Leadership in Practice

The sixth session of D-LAB, "Leadership in Practice," provided participants the opportunity to find ways at Dartmouth to apply their values and leadership qualities at different organizations on campus. Representatives from multiple campus organizations were invited to join participants during the program's final session. The session was different from previous sessions in that participants did not join their usual groups and instead were asked to select four or five organizations or centers they found most interesting from a list that had been provided the previous week.

Discussions were focused on how to apply the values participants had been discussing during previous sessions to their involvement in organizations. Students discussed how their participation in D-LAB had allowed them to understand which values were most important to them, revealed new values to consider, and understand why other individuals placed importance on different characteristics. Students also discussed how understanding their prioritized values influenced their interests, and more practically, how they could employ their interests in participation in different student organizations and leadership roles.

Representatives of the various organizations present not only facilitated such discussion but shared their own experiences as part of student centers and answered questions that participants had on getting more involved. As participants were mainly first-year students, representatives encouraged them to be unafraid to explore options and dive into activities that they felt were interesting, all while applying a values system that was in line with one’s interests.

The session concluded with brief messages from D-LAB’s coordinators, Robin Frye and David Pack, who thanked participants for their part in the program and emphasized that the discussion of values that had been the central theme of D-LAB was a valuable tool to be employed for the rest of their time at Dartmouth.

The following Departments and Centers participated in the session:

• Center for Professional Development (CPD)
• Center for Gender & Student Engagement (CGSE)
• Office of Pluralism and Leadership (OPAL)
• Collis Center for Student Involvement
• The John Sloan Dickey Center for International Understanding
• The Frank J. Guarini Institute for International Education
• Institute for Writing & Rhetoric
• The William Jewett Tucker Foundation
• Residential Education
• Dartmouth Entrepreneurial Network (DEN)
• Student Wellness Center
• Office of Outdoor Programs and Dartmouth Outing Club (DOC)
• The Nelson A. Rockefeller Center for Public Policy
• Academic Skills Center
• Off-Campus Programs (OCP)
• Tuck Bridge Program
• The Undergraduate Deans Office
• Ethics Institute
• Office of Scholarship Advising 

Submitted by Joyce Yegene Lee '19, D-LAB participant