, each group worked together to come up with a definition of community. This is a word that we all use often which encompasses a lot of things. Coming up with a definition that included all aspects of community was both challenging and a learning experience for participants and facilitators.

-Written by Niamé Daffé '18, D-LAB Participant